Hi, it’s Amanda Gerut, pinch hitting for Allie. In late 2014, Ellen Polcari was nannying for a VC’s two young children. A decade later, she had branded herself the firm’s “controller,” and, according to the SEC, the person who allegedly moved about $1.28 million of investor money into her own accounts. The money went to online gambling, shopping, and restaurant meals, regulators say.
That complaint, filed in federal court in New Jersey on Sept. 18, states that the funds raised about $28.7 million from at least 85 mostly high-net-worth investors and family offices between April 2023 and March 2025. The venture firms aren’t named; the SEC states that the two firms are based in Montana.
