SEC charges three former Tricolor executives in $1.9 billion subprime auto collapse
Aug. 18, 2026 — The SEC has charged three former executives of Tricolor, a Dallas-area used-car dealer and subprime lender, with defrauding investors as the company raised more than $1.9 billion by bundling car loans into bonds from 2020 until its September 2025 bankruptcy. The agency says the executives portrayed Tricolor as financially sound while it struggled to fund its operations, and pledged hundreds of millions of dollars of the same loans to more than one lender or bond deal.
The SEC named former CEO Daniel Chu, former finance chief Jerome Kollar and former senior director of finance Ameryn Seibold. Kollar has pleaded guilty in a parallel criminal case and is cooperating. Chu has pleaded not guilty to eight criminal counts; his lawyer called the SEC case a rehash of earlier allegations.
The collapse reached well beyond Wall Street lenders such as JPMorgan and Barclays. Tricolor sold and financed cars at about 60 lots, most in Texas and California. It was founded to expand car ownership in Hispanic and immigrant communities and lent to buyers with little or no credit history. When it filed for liquidation, about 100,000 borrowers were left asking where to send their payments. San Diego-based Vervent took over servicing the loans, and in February the bankruptcy judge issued an order addressing a temporary moratorium on repossessing consumers' vehicles.
The wall: The February bankruptcy order was read only by its caption; its terms are not stated. Bank losses are from 2025 reports. Seibold's response was not found.
Tier: Confirmed (Confirmed (SEC charges); Reported (criminal pleas, lots, borrowers, servicing))
Sources
- SEC press release 2026-77
- CNN (pleas, Chu's lawyer)
- Court docket, U.S. v. Chu, 1:25-cr-00579 (eight-count plea)
- McDonald Hopkins (lots, loans, Vervent)
- American Banker ABS Report (borrowers, Vervent San Diego)
- CarPro (founding mission)
- Bankruptcy court order caption, Feb. 23, 2026
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