BOSTON – A Boston man accused of posing as a member of a wealthy Greek shipping family is accused of defrauding investors out of more than $300,000.

The story was broken by the Boston electronic and print media and was also posted on the website of The Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC announced charges against Vassilios Trikantzopoulos and his business, Navis Ventures LLC.

According to the SEC's complaint, since at least 2015, Trikantzopoulos allegedly has posed as the scion of a wealthy Greek shipping family and claimed to be a highly successful money manager, responsible for overseeing $100 million or more of family assets.

Trikantzopoulos is accused of soliciting investors for various international real estate ventures, pledging hefty profits and offering "secured" promises that, if the ventures did not go forward, investors' funds would be returned in full.

According to the complaint, Trikantzopoulos used investor money for ventures with no apparent success, his own businesses had no substantial assets or operations, and he has failed to refund investors as promised.

Trikantzopoulos also diverted tens of thousands of dollars for his own personal use and to pay rent and other expenses, the SEC said.