An Independent Investigation by the Fraud Investigative Unit
October 15, 2026
A Familiar Name? Not Exactly. Familiar Details? Absolutely.
When we first investigated Elite Capital Forte, we uncovered a number of troubling details about the investment website, its advertised returns, and the information it provided about its business.
Eventually, the website became inaccessible.
But that wasn’t necessarily the end of the story.
During our continued research, another investment website caught our attention: Equity Capital Funds, operating at equity-cf.com.
The names aren’t identical, although both use the initials ECF. That alone wouldn’t mean much. Plenty of unrelated businesses have similar names.
What interested us was something much more specific.
Equity Capital Funds was publishing the exact same telephone number and Washington, D.C., address that appeared on the old Elite Capital Forte website.
And when we looked further, we found another connection.
One we’re not ready to disclose publicly.
Here’s what we can share.
The Contact Information That Started Raising Questions
The original Elite Capital Forte website, previously operating at elitecapitalfortes.com, listed these contact details:
Phone: +1 (202) 734-5776
Address: 1101 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC, USA
We preserved those details from historical website records.
Now compare them with the information displayed by Equity Capital Funds:
Phone: +1 (202) 734-5776
Address: 1101 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC, USA
An exact match.
You can see the newer website’s information on its Contact Us page.
Of course, two websites displaying the same contact information doesn’t automatically mean they’re operated by the same people. One could have copied the other’s information, or there could be another explanation.
But it’s a specific connection, and we wanted to know whether there was anything else linking the two websites.
There was.
We Found Something Else
As part of our investigation, we compared preserved technical records from the original Elite Capital Forte website with information from Equity Capital Funds.
We identified a matching technical identifier associated with a third-party website service.
This wasn’t simply another instance of copied wording or a shared website design.
The identifier appeared in historical Elite Capital Forte records and was also present on the newer Equity Capital Funds website.
We checked again on October 15, 2026. It was still there.
We’ve saved the supporting evidence, including dated records and screenshots.
We’re deliberately not publishing the identifier, the service involved, or the steps used to locate it. Those details may help us recognize related websites in the future.
What we can say is that the match provides another reason to investigate a possible connection between these two operations.
It doesn’t tell us who owns the businesses or who installed the software. But it makes the matching contact information considerably more interesting.
The Timing Is Interesting, Too
According to WHOIS information obtained during our research, equity-cf.com was registered on June 29, 2026.
By September 1, 2026, the original Elite Capital Forte website was returning errors or failing to load during our checks.
We don’t know exactly when the old website first became inaccessible, and we can’t say that one operation replaced the other.
But the newer domain was registered before the accessibility problems we documented with the original site.
Combined with the matching contact information and technical evidence, that’s a timeline worth preserving.
Who Are the People Behind Equity Capital Funds?
We also took a closer look at how Equity Capital Funds presents itself.
The website advertises financial and investment services, including wealth management, mutual funds, real estate, cryptocurrency, and other investment categories.
Its About Us page identifies Richard Garrett as CEO and Founder.
We have not independently verified his role or identity in connection with this business.
Then there are the people featured in the website’s team section:
- Sporia Deko — Marketing
- Adhom Jonam — Project Manager
- Turka Pruda — Co-Founder
Those names caught our attention for a different reason.
We found the same names appearing on other, seemingly unrelated websites, including Foreexcel, 20Tech, Sanninfotechnologies, and Byte Bari.
That suggests the team section may contain reused website-template material rather than information prepared specifically for Equity Capital Funds.
It doesn’t prove the people are fictional. It does raise questions about whether the website accurately identifies the people responsible for the business.
And when a company is asking people to trust it with their money, those details matter.
Some of the Website’s Details Don’t Agree
The team information wasn’t the only thing that stood out.
During our review, we found inconsistencies across Equity Capital Funds’ own pages.
For example, the homepage claimed six years of experience, while the About Us page claimed eight years.
The About Us page also advertised 12,000 worldwide clients and a 98% consulting success rate. We haven’t independently verified those figures.
There were conflicting contact details, too.
While the Contact Us page displayed the Washington address and telephone number matching Elite Capital Forte, other parts of the website contained different addresses and telephone numbers, including an unusually formatted number, 445678906789, on the homepage.
The homepage displayed a 2024 copyright notice, while other pages displayed 2026.
Any one of these details could be a website-maintenance mistake.
Taken together, though, they leave us with a fairly basic question:
Which information on the Equity Capital Funds website actually describes the business behind it?
That’s something a prospective investor should be able to establish without having to untangle contradictory pages.
Why We’re Paying Attention to the Original Elite Capital Forte
Our interest in Equity Capital Funds didn’t begin with its website design.
It began with what we’d already uncovered about Elite Capital Forte.
The original investment website advertised weekly returns of 5% to 15%, depending on the investment plan. It also promoted referral commissions.
Our earlier research found executive biographies that closely resembled material from established financial institutions, along with legal and regulatory information that raised questions about the company’s representations.
We documented those findings in our earlier articles:
What Happened to Elite Capital Forte? Website Currently Offline
Those earlier findings don’t automatically apply to Equity Capital Funds. We haven’t established that the newer website offers the same investment plans, withdrawal arrangements, or referral payments.
But when a newer investment website shares specific details with one we’ve already investigated, we believe that connection deserves attention.
Especially when the overlap extends beyond what an ordinary visitor can see.
What About the Investor Portal?
Equity Capital Funds also directs visitors to a separate investor account website:
During our review, its registration process included a referral-code field.
That caught our attention because the earlier Elite Capital Forte website promoted referral incentives.
Still, a referral field by itself doesn’t tell us how a business operates. We have not confirmed whether Equity Capital Funds currently pays referral commissions or uses the same investment arrangements as the original website.
We also haven’t independently verified its deposit, withdrawal, or custody arrangements.
Those are important unanswered questions, particularly for anyone thinking about opening an account.
What Should Someone Considering Equity Capital Funds Do?
Before sending money to an online investment business, it’s worth checking a few things independently.
Start with the actual legal entity behind the website. A trading name and an attractive homepage aren’t enough.
Find out who operates the business, where it is registered, and whether it has the regulatory authorization required for the financial services it claims to provide.
For U.S.-related investment claims, useful starting points include FINRA BrokerCheck, the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure database, and Investor.gov.
Also ask how your money will be held, what the withdrawal terms are, and which legal entity is responsible if something goes wrong.
In Equity Capital Funds’ case, we’d add one more question:
Why does this website use the same telephone number and Washington address previously published by Elite Capital Forte?
We think that’s a reasonable question to ask before investing.
So, Is Equity Capital Funds the New Elite Capital Forte?
We can’t say that conclusively.
We haven’t identified the individuals controlling both websites or established that Equity Capital Funds is an official rebranding of Elite Capital Forte.
What we have documented is an exact match in published contact information, a matching technical identifier in preserved website records, and a timeline that makes the relationship worth examining.
We’ve also found inconsistencies in Equity Capital Funds’ own published information that deserve independent verification.
Our investigation has uncovered more than we’re making public right now. We’ve retained that evidence, and we’ll continue to evaluate it as new information becomes available.
For now, we believe people researching Equity Capital Funds should be aware of its documented connections to Elite Capital Forte before making any financial decisions.
We’re not asking readers to accept an accusation without evidence.
We’re showing what we found, explaining what it means, and being clear about what we still don’t know.
And sometimes, the most useful thing an investigation can do is make sure the right questions are being asked.
Investigation Status
Ongoing — Last reviewed October 15, 2026
The Fraud Investigative Unit has preserved archived website records, current website information, and additional technical evidence relevant to this investigation.
Certain details are being withheld to protect the integrity of continued research.
This article is an independent investigation, not a regulatory or legal finding. The documented similarities do not, on their own, establish common ownership, fraud, or unlawful activity. The Fraud Investigative Unit is not affiliated with Equity Capital Funds or Elite Capital Forte.
