SEC GETS ASSET FREEZE AGAINST MICROCAP STOCK PROMOTER

FROM:  SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges and an emergency asset freeze against a promoter behind a platform of affiliated microcap stock promotion websites.

The SEC alleges that John Babikian used AwesomePennyStocks.com and its related site PennyStocksUniverse.com, collectively “APS,” to commit a brand of securities fraud known as “scalping.”  The APS websites disseminated e-mails to approximately 700,000 people shortly after 2:30 p.m. Eastern time on the afternoon of Feb. 23, 2012, and recommended the penny stock America West Resources Inc. (AWSRQ).  What the e-mails failed to disclose among other things was that Babikian held more than 1.4 million shares of America West stock, which he had already positioned and intended to sell immediately through a Swiss bank.  The APS emails immediately triggered massive increases in America West’s share price and trading volume, which Babikian exploited by unloading shares of America West’s stock over the remaining 90 minutes of the trading day for ill-gotten gains of more than $1.9 million.

According to documents filed simultaneously with the SEC’s complaint in federal court in Manhattan, Babikian was actively attempting to liquidate his U.S. assets, which he holds in the names of alter ego front companies.  He was seeking to wire the proceeds offshore.  The Honorable Paul A. Crotty granted the SEC’s emergency request to preserve these assets by issuing an asset freeze order.

“The Enforcement Division, including its Microcap Fraud Task Force, is intensely focused on the scourge of microcap fraud and is aggressively working to root out microcap fraudsters who make their living by preying on unwitting investors,” said Andrew J. Ceresney, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.

“By obtaining today’s emergency asset freeze, we have thwarted Babikian’s attempts to liquidate and expatriate assets that should be used to return his ill-gotten gains and pay appropriate penalties,” said Stephen L. Cohen, Associate Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement in Washington, D.C.

According to the SEC’s complaint, America West’s stock was both low-priced and thinly traded prior to Babikian’s mass dissemination of the APS e-mails promoting it.  America West’s trading volume in 2011 averaged approximately 15,400 shares per day.  There was not a single trade in America West stock on Feb. 23, 2012, before the touting e-mails were sent.  However, in the immediate aftermath of Babikian’s e-mail launch, more than 7.8 million shares of America West stock was traded in the next 90 minutes as America West’s share price hit an all-time high.  Absent the fraudulent touts, Babikian could not have sold more than a few thousand shares at an extremely lower share price.

The court’s order, among other things, freezes Babikian’s assets, temporarily restrains him from further similar misconduct, requires an accounting, prohibits document alteration or destruction, and expedites discovery.  Pursuant to the order, the SEC has taken immediate action to freeze Babikian’s U.S. assets, which include the proceeds of the sale of a fractional interest in an airplane that Babikian had been attempting to have wired to an offshore bank, two homes in the Los Angeles area, and agricultural property in Oregon.

The SEC’s investigation, which is continuing, has been led by Andrew R. McFall, John P. Lucas, Robert W. Nesbitt and supervised by J. Lee Buck II.  The case will be litigated by Matthew P. Cohen and Michael J. Roessner.  The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Quebec Autorité des Marchés Financiers, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and OTC Markets Group Inc.

"SHELL PACKING" CO. & CEO AGREE TO SETTLE FRAUD CASE REGARDING BOGUS SECURITIES SALES

FROM:  SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced nearly $300,000 in settlements against a Virginia-based “shell packaging” company and its CEO who were charged with facilitating a penny stock scheme as well as a Bronx, N.Y.-based stock promoter who received proceeds from the fraud.

Virginia-based Belmont Partners LLC and its CEO Joseph Meuse are in the business of identifying and selling public shell companies for use in reverse mergers.  In an enforcement action in late 2011, the SEC alleged that Meuse and his firm aided and abetted a New York-based company that fraudulently issued and sold unregistered shares of its common stock.  The SEC separately named Thomas Russo as a relief defendant in the case for the purposes of recovering ill-gotten gains in his possession as a result of his business partner’s participation in the scheme.  According to the SEC’s complaint, Russo co-owned a stock promotion service called TheStockProphet.com.

In a final judgment ordered late yesterday by the Honorable Shira A. Scheindlin of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Belmont Partners and Meuse agreed to pay $224,500.  Meuse additionally has agreed to be barred from the penny stock business or from serving as an officer or director of a public company for at least five years.  In a separate judgment entered last week, Russo agreed to pay $70,075.

“The SEC will continue to pursue and punish gatekeepers whose misconduct enables penny stock frauds to occur,” said Sanjay Wadhwa, senior associate director for enforcement in the SEC’s New York Regional Office.  “Meuse and his firm not only sold the shell company but they fabricated the documents necessary to dupe the transfer agent into issuing shares that should never have been sold to the public.  Russo received proceeds from the subsequent sale of the illicit stock.”

Belmont Partners and Meuse agreed to be permanently enjoined from violating Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5.  They neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s allegations.

The SEC previously entered into a bifurcated settlement with the Long Island-based issuer at the center of the scheme – Alternative Green Technologies (AGTI) – as well as its CEO Mitchell Segal, who agreed to be barred from the penny stock business or from serving as a corporate officer or director for at least five years.  Financial penalties against Segal will be determined at a later date.

The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Steven G. Rawlings and Megan R. Genet, and the litigation has been led by Todd Brody and Ms. Genet.  The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

SEC CHARGES STOCK PROMOTER IN INTERNET-BASED SCALPING SCHEME

FROM:  U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that on July 20, 2012, it filed a civil fraud action against former Connecticut resident Jerry S. Williams, a stock promoter, and two companies that he controlled, Monk’s Den, LLC and First In Awareness, LLC. The Commission charged Williams with running a scalping scheme from which he made over $2.4 million. Scalping is a type of fraud in which the owner of shares of a security recommends that security for investment and then immediately sells it at a profit upon the rise in market price which follows the recommendation.
The Commission’s Complaint alleges that from at least early 2009 through at least the end of 2010, Williams recommended two stocks, Cascadia Investments, Inc. and Green Oasis Environmental, Inc., to a large group of potential investors who followed his trading recommendations and strategies. According to the Complaint, Williams, who was known to his followers as “Monk,” used his internet-based message board (called “Monk’s Den”), in-person seminars (called “Monkinars”), and other means to encourage people to buy, hold, and accumulate Cascadia and Green Oasis stock. In particular, the Complaint alleges that Williams told potential investors that by buying up the outstanding shares, or float, of these companies, they could collectively trigger a “short squeeze” that would allow them to sell their stock to “market makers” that had shorted the stock. The Commission’s Complaint alleges that Williams falsely stated that he had previously used this strategy to make himself and others enormous profits. The Complaint alleges that in fact, unknown to potential investors, Williams had been hired by Cascadia and Green Oasis to promote their stock and had been compensated with millions of free and discounted shares of these stocks. According to the Complaint, Williams secretly sold millions of Cascadia and Green Oasis shares at the same time he was encouraging potential investors to buy, hold and accumulate these stocks. Through this scheme, the Complaint alleges, Williams made over $2.4 million.

The Commission’s Complaint charged Williams, First In Awareness, LLC and Monk’s Den, LLC with violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 10b-5(a), (b), and (c) thereunder. The Commission also charged Williams with violating Sections 17(a)(1), 17(a)(2), 17(a)(3) and 17(b) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Sections 206(1) and 206(2) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The Commission is seeking permanent injunctions, disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties against each defendant and, as to Williams only, a penny stock bar.

The Commission’s investigation is continuing.