Belated Post: SEC Suspends trading in purported Ebola stocks

One thing I have noticed over the last seven years trading penny stocks is that penny stock scammers are quick to hop on any current investment theme. If oil is spiking, we will see a lot of shell companies quickly turn into oil exploration companies. If there is a spike in the price of rare earth elements, we will see a new crop of rare earth miners. Recently with the Ebola panic we had a bunch of penny stocks touting their connection to the disease. And the SEC was quick to act to suspend trading in some of the most egregious Ebola stocks.

See the chart of Lakeland Industries (LAKE) below to get a sense for the timeline over which the Ebola hype played out (LAKE is shown as it was one of the Ebola stocks that spiked the most; is a real company and was not implicated in anything):

lake

The peak of Ebola panic occurred around the 13th of October 2014. Just over a month later, on November 20th, the SEC suspended trading in four purported Ebola-related penny stocks. The four stocks that were suspended by the SEC were Bravo Enterprises Ltd. (OGNG),  Immunotech Laboratories, Inc. (IMMB),  Myriad Interactive Media, Inc. (MYRY), and Wholehealth Products, Inc. (GWPC).

SEC Suspension notice (PDF)
SEC Suspension order (PDF)

 

Disclaimer: I have no position in any stock mentioned. I have no relationship with any parties mentioned above. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.

Autris $AUTR Online landing page pump & dump

Sarting a few days ago I started receiving promotional emails promoting Autris (AUTR) and linking to the website at http://www.risingstockadvisor.com/autr/

Given the low budget and the weak state of the market for stock promotions, I think this will likely never get much volume and will slowly fade.

Disclosed budget: $400,000
Promoter:  OS Media Limited
Paying party: ???
Shares outstanding: 42,604,556
Previous closing price: $0.33
Market capitalization: $14 million

autr_header

 

Excerpt from disclaimer:

OS Media Ltd has managed a total production budget of up to $400,000 for advertising efforts and will retain any amounts over and above the cost of production, copywriting services, mailing and other distribution expenses, as a fee for its services. Rising Stock Advisor is paid $2,500 as an editorial fee from OS Media Ltd and also expects to receive new subscriber revenue as a result of this advertising effort.

Full disclaimer:

IMPORTANT NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER: This advertising issue of Rising Stock Advisor does not purport to provide an analysis of any company’s financial position, operations or prospects and this is not to be construed as a recommendation by Rising Stock Advisor or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security. Autris, (AUTR), the company featured in this issue, appears as paid advertising by OS Media Ltd to provide public awareness for AUTR. Rising Stock Advisor and OS Media Ltd have used outside research and writers using public information to create the advertisement coming from Rising Stock Advisor about AUTR. Although the information contained in this advertisement is believed to be reliable, Rising Stock Advisor and OS Media Ltd makes no warranties as to the accuracy of any of the content herein and accepts no liability for how readers may choose to utilize the content. All commodity, stock prices and theoretical projections were current as of the writing of this advertisement. Prices and projections may not be current as of the dissemination of this advertisement. Readers should perform their own due-diligence, including consulting with a licensed, qualified investment professional or analyst. Further, readers are strongly urged to independently verify all statements made in this advertisement and perform extensive due diligence on this or any other advertised company. Rising Stock Advisor is not offering securities for sale. An offer to buy or sell can be made only with accompanying disclosure documents and only in the states and provinces for which they are approved. Many states have established rules requiring the approval of a security by a state security administrator. Check with http://www.nasaa.org or call your state security administrator to determine whether a particular security is licensed for sale in your state. Many companies have information filed with state securities regulators and many will supply investors with additional information on request. OS Media Ltd has managed a total production budget of up to $400,000 for advertising efforts and will retain any amounts over and above the cost of production, copywriting services, mailing and other distribution expenses, as a fee for its services. Rising Stock Advisor is paid $2,500 as an editorial fee from OS Media Ltd and also expects to receive new subscriber revenue as a result of this advertising effort. More information can be received from AUTR’s investor relations firm (http://www.autris.com/investor-alerts/). Further, specific financial information, filings and disclosures as well as general investor information about publicly traded companies like AUTR, advice to investors and other investor resources are available at the Securities and Exchange Commission website www.sec.gov and www.nasd.com. Any investment should be made only after consulting with a qualified investment advisor and after reviewing the publicly available financial statements of and other information about the company and verifying that the investment is appropriate and suitable. Investing in securities is highly speculative and carries a great deal of risk especially as to new companies with limited operations and no history of earnings. The information contained herein contains forward-looking Information within the meaning of section 27a of the Securities Act of 1993, as amended, and section 21e of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements regarding expected growth of the featured company. In accordance with the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, AUTR notes that statements contained herein that look forward in time, which include everything other than historical information, involve risks and uncertainties that may affect the Company’s actual results of operations. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include the size and growth.

PDF copy of landing page

autr

Disclaimer: I have no position in any stock mentioned above. I have no relationship with any parties mentioned above. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.

Stock promoter Eric Cusimano pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit stock fraud

Eric Cusimano, former owner of BestDamnPennystocks.com and related websites, pled guilty yesterday to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and to tax evasion. He could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for March 26th. While I do think that Eric Cusimano is scum he did at least have the decency to insist that the government drop charges against his wife as part of his plea deal.

As part of the plea, Cusimano turned over over $1.2 million, two pieces of property in New York’s southern tier, a boat, several “valuable” pieces of jewelry, and $340,000 which he had stored in accounts in Panama and Belize

Of course the forfeiture is only a small portion of the over $7 million that investigators say Cusimano made over the four year period.

See these local news stories on the plea for more details:

Federal court seizes millions from former Jamestown man, sets record
Chautauqua County stockbroker pleads guilty to duping investors

I have written about Cusimano’s legal troubles a few times over the last several months:

Promoters Eric Cusimano & Jamie Boye indicted
Full text of the Bestdamnpennystocks.com Cusimano/Boye indictment
Update on USA v. Cusimano & Boye
Prosecutors close to plea deals with stock promoters Boye and Cusimano

Jamie Boye, a stock promoter who worked closely with Cusimano and who was also charged in this same case, remains in plea talks with prosecutors, and and in the mean time the trial has been adjourned until February 6th:

With respect to Defendant Boye, the parties have been actively discussing a pretrial resolution, and a draft plea agreement has been prepared and provided to the defendant for review. Additional time is necessary for defense counsel to review the draft plea with Defendant Boye and to finalize plea discussion with the
government. Therefore, the parties are requesting additional time to allow a change of plea and sentence to occur in the present case relating to Defendant Boye.

Recent court filings:

GOVERNMENT’S NOTICE OF THIRD MOTION FOR AN ADJOURNMENT OF THE RULE 48(b) DISMISSAL ORDER (12/18/2014)

ORDER FOR ADJOURNMENT (12/18/2014)

 

Disclaimer: I have no relationship with any parties mentioned above. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.

SEC Suspends trading in perennial pump Geo Finance Corp $GEFI

Three days ago the SEC suspended trading in Geo Finance Corp (GEFI). This stock has been pumped and dumped numerous times, most recently on December 9th to 11th by EpicStockPicks.com, StockoftheWeek.net, UnitedPenniesofAmerica.com, Pennypicks.net, DamnGoodPennyPicks.com, ImpressivePennystocks.com, TodaysPennyStocks.com and BeatPennyStocks.com.

See SEC suspension notice for GEFI (PDF)

The reason for the suspension was the usual boilerplate about innacurate information and potentially manipulative activity:

The Commission temporarily suspended trading in the securities of GEFI because of concerns regarding the accuracy and adequacy of information in the marketplace and potentially manipulative activity related to GEFI common stock.

The Commission acknowledges the assistance of FINRA in this matter

 

 

Continuing a recent trend of increased activity by FINRA, the SEC acknowledged FINRA’s assistance (above).

Coinciding with the recent pump the company put out two press releases on December 9th, which likely also played a part in the suspension:

GEFI

 

Disclaimer: I have no position in any stock mentioned. I have no relationship with any parties mentioned above. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.