SNLV found this on rb anyone with thoughts or comments tia
Fraud Case - get out now:
7. SEC v. Donald Rutledge and Gregory Skufca
(U.S. District Court, District of Colorado)
In the Matter of John Black
(SEC Contact: Wayne Carlin, 212-748-8178)
The SEC alleges that Donald Rutledge, a Canadian promoter, and Gregory Skufca, an American shell company broker, embarked on a scheme to take public a development-stage company, Plus Solutions, Inc., at $5.00 per share without registering a public offering. Their plan was to increase Snelling Travel's float through a 29-for-1 stock split, and then merge Plus Solutions into Snelling Travel, an over-the-counter issuer. Rutledge and Skufca intended to create the appearance of demand for the merged company's stock at prices of $5 or more per share, and then sell large quantities of the stock to the public. The SEC alleges that Rutledge and Skufca began to carry out the scheme, and engaged in some manipulative trading in the latter half of December 1999, which caused the stock to trade at more than $5 per share, and John Black, an employee of Rutledge, commenced a message "thread" (an area to post messages on a specific topic on an Internet bulletin board) about Snelling and posted two misleading messages on it. The scheme was derailed, however, because Snelling failed to comply with the NASD's notice requirements regarding stock splits. As a consequence of the resulting confusion over the effective date of the split, the proposed merger fell apart, and Snelling's stock price plummeted to pennies per share. The SEC seeks permanent injunctions against Rutledge and Skufca prohibiting violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 under the Exchange Act. The SEC also seeks disgorgement, plus prejudgment interest, against Skufca, and civil monetary penalties against Rutledge and Skufca. Without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations, Black has consented to the entry of an order requiring Black to cease and desist from committing or causing any violation and any future violation of Section 17(b) of the Securities Act of 1933. |
