Here is the SEC digest summary:
RESTRAINING ORDER HALTS SECURITIES SCAM INVOLVING SPAM FAX MESSAGES, FRAUDULENT INTERNET OFFERING, AND FALSE PRESS RELEASES
The Commission announced that it obtained a federal court order halting a securities fraud that was effected through three means: (1) sending spam facsimile messages ostensibly issued by reputable financial firms recommending the stocks of twelve microcap companies; (2) issuing false press releases concerning six of those microcap companies; and (3) posting on the Internet a fraudulent offering of investment interests. Charged by the Commission with engaging in such illegal conduct are The Globus Group, Inc., (Globus), located in Miami, Florida, and Bruce Gorcyca a/k/a Anthony DiMarco (DiMarco), Globus' principal. United States District Court Judge Alan S. Gold issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting Globus and DiMarco from violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and freezing their assets.
The faxed recommendations made from 1997 to June 1999 often represented that the sender was affiliated with prominent financial institutions, including Prudential Securities, Merrill Lynch or Citibank, that the sender possessed favorable non-public information about the issuers, and that the issuers' stocks would be quoted on the Nasdaq SmallCap market and dramatically increase in price in the near future. The twelve microcap companies whose stocks were recommended for purchase: China Food and Beverage Co. (China Food); TMANglobal.com, Inc. (TMAN); Trans-Global Holdings, Inc. (Trans-Global); North Wave Communications Corp. (North Wave); Lasertec International, Inc.; Chill Tech Industries, Inc. (Chill Tech); Micromem Technologies, Inc. (Micromem); Converge Global, Inc. (Converge), Juniper Group, Inc., LaJolla Diagnostics, Inc., Aquagenix, Inc., and Top Image Systems, Ltd.
Second, the Commission alleges that DiMarco and Globus prepared false press releases which were disseminated by six issuers between March and June 1999 falsely stating that the issuers were considering an acquisition of assets worth $4 million, or that an "east coast investment banking firm," i.e., Globus, had offered to provide the issuers with $5 million or $60 million of financing.
Third, the Commission alleges that Globus itself is currently conducting a fraudulent offering of unregistered investment contracts through its Internet website. The website falsely states that investors will receive risk-free returns of between 17.5% and 35% through a U.S. government-sponsored "investment program" in which investor funds are loaned to and secured by the common stock of small public companies.
The Commission's complaint also names as Defendants China Food and its chief executive officer, James C. Tilton (Tilton), and Trans-Global and one of its directors, Jacques Verhaak (Verhaak), but does not seek emergency relief against them. The Commission alleged that China Food, Tilton, Trans-Global and Verhaak issued the press releases prepared by DiMarco and Globus which they knew, or had reason to know, were false and have not corrected the false releases. Additionally, the Commission alleges, Trans-Global and Verhaak disseminated three other press releases in June 1999 falsely stating that the company had acquired or agreed to acquire valuable real estate in Florida. [SEC v. The Globus Group, Inc., et al., No. Civ. 99-1968, USDC, SD Fla.] (LR-16212)
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