Save The World Air, Inc. - A Founder Founders
Investigative Reports
November 23 2005
stockpatrol.com
Jeffrey Alan Mueller could not save the world. In the end, he could not even save himself from charges of securities fraud. Mueller, an Australian race car driver and real estate developer, claimed that his company, Save the World Air, Inc. (Pink Sheets: ZERO), owned rights to a “revolutionary” device that could virtually eradicate noxious auto emissions and create fuel efficiency. See Saving The World - Something For Investors To "Mull." The value and marketability of that device – called the Zero Emissions Fuel Saver (ZEFS) - has yet to be demonstrated, although Save the World Air continues to operate and has yet to produce revenues. Mueller, who left the Company in late 2001, was replaced as CEO by Edward Masry, a California attorney better known as the employer of Erin Brockovitch. See Update: Save The World Air, Inc (Pink Sheets: Zero) — Is Another Screenplay In The Works? Four years later, the Company still has no revenues, although it has piled up operating expenses of almost $15 million.
In December 2001, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged the Company, Jeffrey Muller, and a promoter named Billy Blackwelder with engaging in a fraudulent scheme to manipulate the market for Save the World Air stock. The SEC said that Muller and the other named defendants conspired to defraud the public by distributing phony information about the Company in press releases and public filings and on Internet Message Boards.
According to the complaint, Muller and his cohorts pumped up the value of Save the World Shares when they falsely claimed that Ford Motor Company had initiated contact with the Company to set up tests for the device. Muller also concocted a tale that an Australian investor had agreed to license the Company’s technology for $1.5 million.
Four years later, the SEC prevailed. On November 15, 2005, a U.S. District Court in New York City ordered Muller to pay $7.5 million in disgorgement and $100,000 in civil penalties, barred him from serving as an officer of a public company for twenty years, and enjoining him from future securities law violations.
The Court concluded that Muller carried out a fraudulent worldwide campaign to disseminate false and materially misleading information about the ZEFS. The Court also concluded that he falsified the Australian licensing deal and caused his Company to file inaccurate financial statements. While he was priming the market with these false claims, Muller privately sold millions of shares of Save the World Air stock at substantial profit.
In addition to ordering the $7.5 million payment, the Court ordered Muller to disgorge all of his remaining Save the World Air stock.
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