No Santa For These Swindlers stockpatrol.com
Update: Concorde America, Inc. - No Santa For These Swindlers
Investigative Reports
December 18 2006
A pair of stock swindlers will be finding plenty of coal in their stockings this Christmas – and a bill for more than $2 million.
Florida has entered a final judgment against Bryan Kos and Donald Oehmke, a pair of stock swindlers who orchestrated a scheme to inflate the value of an obscure company called Concorde America Inc., in the summer of 2004. Kos, Oehmke, and their colleagues sought to entice investors by spreading word that Concorde America planned to ship unemployed South and Central Americans to Europe to fill open work slots.
The story was phony but Kos and Oehmke's efforts to pump up interest in the Company were aided by an endorsement from Tom Heysek, a so-called "financial advisor," with a knack for hyping tiny companies on the Internet. The phony information about Concorde America was spread by email, fax and Internet sites. An SEC complaint, filed in February 2005, charged that Heysek helped Kos and Oehmke pump up the price of Concorde shares. See, Concorde America - Gotcha!
StockPatrol.com raised questions about Concorde America shortly after a pair of press releases appeared announcing the bogus employment scheme. See, Concorde America, Inc. (Pink Sheets: CNDD) - Never Mind.
The Company disclaimed advance knowledge of the dubious press releases– but did so in a manner which left open the implication that Concorde America did indeed have plans for a cross continental operation. See, Update: Concorde America, Inc. - Just the Fax Folks. There is no indication that Concorde America had any meaningful operations or realistic ambitions on that score.
The federal court decision enjoins Kos and Oehmke from violations of the federal securities laws and bars them from participating in penny stock offerings or sales of unregistered securities in conjunction with a broker-dealer or underwriter. Additionally, Kos and Oehmke have been ordered to pay approximately $650,000 and $1,400,000, respectively, in civil penalties.
The results may give some small satisfaction to public investors who were duped by the scheme. Still, they are left wondering whether the SEC plans to shares the $2 million with unlucky investors.
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