Mr Metals,
Do you know these guys?
Probart
SEC Charges 44 with Internet Securities Fraud
Reuters
WASHINGTON (Oct. 28) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday charged 44 individuals and companies with committing securities fraud over the Internet.
The agency's 23 enforcement actions filed across the country involve fraudulent dealings in junk e-mail known as ''spam,'' online newsletters, message board postings and Web sites, the SEC said.
The defendants, in touting the cheaply priced securities of more than 235 companies known as microcaps, violated federal securities laws either by lying about the companies, lying about their own independence from the companies, and/or failing to reveal adequately how they were compensated by the companies, the SEC said.
They allegedly claimed that they were providing their unbiased opinions in their recommendations but failed to disclose that they got more than $6.3 million and nearly two million shares of cheap insider stock and options in exchange for their promotional efforts.
''Not only did they lie about their own independence, some of them lied about the companies they featured, then took advantage of any quick spike in price to sell their shares for a fast and easy profit,'' said Richard Walker, the top enforcement official at the SEC.
''Today's sweep demonstrates the SEC's commitment to cleaning up the Internet by aggressively prosecuting securities violations occurring in Cyberspace,'' he added in a statement.
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