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Non-Tech : SLJB - Sulja Brothers Building Supply, Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SG who wrote (1673)	1/22/2012 3:28:08 PM
From: scion	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1681

Sulja Brothers fines go uncollected $6-million levy for 'pump and dump' scheme By Sarah Sacheli, The Windsor Star January 21, 2012 windsorstar.com The Ontario Securities Commission has not collected a dime of the more than $6 million in penalties imposed last year in the Sulja Brothers stock scheme, a report released this week revealed. The OSC admits it has collected less than one per cent of the more than $73 million in fines it has levied in contested cases since 2005. "The recovery of monetary sanctions in many proceedings is limited because respondents may have no assets or limited assets, may no longer reside in Ontario, or cannot be found," the OSC said in its report. "Some respondents may have hidden assets in the names of others." The commission says it is investigating ways to improve its collections. "Staff are examining the collections experience of other organizations in both the public and private sector to see what methods may be effective and could be used by the commission." The commission has a better track record of collecting penalties in negotiated settlements, recouping more than 70 per cent of $155.5 million in monetary sanctions and costs assessed in such cases since 2005. The commission found brothers Sam and Steven Sulja and business partners Petar Vucicevich, Pranab Shah, Tracey Banumas and Andrew DeVries participated in what's called a "pump and dump" stock scheme. The fraud involved issuing bogus press releases portraying Harrow lumberyard Sulja Brothers Building Supplies as an international construction firm called with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of contracts in the Middle East. Investors taken in by the false hype snapped up $5.6 million worth of shares in the company. As part of the scheme, the partners incorporated Kore International Management, and set up secondary accounts that Sulja Brothers stock were transferred into, then sold to the market once their value was inflated. Vucicevich was the only partner prosecuted in the criminal courts. He is currently serving a three-year penitentiary term after pleading guilty to two counts of fraud. The OSC fined him $775,000 and banned him from ever being involved in the stock market again by buying or selling stocks or being a director or board member of a publicly traded company. The Sulja brothers were fined $150,000 each and DeVries, a Texan, was fined more than $1 million. Shah and Banumas were each fined $5,000. All the partners together were hit with a $5.6million "disgorgement" - a penalty equal to the amount of money they swindled from investors. None of the money has been recouped. Defence lawyer Daniel Scott, who represented Vucicevich in his criminal proceedings, said Friday his client is penniless and unable to pay any of the fines imposed. The OSC hearing last year was told that Steven Sulja had lost his house and business and that both he and his brother were working menial jobs. Scott said OSC penalties are often hollow. "It's like a Band-Aid. It makes everyone feel better at the time, but when you look underneath, the wound is still there." windsorstar.com