Articles Posted in Boiler Room Fraud

What is a Boiler Room Scheme?

Boiler room schemes are large-scale operations designed to lure in as many investors to an investment scam as possible, often using high-pressure sales tactics.  Boiler room scheme operators may cold call investors or solicit investors through emails, text messages, social media, and other means. Beware of boiler room scheme tactics, including:

Aggressive Sales Tactics or Threats. Fraudsters may use aggressive sales tactics or even threats (for example, threatening to file a lien against your property) to swindle you.

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Keith Houlihan, No. 9:18-cv-80585 (S.D. Fla. filed May 4, 2018)

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently filed an enforcement action against a former microcap company president with defrauding over 700 investors nationwide who were pressured to invest has agreed to lifetime officer-and-director and penny stock bars.

The SEC’s complaint alleges that from 2009 until 2015, Keith Houlihan of Boca Raton, Florida, while president of publicly-traded Sanomedics, Inc., hired and worked with an unregistered broker and his boiler room operation to illegally sell shares of Sanomedics by cold-calling the investing public using high-pressure sales tactics. In 2009 and 2010, Houlihan falsely told investors that for a limited time he was able to offer them Sanomedics shares at a steep discount to the stock’s market price. The complaint alleges further that Houlihan used investor monies to pay undisclosed sales commissions to boiler room sales agents and more than $110,000 to himself for personal expenses. In 2013 and 2014, Houlihan signed Sanomedics’ annual and quarterly filings with the SEC that contained false statements about Sanomedics’ financing and did not disclose the illegal boiler room activity.

Anthony Guerriero and Oxford City Football Club, Inc. – South Florida, including Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Delray Beach, Lake Worth and Royal Palm Beach, Florida Micro-Cap Penny Stock Fraud Litigation Attorney

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently announced fraud charges and a court-ordered asset freeze obtained against a Florida-based penny stock company falsely touting itself as “the largest publicly traded diversified portfolio of professional sports teams in the world.”

The SEC alleges that Thomas Anthony Guerriero as CEO of Oxford City Football Club Inc. used pressure tactics and a boiler room of salespeople to raise more than $6.5 million from primarily inexperienced investors who were misled to believe that the company was a thriving conglomerate of sports teams, academic institutions, and real estate holdings. But in reality the company was losing millions of dollars each year and turning zero profit from its two lower-division soccer teams in the U.K.

South Florida, including Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach Boiler Room Fraud and Misrepresentation Litigation Attorney

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Commodore Financial Corp., et al., Civil Action No. 15-CV-01567 (C.D. Cal., filed September 30, 2015)

SEC Charges Orange County Oil and Gas Company, CEO, and Arizona Boiler Room Operator with Defrauding Investors

Adam S. Gottbetter – South Florida Securities, Investment and Commercial Litigation Attorney

SEC Charges New York Lawyer and Two Promoters With Market Manipulation

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced fraud charges against a securities lawyer who used his New York law office as the headquarters for planning and implementing market manipulation schemes. Also charged were two stock promoters from Canada who assisted him.

Dean Esposito, Joseph DeVito, Frederick Birks and Joseph Azzata – Boca Raton, Florida Microcap Investment Fraud Litigation and Arbitration Attorney

SEC Halts Microcap Scheme in South Florida

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced fraud charges and an asset freeze against the operators of a South Florida-based microcap scheme, including three boiler room brokers caught trying to conceal from investors that they have been barred from the industry.

Boiler Room and Securities Fraud and Misrepresentation Litigation and Arbitration Attorney – West Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Securities and Exchange Commission v. DDBO Consulting, Inc., et al., Civil Action No. 0:14-cv-61685-MGC (S.D. F.L.)

Securities and Exchange Commission v. CalPacific Equity Group, LLC, et al., Civil Action No. 2:14-cv-05754-JFW-AGR (C.D. C.A.)

South Palm Beach County, Florida Securities and Transfer Agent Fraud and Misrepresentation Litigation and Arbitration Attorney:

Securities and Exchange Commission v. International Stock Transfer Inc and Cecil Frederick Speight, Civil Action No. 14-cv-4435 (ADS) (E.D.N.Y.)

SEC Charges Florida-Based Transfer Agent and Owner with Scheming Investors

South Florida, including Fort Lauderdale, Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Deerfield Beach Ponzi Scheme and Securities Fraud FINRA Arbitration and Litigation Attorney:

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Robert Hurd, Your Best Memories International Inc. and Kenneth Gross, Civil Action No. 13-CV-04464-RGK (JCGx) (C.D. Cal. June 20, 2013)

Court Orders California Company and Its President to Pay Over $1.9 Million in Investment Scheme Involving Purported Alzheimer’s Treatment

Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, Florida Penny and Microcap Stock Fraud and Misrepresentation FINRA Arbitration and Litigation Attorney:

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced the latest in a series of cases against microcap companies, officers, and promoters arising out of a joint law enforcement investigation to unearth penny stock schemes with roots in South Florida.

In complaints filed in federal court in Miami, the SEC charged five penny stock promoters with conducting various manipulation schemes involving undisclosed payments to induce purchases of a microcap stock to generate the false appearance of market interest. The SEC also charged a Massachusetts-based microcap company and the CEO with orchestrating a pair of illicit kickback schemes and an insider trading scheme involving the company’s stock. A stock promoter in Texas is charged for his role in the insider trading scheme.

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