Nice new WEB Site but why has it stopped trading? Could it be because of this?
The SEC alleges in a separate complaint that North Andover, Mass.-based Urban AG Corp. (AQUM) and its president and CEO Billy V. Ray Jr. of Cumming, Ga., schemed to make an undisclosed kickback payment to a hedge fund manager in exchange for the fund’s purchase of restricted shares of stock in the company. In a separate kickback scheme, Ray made an inducement payment to a stock promoter who would purchase shares of Urban on the open market ahead of planned press releases to help him manipulate the stock. Meanwhile, stock promoter Wade Clark participated in Ray’s insider trading scheme involving Urban stock by providing the hedge fund fiduciary with an advance copy of a press release containing material nonpublic information about the company so the hedge fund manager would purchase stock prior to the news being issued.
The SEC’s complaints allege that Altomare, Bauer, Berkowitz, Brown, Clark, McKnight, Ray, and Urban AG Corp. violated Section 17(a)(1) of the Securities Act of 1933 and/or Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 10b-5(a) and 10b-5(c). The SEC is seeking financial penalties, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest, and permanent injunctions. The SEC also seeks penny stock bars against all of the individuals charged in these cases as well as an officer-and-director bar against Ray.
The SEC’s investigations have been conducted by Michelle I. Bougdanos, Trisha D. Sindler, and Amy L. Weber under the supervision of Chedly C. Dumornay in the Miami Regional Office. The SEC’s litigation of these complaints will be led by James Carlson, Patrick R. Costello, Russell Koonin, and Andrew Schiff. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and the Miami division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
