APT MotoVox Group Inc. (MTVX)

[diannedawn]

Awesome NEWS on MTVX!!!
Read all about it!

http://m.pitch.com/kansascity/motovox-american-performance-technologies-bannister-troy-covey/Content?oid=4943871

"A local penny stock gets pinched by the SEC
by Steve Vockrodt | September 30, 2014

A Kansas City company that received public assistance to move its operations to a disused retail space in 2012 has been the target of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation.

A recent filing by American Performance Technologies reveals that the SEC sent the company what's called a "Wells notice" this past summer. A Wells notice tells a business that the regulator plans to level civil charges against it.

APT makes scooters and minibikes under the Motovox brand name, with engines that it claims burn fuel more efficiently than the engines in competing products.

APT has agreed to pay a $25,000 fine to settle the SEC's claim that the company failed to disclose the issuance of unregistered securities. It was to pay the SEC $10,000 of that fine by September 15, with the balance of the penalty to be paid in installments through April.

The SEC wouldn't release details of its inquiry in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by The Pitch, citing an exemption that precludes disclosure of records collected for law-enforcement purposes.

The company received public assistance when it remodeled the shuttered Montgomery Ward building, near Bannister Mall, to open its headquarters. The move was hailed by city leaders as an investment in that part of the East Side, which has been slow to redevelop.

The Missouri Department of Economic Development pledged up to $3.9 million worth of incentives that would allow APT to keep employee withholding taxes for its own use.

APT reported that it had 32 employees when it announced its move to east Kansas City; the company predicted that it would increase that number to 276 over the following five years. But the firm shows signs of financial trouble. Jackson County records show that APT was delinquent in its 2012 and 2013 property-tax bills; the company owes $48,197 through the end of 2013.

Missouri Department of Economic Development officials say that despite being eligible for $3.9 million in benefits, nothing has actually been paid out to APT. A spokeswoman says companies have to be current on their taxes to receive public benefits.

Longtime readers of The Pitch may remember APT President Troy Covey's name. He was profiled in 2001 ("Love Thy Neighbor," November 15, 2001), when he was the pastor of Solomon's Porch. Covey, according to that story, came to Kansas City at God's suggestion, having escaped drugs, alcohol and a failed suicide attempt in New York City in the early 1990s.

Solomon's Porch set up camp in 1999 in Kansas City's Hyde Park neighborhood. The congregation had a rock-and-roll bent to it; the noise, crowds and blasé attitude toward no-parking signs associated with it aggravated some Hyde Park residents.

Covey heard a different call in 2007, when he shifted his attention to motorsports and helped start APT.

The company hummed along quietly until its 2012 move to Bannister Mall, and its profile remained relatively anonymous for a while afterward. But in April, APT showed up again in the local press when the company went public.

APT didn't go public the way most companies do, with teams of lawyers, underwriters and investment bankers working to prepare a lengthy and costly initial public offering of shares to institutional investors. Instead, it did what's called a reverse merger: It bought a barely functional but still publicly traded ice-cream company, replacing the dessert novelties with APT's motorbikes.

A reverse merger is the sneaky way to go public, a path uncluttered by expensive lawyers making sure that regulations are followed and all of the necessary disclosures are made to the public. The lack of that pricey due diligence, however, means more risk to potential investors. Many reverse-merger companies are penny stocks that can't get listed on Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange. APT is no different; its shares trade on OTC Markets Group, a sort of junior varsity of stock exchanges, for fractions of a fraction of a penny.

You wouldn't guess that by reading APT's public statements.

On August 6, APT issued a press release predicting record sales of its products. "We are confident we could double our unit sales in this product line alone next year," Covey said in the statement. "It is clear that momentum is building and when there is momentum, you ride it."

The company's SEC filing on September 15 paints a less optimistic portrait. It discloses a $20 million working-capital deficit.

"The company has incurred significant loses [sic], has a working capital deficit, has negative cash flows from operations, and has past-due liabilities," reads APT's filing. "These factors raise substantial doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern."

Covey did not respond to requests for comment."


Funny...I would have thought Covey would jump at the chance to set these guys "straight"...
but he's probably too busy telling everyone he's be maligned and is going to sue.

LOL!!!

I'm going to be smiling from ear to ear all day long!!!
Best news since the Wells Notice....

Keep 'em coming!!!