Jammin Java Corp (JAMN)

[wholelotamoney]

$JAMN - Jammin’ Java settles allegations with SEC for $700,000

Jammin’ Java must pay within 90 days of the final judgment, which is expected to be approved by the court by Monday

Denver-based Jammin’ Java Corp. will pay $700,000 to the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve allegations of a “pump-and-dump scheme” raised by the agency last year.

In November, the SEC filed a complaint against the company alleging former CEO Shane Whittle had led an illegal securities offering and took part in a stock scheme “that generated at least $78 million in illicit profits.”

Jammin’ Java must pay within 90 days of the final judgment, which is expected to be approved by the court by Monday.


The company, which does business as Marley Coffee, has a market value of $11.1 million, according to Yahoo Finance.

“The lawsuit really challenged our ability to raise capital, which is the fuel necessary to continue our fast pace of growth, but now that this matter is behind us, we believe that it will alleviate some of the concerns of our funding sources and our partners.” Marley Coffee CEO Brent Toevs said in a statement Thursday.

The company’s stock price rose from 17 cents a share in December 2010 to a high of $6.35 on May 12, 2011. Within that week, it dropped as low as 92 cents a share. By the end of 2011, the share price had leveled out around 30 cents. Thursday, Jammin’ Java’s stock price hovered around 8 cents a share.

In a letter to its shareholders Thursday, Marley Coffee said Bob Marley licensing entity 56 Hope Road Music had in late June terminated its 15-year agreement, which the companies had entered into in 2012. But the companies have since decided to enter into a shorter agreement.

“The family just wants to see new checks and balances be put in place so we don’t run into issues with the SEC like we saw before,” Marley Coffee president Anh Tran said in an interview. The contract’s terms are the same and call for better corporate governance and new, independent members of the board of directors, he said.

Also in the letter, the company announced that founder Rohan Marley, the son of the late reggae artist Bob Marley, stepped down as chairman of Jammin’ Java Corp.’s board of directors June 29. He was not one of the nine individuals named in the SEC complaint.

“My objective these days is not to run the company as chairman of the board, but to focus on the day-to-day work of building the ‘Marley Coffee’ brand, being its global ambassador and returning to my roots in coffee farming,” Marley wrote.

Tran said Marley was great at outlining a vision for the company but that he doesn’t want to be encumbered with setting the stage.

“Instead of being bogged down in corporate matters, (Marley) will be working on branding and marketing for the company,” Tran said.

He said although the next chairperson is to be determined, the company has “a couple names we’ve been floating around” and may name someone in the next 72 hours.

Marley Coffee took in $12.3 million in revenue for the fiscal year that ended Jan. 31, Tran said. He expects revenue this fiscal year to top $15 million.

“The biggest impediment for long-term investment has been overhang,” Tran said. “Now that it’s over and there’s a finite number, that we can afford to pay out, it opens the doors for us to grow as a company.”

In 2014, Marley Coffee signed a five-year contract to become the exclusive coffee partner of the Colorado Rapids, the Denver area’s Major League Soccer club. The company also holds agreements with the Denver Broncos and the Colorado Rockies. Tran said none of the three contracts were affected by the SEC complaint.

https://www.denverpost.com/2016/07/07/jammin-java-sec-for-700000/