Petro America Corp. (fka PTRZ)

[Old Hillbilly]

To help you understand, there are two companies named "Petro America Corp" One incorporated in Kansas (associated by the term "church shares") and the other one incorporated in Delaware.( the original name American Southwest Music Distribution, Inc. was changed to Petro America Corp) Please note that the name change was not reported to the SEC or was the change of CEO from Chris Lotto to Owen Hawkins! Because no 14C (click here for an example)was filed, the SEC still has them listed as American Southwest Music Distribution, Inc.
http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?company=&CIK=0001122771&filenum=&State=&SIC=&owner=include&action=getcompany

American Southwest Music Distribution, Inc CIK#: 0001122771 (see all company filings)

SIC: 7011 - HOTELS & MOTELS
State location: CA | State of Inc.: DE | Fiscal Year End: 1231
formerly: GL ENERGY & EXPLORATION INC (filings through 2006-09-14)
formerly: LRS CAPITAL INC (filings through 2001-02-26)
(Assistant Director Office No 8)

could be easily confused with Petro America Corp Kansas (Owen Hawkins was also the CEO): http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001447994&owner=exclude&count=40

PETRO AMERICA CORP CIK#: 0001447994 (see all company filings)

State location: MO | State of Inc.: KS

You may wonder why all the boards started using Petro America Corp PTRZ (formally ASWD) When the SEC still has them listed as American Southwest Music Distribution, Inc. Well another regulatory authority oversees Stock symbols! FINRA and Owen Hawkins acting as the CEO of American Southwest Music Distribution, Inc. applied for a symbol and name change and FINRA granted it without knowing what Owen was up to.
A new law has been passed that will hopefully prevent such shenanigans from happening in the future:

nodummy Saturday, September 11, 2010 11:20:27 PM
Post #6857 (from KS board
I've been reading up on the process for getting a new trading symbol. Sounds like it is done through FINRA simply by paying some kind of processing fee which was only a few hundred dollars depending on which exchange.

Apparently though FINRA's jurisdiction and regulatory authority does not reach very far. They were not privy to certain information about companies and their securities which led to some major concerns by the SEC about companies exploiting the system to further advance their fraudulent activities.

Here is a quote from one very small section of the documents I read:

See, e.g., Commission Order of Suspension of Trading In the Matter of Andros Isle, Corporation, et al., dated March 13, 2008 (File No. 500-1), in which the Commission suspended trading pursuant to Section 12(k) of the Act, 15 U.S.C. 78l(k), in the securities of approximately 26 Pink Sheet securities, stating “[c]ertain persons appear to have usurped the identity of a defunct or inactive publicly traded corporation, initially by incorporating a new entity using the same name, and then by obtaining a new CUSIP number and ticker symbol based on the apparently false representation that they were duly authorized officers, directors and/or agents of the original publicly traded corporation.” See also SEC v. Irwin Boock, Stanton B.J. DeFreitas, Nicolette D. Loisel, Roger L. Shoss, and Jason C. Wong, Birte Boock, and 1621566 Ontario, Inc., Civil Action No. 09 CV 8261 (S.D.N.Y.) (DLC), Litigation Release No. 21243 (October 8, 2009) (Commission Charges Five With Dozens of Fraudulent Corporate Hijackings and Unregistered Offerings of Securities and Names Two Relief Defendants)

Basically the SEC is proposing several changes allowing FINRA more access to information about the companies making certain requests (like symbol changes), requiring FINRA to fully investigate a company to make sure there are no indicators of potential fraud, and requiring FINRA to announce to other other governing agencies when companies are making requests like a symbol change.

Here is a link to the entire document. It goes much much deeper than what I wrote in this post:

http://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/finra/2010/34-62434.pdf

You should read the entire rule, Since Owen or Chris Lotto didn't file the required paperwork its hard for us to tell if "highjacking" occured. According to the affidavit Owen took over ASWD by buying the controlling majority shares.
Your right "What a Mess"
Oh what a web has been woven to deceive?