Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Empire Petroleum leadership dumping stock
RLR Services sold 166,666 shares of Empire Petroleum at 21.83 under rule 144. Who is behind ‘RLR’, none other than the chairman Kamin.
And why has the CEO apparently been selling shares below $11?!
Why would the leadership of an early-stage company be dumping stock like this?
Pump and dump of Empire Petroleum coming to an end?
Hear the gurgling sound of the drain when you watch this stock price?
Phil’s family members with their offshore companies obviously sold huge numbers of shares in the run-up. He did the same with InterOil. Don’t forget Mulacek hid millions of shares offshore and pushed the shares of IOC to 100 while constantly selling.
Then in 2013 the board fired him for cause and in 2017 a full four years later, Exxon bought the company for $50 per share. Not to forget Kina Petroleum listed in Australia which Mulacek controlled. It’s stock went down 90% before Phil delisted it
Empire Petroleum Chairman Kamin dumps 79,166 shares
So Empire Petroleum Chairman Kamin dumped 79,166 shares last week. His crystal ball is working well given the 27.2% dump in the stock from the opening price on the stated 13th June sale date (no surprises the stock took a beating that day given that he dumped more than an entire average day’s volume)
The other insider headline is COO Sweeney acquiring $260k of stock. What the insider headlines don’t say is that he paid just $30k for them, i.e just $2 per share - in an identical transaction to what Phil Mulacek did the week before in the same price and amount. Exercising now whilst these options are still in the money so they can join their chairman in dumping these too and taking a profit whilst they still can?
Woodlands TX77380 : PIE/MineralResources/Empire/EEF
So Energy Evolution Fund works out of the same address as the senior Empire Petroleum team (some via their second jobs with Mineral Resources and PIE also at their Woodlands, TX 77380 address). So again a hedge fund run by the same people who run its largest (publicly listed) investment, Empire Petroleum, and effectively it’s only investment, and who separately control said investment through offshore nominee holdings of family and friends, multiple directorships in their pocket etc. And all these entities with huge 3rd party investments they each have a fiduciary duty towards juggled across their desks at the Mulacek lair of the Woodlands offices with 'compliance officers' also sharing the conflicts….
In last year's announcement Empire Petroleum said that PIE and Mineral Resources (funded by Phil Mulacek) had bought 40% of EMPR Texas. Since then no mention in any of EMPR's SEC filings. Mineral Resources appears to be run by Gerard Jacquin the mysterious financier living in France, together with Phil Mulacek and Alain and Marc Vinson, Phil's nephews. Similarly in August 2020 Empire announced a Securities Purchase Agreement for contractor operator PIE (Phil’s private investment company since 1981) to have the opportunity to own up to 40% of Empire equity and two board seats….what came of this?!
The Mulacek web of corruption worsens...
So right out of the blue Phil Mulacek is appointed Chief Investment Officer of Energy Evolution Fund, with no news or press releases anywhere, straight below the radar on the qt……but no surprise after son Sterling had been telling colleagues in recent months he wouldn’t go to jail for his dad….now Sterling will be able to say he was ‘only obeying orders’ if and when the hammer of justice falls on his charade of a fund
So we now have a web of corruption and horrific conflicts that defy all description and show just how desperate these characters now are to keep this house of cards upright :-
Phil Mulacek is simultaneously the Chair of Empire Petroleum and the Chief Investment Officer of its largest investor, Energy Evolution Fund based offshore in Cayman
Mason Matschke is simultaneously main board Director of Empire Petroleum and Chief Compliance Officer of its largest investor, Energy Evolution Fund
Phil has three Empire Petroleum directorships in his pocket as owner of the Series A Voting Preferred Stock issued by Empire as reward for a major investment in the company by his son’s Energy Evolution Fund (thanks son!). Aside from his covert control of the stock (of which more below), Phil now openly controls both the Fund and its largest investment (almost its only investment), Empire Petroleum. Don’t let us wake you up there SEC!
Energy Evolution Fund has almost all its capital invested in Empire Petroleum. Sounds like a sound strategy to invest almost all your capital in a company controlled by your dad (now your Chief Investment Officer) and on whose board sits your Chief Compliance Officer? Know any Chief Compliance Officer anywhere else who wouldn’t have RUN from this situation?
The heart of this scheme has been Phil’s coordinating the trading of Empire shares between his family, friends, minor employees, cronies and their offshore nominees, trusts etc (the people who own almost all the shares in reality) in an orchestrated and rotational manner to make it look like a stellar never-ending performance. This then makes the fund performance look incredible (it’s all-in invested in Empire!) and lets them pull 3rd party investor money into the fund that is then wholly under their control and which they can pump into the company and keep this sordid ferris wheel spinning….
Did the Mulaceks invest big personal cash in the fund? As far as we can see it was instead in-kind subscriptions of Empire shares into the fund that got them their stake in the fund and got the fund invested in Empire. In other words they put in just cheap paper they already owned before they then inflated it. Great scheme as long as nobody notices what you are up to….
EP trades like a microcap pump-n-dump
EP closed at 24.7 on 6th May (last Friday)
EP reached a low on 9th May (this past Monday) of 18.08 (down 27%!) before closing at 19.46 (down over 21%)
Yes the S&P was down 3% from 6th to 9th but astonishingly this massive drop in EP occured with NO INCREASE IN DAILY VOLUME above the mediocre 60k-share average daily volume of late
This is not remotely how a $400m+ market cap stock just uplisted to the NYSE should trade. This is not an investable characteristic for a company like this. It shows something is very very wrong with the liquidity and share structure of this company - that when a real owner (there must be some) takes just a few small chips off the table the whole thing lurches to one side. Consistent with what we have been saying for a long time - this is a charade with shares being rotated amongst a coordinated group of friends/family/colleagues controlled by the Mulaceks
Phil Mulacek given three Empire directors as gift from son
In case you still didn’t believe that Phil Mulacek controls Empire Petroleum lock, stock and barrel have a read of their 8-K report :-
“On March 8, 2022, the Company filed the Certificate of Designation with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware and immediately thereafter the Company issued the Series A Voting Preferred Stock to Phil Mulacek”
What exactly is the Series A Voting Preferred Stock? Well read below from the 8-K. Phil got this Stock ostensibly because of his son Sterling’s fund investing almost all its money in Empire (was it a fathers day gift?). Gives Phil no less than THREE directors in his pocket! This in a company whose shareholder roster consists largely of his friends, family or cronies, mostly via their offshore trusts or nominees
“As partial consideration for a strategic investment in the Company by Energy Evolution (Master Fund), Ltd. (the “Fund”), the Board announced that it intends to issue six shares of Preferred Stock (the “Series A Voting Preferred Stock”) with the exclusive right to vote for election of three Directors (the “Series A Directors”), and to issue the Series A Voting Preferred Stock to Phil Mulacek, one of the principals of the Fund, as the Fund’s designee pursuant to a Certificate of Designation of Series A Voting Preferred Stock (the “Certificate of Designation”).”
Suspicious Related Party Transactions in Empire Petroleum
Take a look at the very intriguing Related Party Transactions in the Empire Petroleum annual report just out https://sec.report/Document/0001753926-22-000383/
So in May 2021 Empire Petroleum, co-chaired by Phil Mulacek (who with his friends&cronies controls a vast amount of the company’s shares) sold a $16.25m Senior Secured convertible note issue to his son Sterling Mulacek’s Energy Evolution Fund (which already had almost all its capital invested in Empire Petroleum). This $16.25m loan attracted some extremely odd features including a debt discount of $2.2 million and non-cash interest expense of $7.4 million
Could they not find anyone else to finance this publicly listed company other than the Chairman’s son’s fund?
The loan was modified not just once but twice in the months that followed (including on Dec 30th in a good old end-of-year transaction) with large parts of the loan being exchanged for more shares and warrants in Empire Petroleum exerciseable at just $5 per share. Were these negotiations conducted over a Mulacek family barbecue?
More than this, in May they also did a $3.24m unsecured convert issue and disclosed this was to investors that also ‘included’ Sterling Mulacek’s fund again (was he almost all of it?). New wrinkle this time was the “Company’s Chief Executive Officer and President collectively offered to each investor the right to purchase a number of shares of common stock equal to 40% of such investor’s principal balance” at just $3 per share…..which somehow resulted in a $1m ‘non-cash expense’ to Empire based ‘on the contributions made on its behalf’!
Mulacek &relatives embroiled in numerous lawsuits worldwide
A quick google search for "phil mulacek lawsuit" is enough for anyone to see that Phil Mulacek is embroiled in numerous ongoing and major lawsuits around the world in jurisdictions including the USA and Singapore. As you will see this now comprises a large number of defendants including several of his relatives
See any disclosure about this given he is a director of Empire Petroleum? None whatsoever. At the same time he continues to covertly control the company, its share price and the trading in its stock by orchestrating circular trades through his family & associates, their front companies and nominees (not least his son's fund Energy Evolution which invests almost all its capital in the company)
How long will the SEC and FBI go to sleep on this one? Until the 'dump' stage of this operation perhaps
Mother Of All Conflicts EP/EEF/Phil/Sterling
#EmpirePetroleum #EnergyEvolutionFund #SterlingMulacek #PhilMulacek #MasonMatschke pic.twitter.com/mMYCNBbbFU
— StockFraudExposer (@StockExposer) April 11, 2022
Empire Petroleum secretly controlled by Phil Mulacek & his cronies
Sterling Mulacek Trust. Phil himself, PIE, and Gerard. The latter lived at the same address, 10 Newton Road, Gloucester House, as Phil and Marc Vinson. Gerard is a Director of Asian Oil and Gas with Phil and shares the office at Shaw House in Singapore with Phil and Marc Vinson. Gerard is one of the beneficial owners of Pacific Brunei which got transferred from Brunei to BVI. He is a Director of Asian Gas Partners BVI. He is the owner of Mineral Resources Acquisitions BVI which guarantees the debts of Global Oil and Gas in BVI, together with Phil. He is the nominee for Phil and held over 16% of Kina Petroleum which was then delisted by Phil and moved to BVI. Gerard is a French citizen and was a French tax resident until 2015 when he moved to Singapore. As a Singapore Employment Pass holder he can act as Nominee as he does not have to pay any tax in Singapore on monies earned and held outside of Singapore. He probably holds lots of monies through various offshore companies for Phil himself. Phil went to meet him 5 weeks ago in person near Paris as Gerard wants out. Gerard mentioned as selling shareholder in Empire Petroleum holding over 3 million shares, now 750'000 shares.
Are you the "Ted" that has monopolized the Yahoo discussion board on this stock?
The labyrinthine offshore world of the Mulaceks
The same Mulacek cast of characters who control Empire Petroleum have been using offshore structures and criminal lawyers like Mossack Fonseca (all as here, in Seychelles) to hide ownership and control of assets for years now....
The same Mulacek cast of characters who control Empire Petroleum have been using offshore structures and criminal lawyers like Mossack Fonseca (all as here, in Seychelles) to hide ownership and control of assets for years now.... pic.twitter.com/IbDTvct6AU
— StockFraudExposer (@StockExposer) April 1, 2022
Latest Mulacek meltdown episode at Empire Petroleum
So the original Empire Petroleum shareholders, who let the Mulaceks in to start this whole saga, just flew from Tulsa (the official but fake Empire Petroleum headquarters) to Texas (the real Headquarters and centre of the Mulacek empire of companies, conspiracies and funds) to find out what the hell is going on. In the process, apopletic with rage, the original shareholders decided to ban all employees from henceforth bringing any personal phones or laptops into the building so they can monitor who everyone is speaking to. The subpoenas are flying, senior people are quitting and people are getting very, very nervous.....
Empire Petroleum / ominous occurences
Some observations :-
- Intentional Misstatements or Omissions are Federal Criminal Violations in the context of corporate filings or disclosures. Mulacek companies are litered with serious examples of these as per previous posts
- Empire Petroleum market cap is $350m but company is expected to lose $35m this year. Is being set up for a giant pump and dump
- This just as Phil Mulacek and his cousin Gerard Jacquin did previously with Kina Petroleum which they delisted and moved to BVI after it had lost 90% of its value. Perhaps Empire Petroleum will move to Cayman where one of its largest shareholders is domiciled, the Energy Evolution Fund managed by Phil's son Sterling Mulacek
Broker got 1.2m EP shares Mulacek payoff for doing what?
What exactly is the involvement of Raymond James broker Kenneth Man-Keung Lee in facilitating the circuitous stock trades of Empire Petroleum through the Phil Mulacek network? The trades which have seen a multi-hundred million dollar market cap arise on the back of negligible trading volume across a shareholder roster consisting almost entirely of Phil’s family, associates, employees and his son Sterling Mulacek’s Energy Evolution Fund
How did Mr Lee come to own 1.2m shares of Empire Petroleum in a trust? Presumably a payoff from the Mulaceks but for doing what exactly?
Former Raymond James broker Mason Matschke scandalously serves as director of Empire Petroleum and simultaneously as Chief Compliance Officer of the aforementioned Energy Evolution Fund which bizarrely has almost all its capital invested in one stock : Empire Petroleum. As a broker Mason had to pay seven figure settlements to his clients but this is clearly no bar to serving as a compliance officer for the Mulaceks…..will Mr Lee also be joining the Mulacek payroll in some capacity in due course?
*Sterling Mulacek subpoenaed in case involving Phil Mulacek*
Sterling Mulacek has been served a subpoena to provide a deposition in a case involving his father, Phil Mulacek. Phil controls Empire Petroleum through a network of family & friend holdings and through Sterling’s ‘Energy Evolution Fund’ which has almost all its capital invested in Empire Petroleum
And Sterling is not alone amongst Phil’s inner circle in receiving a subpoena. This follows a spate of resignations of senior employees in recent weeks in Phil’s companies and amid internal turmoil and disquiet at recent occurences in the companies
Massive warrant selling now possible
See the statement of selling shareholders of October 2021. Over 1,500,000 shares from underlying warrants become free trading after exercise (following recent uplist) and would be sold into the market. Buyers beware.....!!!
Empire Petroleum dumping below uplist price, down ~20% today
This company is in reality owned and controlled by one guy, Phil Mulacek..as detailed on previous posts here
....and now the other employees etc with shares and warrants are heading for the exits.....as we said they would as the inner circle is in disarray over the whole charade.....question is how much is the Energy Evolution Fund selling? This is the fund controlled by Phil's son Sterling that has almost all its capital in this one stock and has a director of Empire serving as their own Chief Compliance Officer (mother of all conflicts!)
Phil Mulacek controls Empire Petroleum with family holdings
So Phil Mulacek has 17.72% of Empire Petroleum, PIE (controlled by Phil) has 2.28%, Sterling Mulacek (Phil’s son) has 1.77% and Energy Evolution Fund (managed by Sterling) has 26.73%. This all adds up to 48.5%
Add in nephews Alain and Marc and cousin Gerard Jacquin and Christian Vinson and sister Michelle (see selling shareholder statement) and you are way above 50%. Phil controls this company which is just what he did with Kina Petroleum before it lost 90%
Following this uplist everyone’s warrants are exercisable and now they are heading for the exits….watch the price dump
EMPR moved to the NYSE AMEX from the OTC:
https://otce.finra.org/otce/dailyList?viewType=Deletions
Chaos at Mulacek Ground Zero
From all we hear it’s chaos right now at the ground zero of the Mulaceks dastardly intertwined empire of financial malfeasance, at the Woodlands in Texas. This is where Energy Evolution Fund managed by Sterling Mulacek invests almost all of its investor’s capital in his Dad’s company Empire Petroleum, all under the same roof. A place where some truly shocking financial misdeeds have been quietly planned and executed, as we have detailed on other posts here
But now key people are leaving, others are nowhere to be found and many more are very worried that investigations by the authorities are imminent…. how much longer can this continue?
Who is behind the Fund propping up Empire Petroleum?
Energy Evolution Fund is managed by Sterling Mulacek, son of the Chair of Empire Petroleum in which almost all the Fund’s capital is invested!
To adopt such a risky (not to mention completely inappropriate) investment strategy, is Sterling blessed with a long track record and decades of experience? No. He has some five years in the business!
Do his team members compensate? Well Mark Vinson has little more experience than Sterling and Patrick O’Donnell was a career Information Technology guy at UBS. Comfortable trusting these guys with your own capital in a spectacularly concentrated and conflicted investment strategy?
But then if all they do is pump their investors’ capital into Daddy’s company why do they need an investment team at all?!
Mason Matschke &Empire Petroleum's Outrageous Conflicts
The Mulaceks use of Mason Matschke and the outrageous conflicts this creates are so stunning they illustrate the scale of what is going on in the Mulacek web of collusion between Empire Petroleum and Energy Evolution Fund. And this is just what we can see from the public disclosures! Ask yourself why they would be forced into doing something so shady? When will the SEC or FINRA act on this? To summarise :-
- Mason Matschke is the former stockbroker who now sits as the Chief Compliance Officer for the Energy Evolution Fund managed by Sterling Mulacek. Mason is the former personal broker for Phil Mulacek (Sterling’s dad and the Chair of Empire Petroleum)
- This would be a bizarre appointment for a veteran stockbroker in any circumstances but given Matschke’s FINRA disclosure history, involving him paying settlements reaching well into seven-figure levels for his unfortunate clients, why would anyone suddenly transform him into a Chief Compliance Officer for their fund?!
- Energy Evolution Fund has almost all of its capital invested in Empire Petroleum, whose board Matschke sits on! Since when does a fund Chief Compliance Officer also sit on the board of the company in which almost all the fund’s capital is invested (few funds in the world can have so concentrated an investment 'strategy')! Could there possibly be any greater conflict of interest for someone charged with compliance?
Another secretive jurisdiction chosen by Phil Mulacek..
MinRes BVI of Gerard Jacquin guaranteeing debts of Global Oil and Gas Ltd., registered in Brunei Daressalaam. Yet another secretive jurisdiction chosen by Phil Mulacek. How many more are there ?
EMPR last-hour trading spikes
Just another average trading day for Empire Petroleum with it bounching 6% in the last hour of trading (from 2.805 to 2.96) on just 2,000 shares....these boys won't and can't (at least for now) let it close more than a few cents below $3. They have far too much riding on it not least the track record of Energy Evolution Fund managed by Sterling Mulacek (son of Empire Petroleum chair Phil Mulacek) which has most of its capital in this stock(!). At least their life is made easy by there clearly being so few real external shareholders that there isn't much selling for them to mop up. But watch out below when they decide to exit themselves......
More nefarious Mulacek dealings.....
https://casedocs.omniagentsolutions.com/cmsvol2/pub_47213/724520_908.pdf
Bankruptcy of Zetta Jets Pte Ltd., Singapore. Ojets involved.
See exhibit B, page 5 of 16, line 21. Ojets, a Bahamas company. Another one of Phil Mulacek's offshore companies with Sterling Mulacek and Marc Vinson.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1221715/000114420416099079/v439019_ex99-3.htm
Lawsuit in 2016 by Phil Mulacek and Sterling Mulacek Trust and Gerard Jacquin, the mysterious French financier and cousin of Phil Mulacek, against Exxon. Then 92% of InterOil shareholders voted for Exxon and against Phil.
https://energyevolutionfund.com/testimonials/mason-matschke/
Mason is Chief Compliance Officer of Energy Evolution Fund. Did he do KYC on all offshore investors in Energy Evolution Fund and in Empire Petroleum and establish the beneficial owners as is required? What are the results?
The labyrinthine offshore world of the Mulaceks
Remember the Panama papers, and more recently the Pandemic papers? It all started with leaks at the Panama law firm of Mossack Fonseca. They were shut down and face criminal charges over alleged money laundering and helping fraudsters. They obviously deny this.
There is a Sterling Mulacek Trust formed in the Seychelles, (another secretive tax haven) managed by Phil Mulacek. The address is c/o Mossack Fonseca, Seychelles ! Is this another entity that invested in stock of Empire Petroleum? Is this another investor in Energy Evolution Master Fund, domiciled in the secretive Cayman Islands, managed by Sterling Mulacek and Alain and Marc Vinson, the newphews of Phil ?
Phil and Marc Vinson seem to pop up everywhere. There is even a Cyprus company that they manage. Maybe this is yet another one of the entities that secretly invested. Cyprus of course is being shut down by the European Union as it turns out that certain Russian Oligarchs and other unsavory people used Cyprus entities to launder money.
Mineral Resources is another company that according to an Empire news release of last year bought 40% of Empire Texas. Since then that name has disappeared and is never mentioned again. Phil and Marc are in there too, but the secretive French financier Gerard Jacquin owns it, although according to the Empire news release at the time, Phil has funded that entity.
One wonders who is keeping track of all those offshore entities and the related money flows for Phil and his nephews. That someone had better be prepared to answer these questions soon...
Giant Red Flags for Mulacek Fund& EMPR
1. being invested overwhelmingly in one stock (Empire Petroleum)
2. said stock being managed by your father
3. much of your capital being contributed by your father/associates in the form of in-kind investments of stock and/or warrants in the same company you are overwhelmingly invested in
Red flags for a fund dont come much bigger than these three!
Our advice for Sterling? Take a read of the RICO act and hire a good lawyer fast
What happens when the EMPR selling begins?
EMPR will obviously contemplate an uplisting to a major exchange. It will have to do a large reverse stock split as it will then be hit with huge selling. After an uplisting all restricted shares and warrants become free trading. And employees will be bailing out. After all this stock should not be worth more than 75 cents
And this will kill the phony performance of Energy Evolution Fund as well. Watch out below once that fund has to start selling. Add to that that this is a secretive Cayman Islands fund with minimal regulation for funds in this jurisdiction
Mulacek dodgy warrant transactions
A look at the 13D filing of Phil Mulacek published by Empire on the 12th April 2021 reveals a totally confusing number of transactions. Among them that Phil assigned 825k warrants at 50 cents to "an unaffiliated party". Well, wasn't that Energy Evolution Fund run by Sterling Mulacek and Phil Mulacek and Alain and Marc Vinson, his nephews ? Is this called an unaffiliated party ? And the 13D shows Mulacek owning 13'694'185 shares then, or some 24% whereas his latest SEC filing on 9/28/21 shows 13'148'085 shares, according to Bloomberg.
Is Phil back to his old games of not reporting his trading, just as he did with InterOil ?
Or did the 825k warrants really go to an "unaffiliated party" that would then help in holding the stock up at the $ 3 level? Phil needs all the help he can get to manipulate the EMPR stock higher. Look at the roster of investors again. Mason Matschke used to manage all of Phil's offshore accounts when he was at Raymond James. Wonder what else he knows about all the offshore holders showing up now. After all, Mason was involved in promoting also Kina Petroleum, the stock which was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. Phil was the largest shareholder followed by the mysterious French financier Gerard Jacquin and then also Alain Vinson owned 6%, and Phil's friend Lasco owned a large position too. Just as they do now in EMPR. Kina lost 90% before Phil decided to delist it and move the company to the BVI. So all his friends lost a lot of money and that's probably why he is offering them tons of warrants in EMPR. The one reason to move to the BVI is Secrecy. No prying eyes, no transparency, no need for financials, no regulators.
And Phil Mulacek is so proud of his achievements at InterOil that he continues to claim in the Empire news releases that that stock went to $ 100. Well, it actually did, for just one day, then 5 years later (yes that is five years) the company gets taken over by Exxon at $ 50. Shows that Phil is a good stock promoter but a lousy operator. Why else would the Founder and CEO of InterOil be forced out by the Board in March 2013 and the company gets taken over in 2017 ?
EMPR bizarre trading activity
so this stock has been bouncing around by almost 10% on trades of little more than $100 bucks this morning! But fear not, those operating this thing will come in before the close and buy enough to print a nice close. But heaven help any real owners out there, of any size, (if there any) who ever decide to exit.....
Mulacek's changing bankers
It seems that UBS now banks the Mulaceks after JPMorgan kicked them all out in 2014 for reasons unknown. Quite strange for JPM to wilingly lose a client like Mulacek, wonder what they found in his accounts?
Whatever happened to Mineral Resources?
In last year's announcement Empire Petroleum said that PIE and Mineral Resources (funded by Phil Mulacek) had bought 40% of EMPR Texas. Since then no mention in any of EMPR's SEC filings (again don't let us wake you from your slumber there SEC.....). Mineral Resources appears to be run by Gerard Jacquin the mysterious financier living in France, together with Phil Mulacek and Alain and Marc Vinson, Phil's nephews. Spend any time looking at the trading activity, filings and shareholder roster and you start to wonder if there any shares in Empire Petroleum not controlled directly or indirectly by the Mulaceks.....
More Empire Petroleum &Energy Evolution Fund manipulations
So how real a 'company' is Empire Petroleum? Well yesterday 100 shares traded at 2.77 and right after just 4,500 shares of selling tanked the stock down to 2.27. I.e. just over $10k of selling tanked this stock 50 cents - almost 20% - and wiped almost $40m off the market cap in a split second. This before the people behind this operation gathered the troops and managed to cover up the damage the 'real' seller had done by buying it back up to close at $2.95. Even the pump n' dumpers in Belize dont let themselves look quite this obvious. Dont let us wake you up there SEC....All of this consistent with a company held by friends, family, fools and/or their (generally offshore) nominees in a tight knit group controlled by the Mulaceks
But this is only half of the scheme. The other half is the Energy Evolution Fund in Texas controlled by Phil's son Sterling. This has the vast majority of its capital deployed in Empire Petroleum, with Phil contributing much of its Empire Holdings in in-kind subscriptions (nice way tfor him to exit this dog without having to sell it in the open market like the poor sap did yesterday heh). As Empire Petroleum share price is moved up it generates 'performance' in this fund they hope will let them raise money into it to keep the whole charade alive and let them take real cash out.
Remember also that the Cayman Islands Fund has a feeder fund in USA which purports to channel investors funds to the Caymans where there is no regulatory oversight and that Fund can make any investment its managers want. And they are Sterling Mulacek and Marc Vinson who allegedly did a $ 350 million farm out deal but no details are released. Highly suspect. Phil Mulacek assigned all these EMPR positions to the Fund to help out Sterling and Marc whose investments clearly did not live up to expectations. That's why Phil needs to desperately hold up the price of EMPR. If Energy Evolution Fund ever had redemptions and had to sell EMPR securities this stock would of course collapse.
Phil Mulacek's labyrinthine offshore shenanigans
What does Phil Mulacek who now has taken full control of Empire Petroleum need to hide abroad? Why has he been using offshore companies since the 1990's? Companies in Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Barbados, Turks and Caicos, Seychelles, Cyprus, British Virgin Islands. All of them jurisdictions where one cannot find out who the Directors are, who the shareholders are, and where there is no transparency about financial transactions and no Regulator looking over your shoulder. Mulacek and cousin Gerard Jacquin took control of Kina Petroleum which was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. After the stock price collapsed by 90% Phil delisted the stock and moved the company to the British Virgin Islands, since then escaping any scrutiny of his actions by any Regulator. Is he going to do the same with Empire ? Will it end up in the Cayman Islands too?
Mulacek father&son cross-manipulation between EMPR&EEF
The sales of shares by President and CEO of Empire at $ 0.75, reported earlier, have suddenly disappeared from the Bloomberg page showing the major shareholders.
But the latest information filed by Empire about Energy Evolution Master Fund (EEF) is quite revealing (see SEC link at bottom).
"To incentivize Phil Mulacek to lend money to EMPR an executive officer agreed to sell 600'000 shares at $ 0.75 to Phil, who assigned such right to EEF. EEF exercised such rights on May 27, 2021". But failed to report it, or the executive officer failed to report it.
What a generous guy this Phil Mulacek must be! He assigned 100'00 shares at $ 0.10 of EMPR, then another 255'000 shares at $ 0.141, then 300'000 shares and 300'000 wts at 0.50 to EEF.
Then he assigns 600'000 wts at $ 0.50 to EEF. Obviously he needs to improve the performance of EEF which is managed by Sterling Mulacek, his son.
It gets even better, in May 2021 Phil converted a note of $ 1,2 million and contributed the 1,2 million shares to EEF. In June 2021 "third parties" transferred 2,1 million shares to EEF on the basis of $ 0.75 per share (way below the market price at the time). Again, this obviously has to do with the sales earlier reported by some members of management. But the dates don't jive.
All in all, an intricate and tangled web of strange transactions showing very low or no transparency. Manipulated by Phil Mulacek. Getting a stock to rise on almost no volume with trades between one tight knit group of shareholders you control and then using that to generate track record in a fund your son manages, presumably with the aim of pulling some real money into supporting this charade
EEF is incorporated in Cayman Islands and we remind everybody of all the offshore companies used by Phil Mulacek to hide his investments and controls of public companies. Think of SPI, his earliest company in 1996. One was in Bahamas, one in Cayman Islands, then he issued 5,1 million shares of SPI to CTI Bahamas which he controlled, and later converted those into shares of Interoil, the public company, piecemeal, and then those shares slowly disappeared. Then in 2007 Phil gets sued for fraud and breach of fiduciary duties by his partners who laid the foundation for the very Interoil in 1996. Phil settles. And his cousin, Gerard Jacquin, a French citizen residing at Enghien-Les-Bains, pops up everywhere. Suing Exxon in 2016 together with Phil Mulacek, as large investor in Kina Petroleum, large investor in EMPR
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/887396/000107261322000036/energyevolution_13d-18583.htm
Check out the bizarre list of biggest EMPR shareholders on bloomberg
Under number 40 comes Michelle Vinson (formerly Michelle Mulacek!) And since when did she start controlling the Sterling Mulacek Trust? And what about the Seychelles Trust? These are all to deflect from the fact that Phil Mulacek actually controls all these entities and uses his friends and family (eg Gerard Jacquin, Marc Vinson, his buddy Lasco ex of IOC and Kina Petroleum)
And notice Shirleen Foo on the list too. She is Phil Mulacek's personal assistant in the Singapore Offce! How did she and many of the others on the list qualify to be accredited investors for the SEC in recent offerings?
How many EMPR shares hidden in Mulacek offshore companies?
Why do Phil Mulacek and his family keep hiding their assets abroad? Commodities Trading International in Bahamas, controlled by Phil, held 5,1 million shares of Interoil which Phil failed to declare. There are at least 3 other companies in Brunei and BVI and one in Cyprus that Phil controls. And a Trust in the Seychelles... why go to all these secret tax havens? Wonder how many shares of Empire are hidden there?
More sinister red flags on Empire Petroleum....
Form S8 filed by EMPR on November 24th indemnified all directors from any civil or criminal complaint filed against them and says the Company will advance legal fees and expenses. Does Empire anticipate any lawsuits? Why should shareholders pay for that?!
Can they identify the employees of the Houston office that are selling shareholders. Are they ALL accredited investors?! And the shelf filing only mentions PIE whereas in the 2020 news release it says that PIE and Mineral Resources bought 40% of Empire Texas. Where did Mineral Resources go? Another false statement and false SEC filing?
On 9/28 the CEO and President exercised 343,000 shares each and sold them at $0.75 each when the stock that day traded between 1.60 to close at 1.83 so was a prearranged trade. Who bought the shares? CEO and president obviously thought that selling at $0.75 was a good idea - why should anybody now buy anywhere near $2.80?
Again why was Phil Mulacek forced to quit as CEO of IOC (of which he is apparently so proud) by their board in 2013? What skeletons in that cupboard did the board discover? He drilled five unsuccessful wells before Antelope and the second well drilled was a duster. In 2016 Mulacek and his cousin Gerard Jacquin (largest shareholder in Kina Petroleum and EMPR), a french resident, sued Exxon to thwart the takeover of IOC and they proposed an alternate board - but 92% of shareholders voted in favour of Exxon
Oh and look out for the 100 share closing trade at end of most days when the stock is re-traded across the vast bid/ask spread to price it at the offer….barely a few thousand shares trade each day in this ‘company’ with a $200m+ ‘market cap’ that has apparently soared without trace and picked up barely any external liquidity/interest or real volume along the way(!) Makes you wonder who is ‘trading’ these few traded shares and with whom. Talk about red flags galore all over this thing…..
A 100 share trade just popped EMPR 20%+
So market cap of this 'company' just popped by tens of millions of dollars when someone (I wonder who?!) bought a measly 100 shares for a few hundred bucks taking share price from $2.35 (down 10% this morning) to $2.83 (up 9% this morning). Stand aside, stand aside, nothing to see here lol!!!
Empire Petroleum a stock manipulation? Well read their 10Q and decide for yourself but note the following :-
In March 2021 EMPR issued 3.5m shares for 15cents to PIE (controlled by Mulacek) and issues warrants for 2.625m shares at 20cents, 1.8m shares at 25cents, 8.136m shares at 10 cents, 11.066m shares at 14cents. All 23.627 shares converted for $3.349m. Today worth over $70m
The loan of $16.25m by Energy Evolution (controlled by Mulacek) contains a convertible feature for 5.2m shares at $1.24. Read 9, convertible notes payable. They got another 3million warrants at $1, amended the loan agreement on September 29th (when the stock was at $2) and exchanged $6.5m into 5.305m shares at $1.22 and got another 2m warrants at $1.25. Then Empire New Mexico gives rights to Energy Evolution to buy 600,000 shares at $0.75
During Feb/March 21 a group of investors gets 8,993,858 shares at $0.5
Read 12, Related Party Transactions. Again note that PIE is controlled by Mulacek
The President signs off saying “disclosure controls and procedures were not effective”
Energy Evolution LP and Energy Evolution Master Fund are controlled by Phil Mulacek
Petroleum Independent and Mineral Resources are controlled by Mulacek. Together these entities hold over 44% of Empire and will hold a 50% interest in Empire Texas. Although the 10Q lists PIE with holding 18% of Empire (see above warrant issues) on Bloomberg PIE is listed as holding 2.28% and Phil Mulacek as holding 17.69%. False Disclosure. And most of the employees in the Houston and Singapore offices of Mulacek are listed in the shelf as “ selling shareholders”
Empire itself made an investment in Energy Evolution Ltd (again controlled by Mulacek) but the investment was “terminated” in August 2021. Seems Mulacek just switches money around in related party transactions as he needs to best handle his own interests. And the Board just signs off. They all got huge stock options at 33 cents.
Arkanova, Mulacek’s other company, held assets in Montana. Are these the Montana assets mentioned in the 10Q (Property And Equipment)? EMPR bought these dirt cheap from Arkanova in bankruptcy and then sells at a profit of 1,173,760 to make EMPR look smart and to toast Akva creditors?
This company is obviously totally at the mercy of the Mulaceks who will continue to issue themselves cheap warrants and to deals that benefit PIE, Energy Evolution and Mulacek himself and his cronies to the detriment of the other shareholders
Is a pump and dump coming?
Empire / Mulacek Lawsuits / Kina
In 2017 Mulacek and his family, including Gerard Jacquin, the cousin living in France, and friend Lasco, took control of Kina Petroleum, listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. Was the same shareholder list as Empire. In 2020 Mulacek delisted Kina from the exchange and moved it to BVI, where no authorities can check on him. Kina is now down 90%. Mulacek controls several entities in that tax haven. Is this the future for Empire also?
Mulacek Shenanigans......The news release of Empire of 8/11/2020 states that PIE (owned by Phil Mulacek) and Mineral Resources (financed in 2016 by Phil Mulacek) bought 40% of Empire for $ 3,375 million and a loan of $ 2 million. So Empire which today has a market cap of $ 230 million owns only 60% of the properties? Energy Evolution Fund, owned by Mulacek, owns 20% of EMPR which means that Mulacek and his family members own over 40% of the outstanding shares of EMPR. With Mulacek on the Board now, doesn't this represent a conflict of interest? The purchase price of the Mulaceks was 50 cents per share. Most of the employees of Mulacek in the Houston office and in the Singapore office own shares at that price too and are all listed as "selling shareholders" in the shelf-filing. Are the employees bailing out? Is Mulacek telling them to sell? check the news release for "About Petroleum Independent, PIE LLC" containing multiple false statements. Mulacek first raised money from partners at $ 1, among them Nikiski Partners, in 1996. Then Interoil raised money in an IPO at $ 5 and the stock went down to 50 cents. Then it started rising and it did hit $ 109 for one day in 2013, before then crashing all the way back to $ 30. Interoil was then taken over by Exxon in 2017 (4 years later) at $ 50. Meanwhile, in early 2013 Mulacek was forced out as CEO by the Board of Interoil. His first partners, Nikiski, sued Mulacek for fraud and breach of fiduciary duty in 2009 and Mulacek settled the lawsuit in 2010 with total payments of over $ 50 million. Note that Interoil issued a news release saying that the lawsuit had nothing to do with Interoil itself. Only 3 months later Interoil announced that they paid $ 12 million for settling the lawsuit (that they had nothing to do with). No word about Mulacek himself having paid a large amount of money to the Plaintiffs to settle. Mulacek claims that Interoil's Antelope 2 well tested at 755 mcf, but in reality it was a still impressive 708 mcf. He also claims that Interoil found certified 10TCF of gas. Exxon in the takeover certified 7,2TCF. So is Empire now under Mulacek continuing the Interoil saga of issuing false and misleading news releases?
EMPR buy 3.2000
https://empirepetroleumcorp.com/
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/EMPR/profile?p=EMPR
https://www.barchart.com/stocks/quotes/EMPR
https://finviz.com/quote.ashx?t=EMPR
https://www.stockconsultant.com/consultnow/basicplus.cgi?symbol=EMPR
https://stockcharts.com/c-sc/sc?chart=EMPR,uu[e,a]dhclyiay[uu][pb5!b10!b50!b100!b200!d20,2!h.02,.20!f][vb5!b20][iut!lv8!lk9!LE12,26,9!ll14!la6,13,5!la8,17,9!la12,26,9!uc14!ub14!ub6!lo!lp7,3!lh9,3!LI14,3!lxa!ld8!lq!lg14!lf14][j20444984,y]&r=3555b
https://www.barchart.com/etfs-funds/quotes/EMPR/technical-chart?plot=CANDLE&volume=toEMPR&data=DO&density=X&pricesOn=1&asPctChange=0&logscale=1&indicators=TREND&sym=EMPR&grid=1&height=500&studyheight=100&timeframe=2%20Months
normal chart
log chart
normal chart
log chart
Hey CashCow, I don't see a R/S? also is Empress Royalty and Empire the same company?
wow a R/S? 1-4 on an already low share count and a OTCQB. Unreal.
This thing was dead for so long and I had a hunch to take a position at .30 and now look.
Does this thing not trade anymore? Must be over valued
Followers
|
15
|
Posters
|
|
Posts (Today)
|
0
|
Posts (Total)
|
184
|
Created
|
07/08/06
|
Type
|
Free
|
Moderators |
Empire Petroleum Corporation (“Empire”) (OTCQB:EMPR) announced today that it has acquired producing oil and gas assets located in Billings, Bottineau, Bowman, Burke, McHenry, McKenzie, Mountrail, Renville, Stark & Williams counties in North Dakota and Richland & Sheridan counties in Montana through its wholly owned subsidiary, Empire North Dakota LLC. The assets were acquired from EnergyQuest II, LLC, in a transaction that has been previously reported by Empire in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In connection with financing for the acquisition, Empire’s wholly owned subsidiaries, Empire Louisiana LLC d/b/a Empire Louisiana of Delaware and Empire North Dakota LLC entered into a first amendment of Empire’s existing senior revolver loan agreement with CrossFirst Bank located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The first amendment increased (a) the initial revolver commitment from $1,350,000 to $9,000,000 and (b) and the maximum principal amount that may be advanced from $5,000,000 to $20,000,000.
The acquired producing assets are comprised of 184 producing oil and gas wells with predictable, low decline production profiles, low risk workover opportunities, undeveloped new drilling opportunities and other potential operating and production enhancements to improve unit operating costs and improve existing margins. The properties are currently producing approximately 375 BOEPD (Barrels of Oil Equivalent per Day), net to the Empire’s working interest and encompasses approximately 20,700 acres of leasehold. Empire North Dakota LLC will operate 139 wells, 19 in Montana and 120 in North Dakota.
“Our combined assets are now producing over 450 BOEPD, primarily oil,” stated Mike Morrisett, President. “The experienced team at CrossFirst Bank did an outstanding job processing an amendment to our original loan and facilitating the timely acquisition of these assets.”
CEO Tommy Pritchard added, “This acquisition continues our disciplined growth strategy to acquire and manage mature producing oil properties with predictable, low decline, long life production. These assets also have additional upside in undeveloped resources that we believe will allow Empire to maximize production while minimizing costs through a low-risk, low-cost drill program. The pipeline of growth opportunities remains robust and we are currently evaluating deal flow with a focus on building scale within our core geographical areas of operation.”
About Empire Petroleum Corporation
Empire Petroleum Corporation is a publicly-traded, Tulsa-based oil and gas company with current producing assets in Louisiana, North Dakota and Montana. Management is focused on targeted acquisitions of proved developed assets with synergies with its existing portfolio of wells. Empire looks for assets where its operational team can deploy rigorous field/well management techniques to reduce unit operating costs and improve margins while optimizing production. Empire works to create shareholder value through strong free cash flow generation.
Volume | |
Day Range: | |
Bid Price | |
Ask Price | |
Last Trade Time: |