The SEC accused Babikian of reaping an illegal $1.9 million profit by selling nearly 1.4 million shares of coal mining company America West Resources Inc (AWSRQ.PK) after his emailed touts had boosted their price.
The SEC said Babikian sent the touts on Feb. 23, 2012, to about 700,000 email addresses through the AwesomePennyStocks.com and PennyStocksUniverse.com websites.
As other investors bought the stock and drove up the price, he sold his holdings at an average price more than quadruple the level where it had traded previously, the SEC said.
America West is not a defendant in the SEC case and was not accused of wrongdoing.
John Babikian will also pay a total of $3.73 million and be prohibited from recommending that investors buy any U.S. publicly traded stock unless he discloses at the same time any plans to sell the stock within 14 days, according to documents filed with U.S. District Court on Wednesday.
lol? ... sure hope all the other stocks they did on as well will be coming... that could be "pocket change" to what they did on all the stocks they were involved in...
