Hangover Joe's Holding Corp. (fka HJOE)

[james885]

More than half of them were nothing more than shell companies.


March 2, 2015—
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced it has suspended trading in 128 inactive penny stock companies to ensure they don’t become a source for pump-and-dump schemes.

The trading suspensions are the latest in a microcap fraud-fighting initiative known as Operation Shell-Expel in which the SEC Enforcement Division’s Office of Market Intelligence utilizes technology to scour the over-the-counter (OTC) marketplace and identify dormant companies ripe for abuse. The proactive efforts have prevented fraudsters from having the opportunity to manipulate these thinly-traded stocks by pumping the companies’ stock value through false and misleading promotional campaigns and then dumping the stocks after investors buy in.

Since it began in 2012, Operation Shell-Expel has resulted in trading suspensions of more than 800 microcap stocks, which comprises more than 8 percent of the OTC market. Once a stock has been suspended from trading, it cannot be relisted unless the company provides updated financial information to prove it’s actually operational.