DD Support Board and Research Team

[Renee]

re LBSV: SEC Charges Two Individuals in $17 Million Manipulation Scheme

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced fraud and other charges against two individuals and a related company for their roles in a manipulative trading scheme involving Liberty Silver Corp., a penny stock.

The SEC's complaint, filed on August 1, 2017 in federal district court in New York, alleges that, Robert Genovese, a Canadian citizen, his company, B.G. Capital Group, Ltd. and Abraham "Avi" Mirman, the former head of investment banking at now-defunct New York broker-dealer John Thomas Financial, Inc. (JTF), were involved in a scheme concerning Liberty Silver in which Genovese sought to increase dramatically the company's share price and volume and sell millions of shares into the market. According to the SEC's complaint, between August and October 2012, Genovese schemed with Mirman to sell Liberty Silver shares to JTF's customers in part by agreeing to loan $2 million indirectly to JTF without disclosing the loan to the customers. The complaint alleges that Genovese also touted Liberty Silver in newspaper articles while failing to disclose that he had paid for the articles, that he was dumping millions of shares of Liberty Silver stock, and the financial arrangements between himself and JTF. It further alleged that Genovese engaged in manipulative trading on a particular day, increasing Liberty Silver's share price and creating the false appearance of liquidity and demand for Liberty Silver stock.

More: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2017/lr23895.htm