This is what I learned from my broker, though keep in mind each broker has their own policies/processes for everything.
1) As this particular stock in a penny stock that is not SEC registered, and they don't have profits to issue dividends from, they cannot issue "dividends". Rather, the "dividends" are simply issued as shares, in this case restricted shares. James using "dividends" may not have been the best used word for this, but it really doesn't matter as "dividends" are in fact shares, that simple. No room for faulting over word play here!
2) The transfer agent is not able to electronically send the shares as NSAV is not setup for this. This IS NOT James' fault, simply the previous owner never setup this capability and I believe (don't quote me) you have to be SEC registered/compliant to be setup/use this feature.
Because of this, the transfer agent had to send physical certificates to the brokers for each account. This now goes back to the policies/processes each broker has for processing these certificates. I was advised there is a more extensive process for which brokers typically have for this situation with all the factors we're dealing with, mainly being a penny stock that is not SEC registered/compliant.
If your broker is good, they'll do the leg work for you to research/confirm current status and/or receipt of the certificates. Then they can advise an approximate time frame for their processing. My broker confirmed receipt and advised this will take a couple of extra weeks at minimum to process these certificates.
All I cared about is the receipt of, as I'm in for the longs haul so I'm not worried about anything as I know we're going to have an amazing 2018.
I'd encourage reaching out your broker to see what they're willing to do for you in researching the status/receipt of the dividends. Mine has a separate dividend department that handles this and even though they're not dividends we're receiving, this may throw them a loop they're not otherwise use to handling. So be sure to explain the situation correctly to them and give them the necessary details so they can look the right direction.
