Hangover Joe's Holding Corp. (fka HJOE)

[james885]

He is way off base in his comments on MM’s, they are not controlled or influenced by toxic lenders. They just make a market.

The ignorance of this guy is quite telling.

I can show dozens of similar examples.


In an administrative proceeding released on April 26, 2017, the SEC issued a cease and desist order (PDF) to brokerage and OTC market maker Wilson Davis (Market maker ID: WDCO) for violations of Regulation SHO and ordered the company to pay $235,714.50 in disgorgement of profits and interest thereon and a $75,000 civil penalty. But the headline of a violation of short selling regulations obscures the fact that the trading in question was related to some of the biggest pump and dumps ever perpetrated, all promoted by AwesomePennyStocks or related websites.

There are a few details in the order that are key. First, Wilson-Davis had two separate trading groups. From the SEC’s order linked above:

WDCO was comprised of two trading groups: a retail trading group and a proprietary trading group. The activity that is the subject of this Order pertains to WDCO’s proprietary trading group. Traders in the proprietary trading group had agreements with WDCO under which the traders were allowed to use WDCO funds for proprietary trades of securities and would split their profits with WDCO in accordance with their agreements.

Not mentioned in the order is that one of the traders was Anthony Kerrigone, who has already been sanctioned by the SEC in December 2016 (PDF). From that administrative order:

Kerrigone, a proprietary trader at WDCO, is a WDCO representative who caused WDCO’s Regulation SHO violations by executing certain short sales of securities on behalf of WDCO without WDCO being engaged in bona-fide market making activity and without WDCO obtaining a locate prior to effecting the short sales. Kerrigone improperly relied on the bona-fide market making exception for certain short sale trades without having a reasonably sufficient understanding of the rule, without sufficiently discussing with anyone at WDCO whether such trading qualified WDCO for the bona-fide market making exception, and by conducting such trading in a manner that closely resembled examples explicitly identified by the Commission— years before the conduct at issue—as activity that generally is not bona-fide market making.

Anthony Kerrigone was ordered to pay disgorgement of profits (and interest thereon) of $550,000.50 and a civil penalty of $50,000. Prior to the SEC order, Kerrigone (CRD#: 2612581) was also cited by FINRA back in November 2015. From FINRA BrokerCheck (FINRA does not allow direct linking so you have to search for Kerrigone by his name):

Initiated By FINRA
Allegations
Without admitting or denying the findings, Kerrigone consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that he caused his member firm to violate Rule 203(b)(1) of SEC Regulation SHO when on occasions, Kerrigone placed orders to sell short low-priced stocks through the firm’s proprietary trading account and failed to locate the securities, claiming the market marker exemption to the locate requirements. The findings stated that the market maker exemption was not available to the firm because Kerrigone was not engaging in bona-fide market marking activities in these securities. The firm generated over $158,239 in profits from these short transactions.
Resolution
Acceptance, Waiver & Consent(AWC)
Sanctions
Civil and Administrative Penalty(ies)/Fine(s)
Amount: $10,000.00
Sanctions
Suspension
Duration: six months
Start Date: 12/7/2015
End Date: 6/6/2016
Surprisingly, Kerrigone was able to get another job in the industry after that suspension and according to BrokerCheck he still holds it, working for BMA Securities, another OTC market maker (Market maker ID: BMAS).