DD Support Board and Research Team

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ERFB / ORGH Scammers Indicted

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/five-individuals-charged-offering-fraud-stock-manipulation-and-money-laundering-schemes

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/press-release/file/1386866/download

5 Individuals were indicted for a stock manipulation/money laundering scheme involving ERFB and ORGH.

Richard Dale Sterritt, Jr., Michael Greer, Robert Magness, Mark Ross and Robyn Straza with charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering, among other offenses.

Starting in March 2018, they raised more than $16 million dollars marketing a company named Zona Energy Inc, then misappropriated more than $10 million dollars by laundering it through multiple accounts they controlled then spending it on luxury items, plastic surgery, a Bentley automobile, and other personal expenses, including funneling money to relatives and unrelated business endeavors instead of putting it into the Zona Energy Inc operations.

In the middle of it all, the Defendents became involved in stock manipulation schemes using ORGH and ERFB.

According to the Indictment, Sterritt secretly controlled both ORGH and ERFB and informed Zona investors that he planned on taking Zona public through a reverse merger, mentioning ORGH and ERFB as possible reverse merger candidates.


In December 2019, ORGH announced a $50 million acquisition of Zona Energy

https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/ORGH/news/Zona-Energy-Principal-Shareholders-Purchase-Controlling-Interest-in-OrgHarvest-for-50-Million?id=248945

Then, according to the Indictment, between February 2020 and June 2020, the group participated in a scheme to manipulate the share price of ORGH through match trading.

They ended up contacting an undercover FBI agent posing as a corrupt stock promoter, who they believed controlled a team of corrupt brokers who would buy the artificially inflated ORGH stock in their customers’ accounts.

ORGH got suspended by the SEC on June 1, 2020 because of questions regarding purported business operations and unusual market activity

https://www.sec.gov/litigation/suspensions/2020/34-88975.pdf

A May 27, 2020 press release announcing the completion of the proposed Zona acquisition was singled out in the Suspension Order:

https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/ORGH/news/OrgHarvest-Inc-Completes-First-Seed-International-Stock-Transfer-Agreement?id=263121

With ORGH suspended, Sterritt immediately turned his attention to ERFB announcing a merger between Zona and ERFB in June of 2020.

https://backend.otcmarkets.com/otcapi/company/dns/news/document/42462/content

On November 29, 2020, Sterrit submitted an application with FINRA to execute a reverse split on ERFB.

Still not having caught that his work with the undercover agent led to the ORGH suspension, Sterritt began working with the same undercover agent to begin a match trading scheme on ERFB as soon as FINRA approved a reverse stock split for the stock.

As they waiting on FINRA to approve the proposed split, Sterritt made very detailed plans with the agent for their future stock manipulate scheme involving ERFB.

On January 27, 2021 FINRA denied the application.

But despite the application being denied, ERFB issued a press release on January 28, 2021 saying it was approved:

https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/ERFB/news/ERF-Wireless-Inc-Announces-Effective-Date-of-Reverse-Split-of-Its-Common-Stock?id=287950

That January 28, 2021 press release was specifically mentioned when the SEC suspended trading in ERFB on February 4, 2021

https://www.sec.gov/litigation/suspensions/2021/34-91052.pdf


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Sterritt, Jr has a criminal past. He was convicted of securities fraud in 2003 and sentenced to 5 years in prison. He used an alias, "Richard Richman" to hide his criminal past from Zona, ERFB, and ORGH investors.

Ross was a former broker whose firm, Franklin Ross Inc, was shut down in 2007 for, among other things, systemic violations of anti-money laundering rules.

Straza is Sterritt's ex-wife but long time-partner in crime. She was involved in the same scam 20 years ago that landed her ex-husband in prison.

All 5 Defendants now face up to 20 years imprisonment.