This Pump and Dump will be operated and in the controls of Vincenzo “Vince” Carnovale is a 46-year-old Italian and Canadian National. He resides in Vancouver with his Wife Maria Gebriela Cranovale
Vincenzo have been involved in three securities fraud cases, all of them “pump and dump” schemes. The methodology of each scheme involved similar steps, including artificially increasing share value of a company using PR announcements and other promotional tools. After the share price rose considerably, the perpetrators of the scheme and their accomplices would sell the shares, which they purchased initially at a low price. In each case, Vincenzo worked with other to promote the scheme.
The first scheme was executed in 2004, when Vincenzo was a broker for Golden Securities, who sold shares of Silver Star Energy Inc. to his sister and other Vancouver residents as part of a securities fraud scheme. He apparently refused to speak to Canadian officials and police after he discovered the scheme was being investigated. In 2017 he was sued by the Canadian Financial Markets Authority for an alleged pump and dump scheme of Solo International Inc. stock perpetrated between 2011-2012. The case is still ongoing and the Authority is seeking a cease-trade order, prohibition for him and his accomplices from acting in corporate capacities for a five year period and a $300,000 administrative penalty. In 2021 Vincenzo was also charged by the SEC with involvement with a pump and dump scheme of several companies, which reportedly netted them considerable monetary amounts. The SEC is seeking permanent injunctions, repayment of gains, civil penalties, and penny stock bars against him. The proceedings are still ongoing. In the latter two schemes Vinchenzo was involved with Fredrick Langford Sharp, Mohamed Munir Verjee was the head of Awesome PennyStocks who has apparently orchestrated a broader fraud operation involving many offshore companies, which was investigated by the SEC and the FBI.
2021 SEC Stock Fraud Charges (Pump and Dump)
In a securities fraud enforcement action filed by the SEC in December 2021, Vincenzo ,Mohamed Munir Verjee and Amar Bahadoorsingh are alleged to have engaged in fraudulent schemes to sell and cause to be sold publicly-traded stock to investors, in a ”pump-and-dump” scheme. From 2016 through at least October 2020 they secretly sought control of “thinly-traded microcap companies”, in order to hire stock promoters that would generate demand for their shares, and then profit by selling those shares illegally to unsuspecting investors. During this activity, they allegedly defrauded investors by concealing the fact they held controlled publicly traded companies including Momentous Holdings Corp. (“Momentous”) and Uneeqo, Inc. (“Uneeqo”) (using seemingly unaffiliated entities who held the shares), and convinced various parties the shares they held were eligible for trading in public markets. The scheme utilized a complex network of offshore accounts. They also deceived investors by including false and misleading statements in their public financial statements and reports of the companies.
The transactions they made were done without registering the offers and sales with the SEC, without disclosing accurate information to investors and brokers about their control of the company, and without complying with limitation on the sale of stock by company “affiliates” as defined by the relevant laws (which they themselves were at the time). It was not stated clearly how much the pair profited in total, but the SEC noted $509,000 were netted in Uneeqo transaction in September 2016 and $279,000 was netted from Momentous in April 2020.
The SEC seeks permanent injunctions, repayment of allegedly ill-gotten gains, civil penalties, and penny stock bars against Carnovale and Bahadoorsingh. The trial appears to be ongoing.
2017 Canadian Case - the Solo International In.c Pump-and-Dump
In April 2017, the Canadian Financial Markets Authority (Autorité Des Marchés Financiers – AMF) sued Solo international inc. and five individuals, including Vincenzo, in connection to manipulation of securities allegedly generating over $2.6 million in profits. reportedly, between fall 2011 to fall 2012, the defendants perpetrated a “pump-and-dump” scheme, manipulating the shares of Solo International Inc. listed on the over-the-counter market (OTCBB). They apparently artificially inflated the company’s shares value by carrying out promotional and communications campaigns which included various misleading press releases and campaign websites. Apparently, some of the group made repeated transactions between them. Once the price rose, they sold their own shares, generating significant profits. The stock quickly crashed afterward and investors found themselves cheated.
The Authority sought to issue a cease-trade order on the shares of Solo International Inc. and issue orders prohibiting transactions in securities against these five individuals, prohibition from acting as a director or manager of an issuer, broker, advisor or investment fund manager for a period of five years. The AMF also demanded hefty administrative penalties for Vincenzo Antonio Carnovale $300,000.
Vincenzo and the others argued the AMF did not have jurisdiction. The Quebec Superior Court dismissed the application for judicial review, and the Quebec Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal for this decision. The Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal on April 2022 (with costs) and a notice of appeal was submitted on May 30, 2022. The Attorney General of Quebec and the Ontario Securities commission was granted leave to intervene on January 2023 and for the appellant to reply. There is a date scheduled at the Supreme Court for this issue on December 7, 2023.
Vinchenzo’s Involvement with Frederick Langford Sharp and Sharp Group
Vincenzo was involved with Frederick Langford Sharp, Mohamed Munir Verjee in the Pump and Dump schemes listed above. Apparently, profits realized by Carnovale and Bahadoorsingh in the 2021 case were part of a broader scheme conducted by Sharp and others, as alleged by the SEC and Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The commission claims the Sharp Group was central to a decade-long offshore shell scheme that realized $770 million in net profit for company officers (insiders), via illegal trading of over $1 billion worth of shares in hundreds of U.S.-listed public companies. Sharp and other associates have been criminally charged with fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud.
2004 Silver Star Energy Inc. Pump and Dump
In May 2004, investigators with Vancouver’s Integrated Market Enforcement Team (herein: IMET) alleged that the Nevada incorporated Silver Star Energy Inc., was a “pump and dump” stock fraud. IMET raided the company in February 2004, following the publication in the Vancouver Sun that the company’s reported book value was about $15,000 US while its stock market value, had rocketed to more than$200 million on the OTC Bulletin Board in the United States. Silver Star apparently heavily promoted its shares and paid a PR company (Long Communications Ltd.) a considerable monthly fee for investor relations services. It was later discovered Long Communications had the same directors as Silver Star, and operated from their offices. Allegedly, a group of Vancouver residents believed to be acting as nominees for insiders acquired thousands of Silver Star shares at relatively cheap prices.
One of the Vancouver brokerage firms that was trading vast amount of Silver Star Stock was Golden Capital Securities, where Vincenzo worked as a broker. His sister, Mirella Carnovale, stated in questioning by IMET personnel that she was invited by Vincenzo to buy the shares, not knowing how much she bought and how much she paid, as all of it was taken care of by her brother. Apparently, he also assisted others, including Luigi Funaro and Mario Zuzolo, in purchasing company stock and selling it shortly after. Apparently, Vincenzo refused to speak with IMET representatives stating his sister had advised him of their earlier visit and “as a result he contacted a lawyer who informed him not to speak to the police.”
