Article rank
Petar Vucicevich
Ohio man sues Sulja Brothers
Class action filed in Florida court
BY GARY RENNIE STAR STAFF REPORTER
A 65-year-old Ohio man, who says he lost $67,000 of his retirement savings investing in Sulja Brothers Building Materials Ltd. penny stock, has filed a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. against the Harrow-based company and a Nevada-incorporated company of the same name.
“I’ve been ripped apart by this,” said Glenn Drago, of Loveland, Ohio.
Now, despite being retired for 10 years from Proctor & Gamble, “I’m looking for a job,” Drago said.
Drago said he was lured into buying Sulja stock by claims in news releases and the buzz on Internet discussion forums of a $350-million cement contract and a US$645-million hotel being built in the Middle East, among other deals.
Drago’s lawsuit could be the first of several after the collapse of Sulja stock’s price to less than a cent a share from as high as 21 cents a share. The company’s failure to release audited financial statements by a Nov. 15 deadline caused the biggest collapse.
The slide continued after securities act charges were laid in December by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) that allege false news releases, manipulation of the stock price, and sale of restricted stock.
Tampa, Fla., lawyer Robert Pyles of the Solomon Tropp Law Group, said he’s also been contacted by about 20 Sulja stockholders to file a class-action lawsuit as well. Additional defendants could be named, Pyle said.
That lawsuit hasn’t been filed yet because of the complexities of dealing with companies and individuals on both sides of the border, he said. Pyle expected a decision on how to proceed in the next two weeks.
Interviewed in Colchester Village where he owns a home and numerous other properties he planned to develop, Petar Vucicevich said he would defend any civil lawsuit. The former CEO of Sulja Bros. referred other questions to his Toronto lawyers.
John Buhlman, a lawyer for the Weir Foulds firm in Toronto, said he couldn’t respond to specifics in the Drago lawsuit because Vucicevich had not yet been personally served as far as he knew.
Unless an Ontario court waives the requirement for personal service, that step would have to be done here, Buhlman said.
Kate Broer, the Toronto lawyer who represented the Harrow Sulja company and Steve Sulja on the OSC charges, couldn’t be reached Thursday. A call to Windsor lawyer Shahid Khan, who has done legal work for the Sulja company in the past, wasn’t returned.
Drago’s Florida lawyers Ken Vianale and David Chase filed the class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale on Jan. 18. The Nevade-incorporated Sulja company was served through its Las Vegas agent.
