newspaper quoting janice shell..BY GARY RENNIE STAR COUNTY REPORTER
The value of Sulja Brothers Buildings Materials Ltd. stock took a dip this week after a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation was confirmed in a company new release.
The company also announced that on the advice of “outside counsel” it was now reviewing the accuracy of all its previous press releases that had touted numerous deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the Middle East and elsewhere over the past year.
“Given the early stage of this review, the company is unable to provide any further information regarding these matters, but cautions investors not to rely upon the press releases and other public statements previously issued by or on behalf of the company,” Wednesday’s press release said.
The stock closed just above a half-cent per share Friday. It has traded as high as 21 cents per share in the past year.
Many are wondering on Internet investment forums whether a complete halt to trading of the company’s stock in the U.S. by the SEC would be the next blow, but some experts doubt it.
“All the SEC can do is suspend trading for 10 days,” said Janice Shell, an art historian from Bryn Mawr, Penn., who has been featured in Fortune magazine for her investigations into numerous penny stock companies after being burned by one a decade ago. A civil suit by the SEC could be the eventual outcome of its investigation, she said.
The OSC allegations of securities violations are against the Nevada-incorporated company named Sulja and its former CEO Petar Vucicevich; the Harrow-based lumber yard of the same name; another company of Vucicevich's called Kore International Management Inc.; and a San Antonio, Tex. native, Andrew Devries, described as an associate of Vucicevich who also directed a Kore company in the U.S.
Vucicevich earlier this year launched a $20-million land assembly and commercial development in Colchester Village under the Kore name.
