SEC shuts down PSC - Penny Stock Chaser

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http://pipes.dealflow.com/wires/article.cfm?title=SEC-Wins-38M-Fines-Against-Canadian-Couple-Stock-Touting&id=vjnipmflcbbrlol

SEC Wins $3.8M in Fines Against Canadian Couple for Stock Touting
Posted February 09, 2011 5:39PM PST
A Canadian couple was ordered to pay nearly $3.8 million in fines for touting about 65 U.S. microcap stocks through a website, Facebook and Twitter and then selling the shares for millions of dollars in profits.

The order was handed down by a federal court in Miami against Carol McKeown, Daniel Ryan and two companies they controlled, Downshire Capital and Meadow Vista Financial Corp.

According to a complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Montreal residents McKeown and Ryan received millions of shares of the companies they promoted through Downshire and Meadow Vista as compensation.

The companies touted included Atlantic Wind & Solar, a Toronto-based alternative energy company that obtained a $2.5 million equity line commitment in 2009.

Other companies named in the SEC's complaint were Biocentric Energy Holdings, a green-energy technology company; MSE Enviro-Tech, a developer of fire suppressant technology; Bluewave Group, a multi-media digital distributor; property developer Converge Global Corp.; and oil and gas company Avro Energy.

McKeown and Ryan allegedly sold the shares on the open market while their website PennyStockChaser simultaneously predicted massive price increases, a practice the SEC says is known as scalping.

McKeown and Ryan also failed to tell their readers the full amount of their compensation and the extent of their selling of shares.

The defendants along with Downshire and Meadow Vista were ordered to repay $3.72 million in ill-gotten gains, prejudgment interest of $74,762.81 and a civil penalty to be determined at later.

McKeown and Ryan also were barred from participating in future penny stock offerings.