![](http://investorshub.advfn.com/images/default_ih_profile2_4848.jpg?cb=0)
Monday, April 04, 2011 2:53:55 PM
Penny-Stock Promoter Stanton Caught In Web Of Accusations
Apr. 4 2011 - 10:42 am
http://blogs.forbes.com/danielfisher/2011/04/04/penny-stock-promoter-stanton-caught-in-web-of-accusations/
One of the weirdest interviews I have ever conducted was with John Stanton, a Florida concrete magnate who also appeared to be the financial backer of a tawdry little Mississippi penny stock called U.S. Sustainable Energy Corp. I uncovered USSEC back in 2006 when I was looking into green scams, or stocks aimed at then-hot dreams of alternative energy, pollution-free vehicles and the like. It was an easy search: Just about every rock I lifted in the “green” zone revealed penny-stock operators scuttling away into the darkness.
The resulting story bore one of the best headlines an editor has ever graced my work with, “KissyKat and The Magic Diesel.” In it I revealed how US Sustainable was peddling a warmed-over version of pyrolisis, used since ancient times to make charcoal. The pyrolisis-mongers revive it whenever energy prices spike, promising limitless electricity and fuel from old tires, tree stumps and other junk. (Perhaps not incidentally, similar furnaces are used to make concrete.)
US Sustainable said it could defy the laws of physics and chemistry to produce five gallons of diesel per bushel of soybeans. (“Why you’d put soybeans in there, I don’t know,” said one expert of the company’s needlessly expensive raw material. “Sewage works just as well.”) Years later, the Securities and Exchange Commission woke up and sued the company’s chairman, John Rivera for pump-and-dump fraud; apparently a trial is set for later this year.
Filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed Stanton had some kind of financial relationship with US Sustainable. But when I finally tracked him down to his cellfone, he came up with a whopper of a tale. Yes, he said, he had been involved in deals with Rivera. But the publicly traded US Sustainable that made reference to him wasn’t the company he was backing. His was a private company with the same name, Stanton told me with as close to a straight face as I could imagine over a cellfone connection to Florida.
Rivera “wanted to use the same name with the public company,” Stanton said, and apparently the otherwise savvy Florida investor let him do it.
Now the St. Petersburg Times has this wonderful tale of how Stanton has gotten himself embroiled in a nasty divorce replete with allegations of tax fraud, hiding assets and attempting to swipe control of the concrete company that was the source of his fortune. The St. Petersburg Times say the IRS has opened a criminal investigation of Stanton. The Keystone Cops at the SEC, meanwhile, see nothing wrong with him remaining involved with several public companies including Bulova Technologies Group, whose shares have recently tripled on reports the spinoff of the old watch company has won $500 million in defense contracts.
The son of a Baptist preacher lives, according to the St. Petersburg Times, in a a $1.2 million home owned by Bulova’s president “with his 30-year-old girlfriend, a $4,000-a-month Bulova employee.”
http://blogs.forbes.com/danielfisher/2011/04/04/penny-stock-promoter-stanton-caught-in-web-of-accusations/
FEATURED Cannabix Technologies and Omega Laboratories Inc. Provide Positive Developments on Marijuana Breathalyzer Testing • Jul 11, 2024 8:21 AM
ECGI Holdings Enhances Board with Artificial Intelligence (AI) Expert Ahead of Allon Apparel Launch • ECGI • Jul 10, 2024 8:30 AM
Avant Technologies to Meet Unmet Needs in AI Industry While Addressing Sustainability Concerns • AVAI • Jul 10, 2024 8:00 AM
Panther Minerals Inc. Launches Investor Connect AI Chatbot for Enhanced Investor Engagement and Lead Generation • PURR • Jul 9, 2024 9:00 AM
Glidelogic Corp. Becomes TikTok Shop Partner, Opening a New Chapter in E-commerce Services • GDLG • Jul 5, 2024 7:09 AM
Freedom Holdings Corporate Update; Announces Management Has Signed Letter of Intent • FHLD • Jul 3, 2024 9:00 AM