America West Resources, Inc.(fka AWSRQ)

[zomniac]

Some forensics on this scam
http://www.thedeal.com/content/regulatory/with-law-enforcement-regulators-in-pursuit-awesome-penny-stocks-calls-it-quits.php

Since April, Finra has been pursuing sanctions against New York-based broker-dealer John Thomas Financial and its CEO Tommy Belesis in connection to trading in America West Resources Inc., an Awesome Penny Stocks promotion target. Finra charged Belesis and John Thomas with securities fraud and trading ahead of customer orders.

John Thomas is no longer in business.

The complaint cites John Thomas's sale of 855,000 shares of America West in February while the company was the subject of a paid promotion by Awesome Penny. The promotion caused America West shares to rise more than sevenfold, allowing John Thomas to make more than $1 million on its sales of the stock.

At the same time, the firm failed to act on orders from 15 clients to sell America West shares, according to the Finra complaint. Those orders were allegedly held until the next day or later.

While John Thomas had sold its own American West shares at an average price of $1.26 each, the 15 clients' shares were allegedly sold at prices ranging from 57 to 91 cents. Belesis and John Thomas have declined comment on the Finra action.