Stock Promotions – Page 13

Spam pump Imogo Mobile Technologies $IMTC suspended by SEC as predicted

I previously wrote about the Imogo Mobile Technologies (IMTC) spam / hard mailer pump. I wrote the following in that post:

The most recent stock promoted by StockCastle was NVGC and that was suspended by the SEC. NVGC was also promoted via a hard mailer. IMTC is definitely at risk of a trading suspension.

So it is hardly surprising that the SEC suspended trading in IMTC this morning

IMTC suspension press release (pdf)
IMTC suspension order (pdf)

The reasoning given by the SEC is their boilerplate:

The Commission temporarily suspended trading in the securities of IMTC because of
questions that have been raised about the accuracy and adequacy of publicly disseminated
information concerning, among other things, IMTC’s business, revenue, and assets.

Disclaimer: I have no position in any stocks mentioned and no relationship with any parties mentioned above. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.

Other recent SEC trading suspensions

As I slowly work my way through my backlog of blog posts that I need to write there are three other recent SEC trading suspensions of note: OLIE, HSCO, and AMOG. Amogear (AMOG) is the simpler suspension so I address it first even though it came after the suspension of OLIE/HSCO.

AMOG suspension press release (pdf)
AMOG suspension order (pdf)

AMOG had trading suspended by the SEC on February 10th. The reason is shown below:

The Commission temporarily suspended trading in the securities of Amogear because the company has recently been the subject of spam e-mails touting the company’s shares and because of potentially manipulative conduct in the trading of the company’s shares.

Oddly enough I did not receive any spam emails promoting AMOG and the first opt-in promotional emails that I received were sent the same morning it was suspended. The SEC must have been watching AMOG prior to that. As to Hi Score Corp (HSCO) and Olie Inc (OLIE), they appeared to be engaged in blatant fraud. I tweeted that back in late December, linking to Janice Shell’s excellent article on OLIE and HSCO at Pumpsanddumps.com.

Excellent article by Janice Shell on what appears to be blatant fraud at $HSCO and $OLIE http://t.co/reEH79G7e6 via @PUMPSandDUMPS — Michael Goode (@goodetrades) December 22, 2013

Below is the reason given by the SEC for the trading suspensions of OLIE and HSCO:

The Commission temporarily suspended trading in Olie and Hi Score due to a lack of current and accurate information about the companies. There are questions regarding the accuracy of publicly available information about both companies’ assets, acquisitions, business activities, control persons, securities offerings, and financing arrangements

OLIE / HSCO suspension press release (pdf)
OLIE / HSCO suspension order (pdf) Disclaimer: I have no position in any stocks mentioned and no relationship with any parties mentioned above. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.

SEC Returns from vacation, suspends trading in Centor Energy $CNTO

Yesterday the SEC suspended trading in a major hard mailer pump and dump for the first time since it suspended trading in Makism (MDDD) last December 13th. I previously blogged about the initial CNTO pump last May and I blogged about the repump on January 1st.

SEC trading suspension release
SEC trading suspension order

Just like with the suspensions of trading of Sovereign Lithium (SLCO) and Guar Global (GGBL) the SEC highlighted potentially manipulative trading in the stock in addition to the standard concerns about adequacy of information about the company:

The Commission temporarily suspended trading in the securities of Centor because of questions
regarding the accuracy and adequacy of assertions by Centor, and by others, to investors in press
releases and promotional material concerning, among other things, the company’s assets,
operations, and financial prospects.

Imogo Mobile Technologies $IMTC pump & dump

Again, my apologies for this delayed posting. Luckily others on the internet have posted about the IMTC pump:

Promotion Stock Secrets post about IMTC hard mailer
Direct link to IMTC full mailer (pdf) from Promotion Stock Secrets
Penny Stock Realist article on IMTC on SeekingAlpha

The SeekingAlpha article goes into the promotion of IMTC by StockCastle, a notorious spam promoter. The most recent stock promoted by StockCastle was NVGC and that was suspended by the SEC. NVGC was also promoted via a hard mailer. IMTC is definitely at risk of a trading suspension.

Disclosed budget: $3,000,000
Promoter: Wall Street Revelator / Andy Carpenter
Paying party: Fenvo Enterprises Limited
Shares outstanding: 73,500,000
Previous closing price: $0.46
Market capitalization: $34 million

Below is a screenshot of the top of the IMTCreport.com website.

Excerpt from disclaimer:

The Wall Street Revelator and/or its publisher, Andrew Carpenter has received a total amount of ten thousand dollars in cash compensation to assist in the writing of this Advertisement, as well as potential future subscription and advertising revenues, the amount of which is not known at this time with respect to the publication of this Advertisement and future publications. Fenvo Enterprises Limited paid three million dollars to marketing vendors to pay for all the costs of creating and distributing this Advertisement, including printing and postage, in an effort to build investor and market awareness.

Full disclaimer:

IMPORTANT NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER: DO NOT BASE ANY INVESTMENT DECISION UPON ANY MATERIALS FOUND IN THIS REPORT. This publication is distributed free of charge and does not provide an analysis of a company’s financial position. The information contained herein has been prepared for informational purposes only and is not intended to be used as a complete source of information on any particular company, including Imogo Mobile Technologies (IMTC). Imogo Mobile Technologies’ financial position and all other information regarding Imogo Mobile Technologies should be verified with the company. An individual should never invest in the securities of any company, including IMTC based solely on information contained in this advertisement. Information about many publicly traded companies, including Imogo Mobile Technologies, and other investor resources can be found at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. Investing in securities is speculative and carries risk. It is recommended that any investment in any security should be made only after consulting with your investment advisor and only after reviewing all publicly available information, including the financial statements of the company. This mailing piece is not intended to be, nor should it be construed as, an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy securities, nor should it be construed as the provision of any investment-related advice or services tailored to any particular individual’s financial situation or investment objective(s). The Wall Street Revelator is a bona fide publication of general and regular circulation offering impersonalized investment-related research to readers and/or prospective readers and is not an investment adviser either with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or with any state securities regulatory authority. The Wall Street Revelator is neither licensed nor qualified to provide financial advice. As such, it relies upon the “publisher’s exclusion” as provided under Section 202(a)(11) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and corresponding state securities laws. Staff members of The Wall Street Revelator and its afiliates do not hold positions in investments mentioned herein. Investing in companies like Imogo Mobile Technologies carries a high degree of risk. Do not invest in this company unless you can afford to possibly lose your entire investment. Individuals should assume that all information contained herein about IMTC and other companies is not trustworthy unless verified by their own independent research. The Wall Street Revelator and/or its publisher, Andrew Carpenter has received a total amount of ten thousand dollars in cash compensation to assist in the writing of this Advertisement, as well as potential future subscription and advertising revenues, the amount of which is not known at this time with respect to the publication of this Advertisement and future publications. Fenvo Enterprises Limited paid three million dollars to marketing vendors to pay for all the costs of creating and distributing this Advertisement, including printing and postage, in an effort to build investor and market awareness. If successful, the Advertisement will increase investor and market awareness, which may result in increased numbers of shareholders owning and trading the common stock of Imogo Mobile Technologies increased trading volumes, and possibly increased share price of the common stock of Imogo Mobile Technologies. It is believed that all outside research, materials and information used to compile this Advertisement, is accurate and reliable. However, each person should perform their own due diligence and consult with advisors of their choice in making any investment decision. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Additionally, it includes forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including statements regarding expected growth of the featured company. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectation, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, goods, assumptions or future events or performance may be forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained herein (which include all statements other than historical information) are based on expectations, estimates and projections at the time the statements are made that involve a significant number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to diïƒ¡er materially from those presently anticipated. To the fullest extent of the law, we will not be liable to any person or entity for the quality, accuracy, completeness, reliability, or timeliness of the information provided herein, or for any direct, indirect, consequential, incidental, special or punitive damages that may arise out of the use of information we provide to any person or entity (including, but not limited to, lost profits, loss of opportunities, trading losses, and damages that may result from any inaccuracy or incompleteness of this information)

PDF copy of pump page

Disclaimer: I have no position in IMTC. I have no relationship with any parties mentioned above. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.

The Konared $KRED pump started over a week ago

I apologize for the very late posting! At this point it is only posted for the record. There is an online promotion page at http://www.beverageinvestor.com/kredreport/

See the previous Promotion Stock Secrets post on the KRED pump and their post on the KRED hard mailers that people have received.

Disclosed budget: $2,300,000

Promoter: MarketFirst Media

Paying party: MarketFirst Media or related entities

Shares outstanding: 71,366,067
Previous closing price: $0.98
Market capitalization: $69 million

One interesting facet of the KRED pump is that it appears that some person or persons has been trying to manipulate the stock by providing manipulative bid support with very large bids. See the screenshot below. No reasonable trader would submit a 700,000 share bid for a stock that has traded less than ten times that volume. If a trader wants to be a large position they buy slowly over time in small chunks. The only reason to display such a large bid, particularly when it is not the best bid, is to artificially support the price. I would like to thank the manipulators for using Arca for KRED so I don’t have to worry about a corrupt market maker suing me for libel for accusing them of manipulating an otc stock (there has been a market maker apparently supporting KRED too, though).

Excerpt from disclaimer:

MarketFirst Media has managed up to a $2,300,000 USD advertising production budget as of December 1, 2013 in an effort to build industry and investor awareness. Any funds leftover after expenses for research, overhead, advertising and public relations related to KonaRed Corp (ticker symbol KRED) will be considered profit.

Full disclaimer:

THE BOWSER REPORT (TBR) SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT: Statements contained in this online report and/or video, including those pertaining to estimates and related plans, potential mergers and acquisitions, estimates, growth, establishing new markets, expansion into new markets and related plans other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements subject to a number of uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from statements made. TBR provides no assurance as to the subject company’s plans or ability to affect any planned and/or proposed actions. TBR has no first-hand knowledge of management and therefore cannot comment on its capabilities, intent, resources, nor experience and makes no attempt to do so. Statistical information, dollar amounts, and market size data was provided by the subject company or its agent and related sources believed by TBR to be reliable, but TBR provides no assurance, and none is given, as to the accuracy and completeness of this information.

DISCLAIMER: The information, opinions and analysis contained herein are based on sources believed to be reliable but no representation, expressed or implied, is made as to its accuracy, completeness or correctness. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. The Bowser Report is an independent paid members-only website. (www.thebowserreport.com) This online report and/or video is a solicitation for membership in The Bowser Report service. The Bowser Report did not receive any direct compensation with respect to the writing of this online report and document. This stock was chosen to be profiled after The Bowser Report completed due diligence on the stock. The Bowser Report expects to generate new membership revenue, the amount of which is unknown at this time, to its paid website through the distribution of this online report and/or video. This constitutes a conflict of interest as to TBR’s ability to remain objective in its communication regarding the subject company. Analysts, principals, associates and employees of TBR do not own or trade equities under coverage. For detailed disclosure as required by Rule 17b of the Securities Act of 1933/1934 contact The Bowser Report, P.O. Box 5156 Williamsburg, VA, 32188. TBR is not an investment advisor and this report is not investment advice. This information is neither a solicitation to buy nor an offer to sell securities but is a paid advertisement. Information contained herein contains forward-looking statements and is subject to significant risks and uncertainties, which will affect the results. The opinions contained herein reflect our current judgment and are subject to change without notice. We encourage our readers to invest carefully and read the investor information available at the web sites of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at http://www.sec.gov and the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) at http://www.nasd.com.

The NASD has published information on how to invest carefully. Readers can review all public filings by companies at the SEC’s EDGAR page.

Third Party Advertiser/Advertising Agency IMPORTANT NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER: MarketFirst Media has managed up to a $2,300,000 USD advertising production budget as of December 1, 2013 in an effort to build industry and investor awareness. Any funds leftover after expenses for research, overhead, advertising and public relations related to KonaRed Corp (ticker symbol KRED) will be considered profit. Entities related to MarketFirst Media hold a large amount of shares in KRED and intend to sell those shares. Their sales of KRED common stock will affect the value of your shares (negatively). This should be considered a direct conflict of interest. Please review all investment decisions with a licensed investment advisor. This report is a commercial advertisement and is for general information purposes only. MarketFirst Media are engaged in the business of marketing and advertising companies for monetary compensation. Never invest in any stock featured on this site or emails unless you can afford to lose your entire investment.

PDF copy of pump page

Disclaimer: I have no position in KRED. I have no relationship with any parties mentioned above. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.

The End of Awesomepennystocks.com: Eric Van Nguyen says he was betrayed by John Babikian

I apologize for the slowness of this post. Life (and trading) have been quite busy this month. Jean-Francois Cloutier posted a new article about Awesomepennystocks.com / John Babikian on January 7th. Read the article (in French) in the Journal de Montreal. Below is a translation for those who don’t read French. See my prior post about Babikian. I think it is quite clear that Eric Van Nguyen’s portrayal of his involvement is self-serving — he is far from innocent.

A former close associate of John Babikian, the mysterious 26 year old Montreal resident who is being targeted by the AMF [Quebec securities commission] and Revenue Quebec (Quebec tax authority), says that he was betrayed by Babikian in the promotion of penny stocks.

Eric Van Nguyen defends himself by saying that he was naive in “lending” his account and name for some tens of thousands of dollars to Babikian so that Babikian coule promote penny stocks.

“At that time, I had no idea that this would become this big — you mustn’t doubt.”

Our investigative bureau succeeded in finding this young Quebec man who had been accused in 2009 along with Babikian of stealing a list of email addresses.

Van Nguyen says that he sold all his penny stock promotion websites in 2012. He did not want to reveal anything about the buyer of the websites other than that the buyer was outside of North America.

This man, who says that he initiated Babikian into the world of penny stocks, is extremely secretive and he has been invisible on the internet for several years. He has no Facebook account. Numerous acquantinces that he knew from his studies at Concordia University have no news of him. Rumors on the internet suggest that he is even in Singapore.

The luxurious mansion that he lives in in West Island is not in his name.

If he is still in Quebec despite the troubles of his old associate, it is because he was worried about his parents, he said.

“I could travel, sure, but I don’t want to leave my parents to deal with my problems. There are a lot of people who come to their door” since the publication of articles on John Babikian. [One of the addresses used for Golden Dragon Media appears to belong to his parents — that is easy information to find.]

Babikian wanted to hide himself

Eric Van Nguyen says that he met Babikian in 2009. At that time, he was himself already involved in the business of promoting penny stocks. His company, Golden Dragon Media, registered in Quebec, is behind a network of stock promotion websites. These sites send newsletters promoting speculative stocks that cost pennies.

“He wanted to know my techniques,” said Van Nguyen.

According to Van Nguyen, John Babikian paid him to use an account at PR Newswire. He was also able to manage websites affiliated with Golden Dragon Media (including Pennystockslove.com, Loveforstocks.com and Unrealstocks.com).

“Today, because of that, my name is in the garbage. He betrayed me — he ruined my name,” said Van Nguyen.

Why would John Babikian have wanted to use Van Nguyen’s name rather than his own, we asked him.

“He never wanted his own name to appear. The SEC had begun to scrutinize the stock promotion business.”

We were not able to reach John Babikian.

Revenue Quebec and the AMF want to meet him again

According to Van Nguyen, the world of pennystocks is just like a lottery.

“One can easily lose everything if you invest in them. To be frank, this is not an extremely white business. It is not black either but certainly grey,” he says. When promotion involves the use of spam emails “it becomes black” according to him.

Van Nguyen even mentions the presence of a member of the Montreal Mafia in the world of penny stocks.

Van Nguyen saws that agents from Revenue Quebec met him recently to understand how he became rich. The AMF (securities regulator) also asked him questions, but he refused to respond. Too risky, according to him.

“There is talk of an FBI investigation in the USA. One would also think that the RCMP [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] is also investigating,” he said.

More liens by Revenue Quebec

Revenue Quebec has been granted new liens on $6.6 million worth of John Babikian’s assets. Oddly, none of the properties are in his name. At least one director of a numbered company linked to Babikian, Rawad Adra, appears to be completely fictitious

Three properties adjacent to Babikian’s luxurious mansion on Rue des Anemones (Street of the Anemones) in Laval.

Value: $2.1 million
Area: 5665 square meters
Official owner: 9264-5076 Quebec Inc
Administrator: Rawad Adra
Shareholder: Tidal East Global
Relief: Robert Kalfayan, Gerard Babikian, Leonnel Iruke [I am unclear what this means in this context]

Sixteen properties in Nominingue, in the Laurentians, around Lake Lafleche

Value: $4.5 million
Total area: 360,478 square meters
Official owner: 9292-2095 Québec inc.
Administrators: Alima Beg, Ehsan Haque
Shareholders: None

Disclaimer: I am currently short USTU which is currently being promoted by Pennystocks.com, which up until at least the last stock promotion was run by the same people running Awesomepennystocks.com (presumably John Babikian). I have no relationship with any parties mentioned above. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.

Centor $CNTO gets a repump

Centor was first promoted back in May and it never got much volume. After a low-volume run-up over the last two months from $0.14 to over $1.00 it finally got repumped on Monday, with promotion emails linking to the website http://centorenergyreport.com

Disclosed budget: $500,000

Promoter: Absolute Media Services & The Myers Letter

Paying party: Code Inc

Shares outstanding: 72,135,000
Previous closing price: $1.10
Market capitalization: $79 million

As of the market close on 12/31/2013 the price of CNTO is $1.84, giving it a market capitalization of $132 million.

Excerpt from disclaimer:

Centor Energy (hereafter “CNTO”), the company featured in this issue, appears as paid advertising, paid by Code Inc. Absolute Media Services has received a total of $500,000 USD from its client Code Inc, the third party advertiser for this advertising in an effort to build investor awareness for Centor Energy.

…

Inciti Inc., a corporation owned by an affiliate of Endorser, expects to receive up to a $7,500 fee for this advertising effort.

Full disclaimer:

IMPORTANT NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER: This paid advertisement by The Myers Letter (hereafter “TML”) does not purport to provide an analysis of any company’s financial position, operations, or prospects and this is not to be construed as a recommendation by TML, or an offer to sell or solicitation to buy or sell any security. Centor Energy (hereafter “CNTO”), the company featured in this issue, appears as paid advertising, paid by Code Inc. Absolute Media Services has received a total of $500,000 USD from its client Code Inc, the third party advertiser for this advertising in an effort to build investor awareness for Centor Energy. Although the information contained in this advertisement is believed to be reliable, TML makes no warranties as to the accuracy of any of the content herein and accepts no liability for how readers may choose to utilize it. The information contained herein is based exclusively on information generally available to the public and does not contain any material, non-public information. Readers should perform their own due-diligence before investing in any security including consulting with a qualified investment advisor or analyst. Readers should independently verify all statements made in this advertisement and perform extensive due-diligence on this or any other advertised company. Inciti Inc., a corporation owned by an affiliate of Endorser, expects to receive up to a $7,500 fee for this advertising effort. TML and/or Inciti Inc. also expect to receive new subscriber revenue and mail list rental, the amount which is unknown at this time, as a result of this advertising effort. TML nor any of their principals, officers, directors, partners, agents, or affiliates are not, nor do we represent ourselves to be, registered investment advisors, brokers, or dealers in securities. TML is not offering securities for sale. An offer to buy or sell can be made only with accompanying disclosure documents and only in the states and provinces for which they are approved. Research and any due diligence were conducted by an outside researcher for this advertisement. Endorser’s track record was compiled from calculations derived from documentation of his Transformational and Legacy Portfolio recommendations posted at the Emerging Capital Report website. Said website and documentation were made available to Emerging Capital Report subscribers. Track record indicates the maximum potential gains on open positions from the date said website suggested taking a position in securities and the prevailing prices at the time of such suggestions. No representation is made that actual purchases and sales were made or could have been made at the prices stated. Average gains are based on price appreciation of suggested stocks with stocks not appreciating showing appreciation of zero. Facts stated in this article were supplied to endorser from third-party sources. Endorser makes no representations as to such facts’ reliability, accuracy or completeness. Endorser is not responsible for errors or omissions. Endorser does not claim any special expertise or knowledge regarding the patent enforcement industry. Endorser is not acting as an investment advisor nor providing individual investment advice. Endorsement is expressly limited to the following statement: “Assuming that CNTO has or obtains sufficient resources the need for which is stated in its S.E.C. filings, and successfully addresses the risks therein, capital gains are possible.” The information presented is provided for information purposes only and the endorsement is not to be used or considered as an offer or the solicitation of an offer to sell or to buy or subscribe for securities. Endorser has not taken any steps to ensure that the securities referred to in this report are suitable for any particular investor. Any securities referenced by Endorser may not be suitable for you and it is recommended that you consult an independent investment advisor if you are in doubt about such investments. Nothing in the endorsement constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice or a representation that any investment or strategy is suitable or appropriate to your individual circumstances or otherwise constitutes a personal recommendation to you. Past recommendation or suggestion performance should not be taken as an indication or guarantee of future performance, and no representation or warranty, express or implied, is made regarding future performance. Information, opinions and estimates referenced in the endorsement reflect a judgment at its original date of publication and are subject to change without notice. The price and value of the securities mentioned in the endorsement can fall as well as rise, and may have a high level of volatility. High volatility securities may experience sudden and large falls in their value, leading to losses. High volatility investments may also be difficult to sell. Similarly, it may prove difficult for you to obtain reliable information about the value or risks to which such an investment is exposed. The endorsement may provide the addresses of, or contain hyperlinks to, websites. Except to the extent to which the report refers to website material of Endorser, Endorser has not reviewed the linked site and takes no responsibility for the content contained therein. Such address or hyperlink is provided solely for your convenience and information and the content of the linked site does not in any way form part of the endorsement. Accessing such website or following any link through this endorsement shall be at your own risk. Further, you are advised to read and carefully consider the additional explanations of risk factors in CNTO’s 10K and 10Q filings. Inciti, Inc., a corporation owned by an affiliate of Endorser, received $7,500 from Code Inc, who may or will sell shares of the feature company at or about the time of this mailing. Inciti, Inc. expects to receive additional revenue from sales of subscriptions to The Myers Letter as a result of this advertising effort.

PDF copy of pump page

Disclaimer: I am short 2400 shares of CNTO. I have no relationship with any parties mentioned above. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.

Last pump standing: Tiger Oil and Energy $TGRO

With more and more mailer pumps getting suspended by the SEC and with AwesomePennyStocks’ mastermind John Babikian on the run, there are fewer big pump and dumps for me to blog about. The most effective remaining stock promoter is one that I have not yet blogged about: StickTips.com. Their last two pumps, AMMG and PGLO, both lasted for weeks and saw lots of volume and price increases upwards of 100% from when the pumps began. But the problem now is that being the best promoter is like painting a bullseye on your chest: that means the SEC Microcap Task Force will be out to get you sooner rather than later. I will address other reasons why I believe the SEC will actively investigate StockTips.com and their promotions after I describe their prior and current promotions.

Past StockTips.com pump and dumps

I only signed up to StockTips.com late in 2012 year so I did not receive any promotional emails from them prior to December 2012. The first promotion I received from them was for Gold and Gemstone Mining (GGSM) and I only received one email about it at 10:59 AM Eastern on December 5th, 2012. The prior day Premiere Consulting (pennystockparlay.com and related websites, formerly affiliated with bestdamnpennystocks.com) had begun the promotion of GGSM and two days later they were done.

StockTips.com disclosure on GGSM:

StockTips.com is operated by Amerada Corp (AC). Currently AC expects to be compensated $25,000.00 (Twenty-Five Thousand United States Dollars) from Laluna, Inc. for this GGSM advertising and promotion.

The second pump that I received from StockTips.com was about PacWest Equities (PWEI), which was promoted by Victory Mark Corp back in autumn 2012 and again by Victory Mark Corp and AwesomePennystocks.com in September 2013. Trading in the stock was quickly suspended due to the SEC crackdown on Awesomepennystocks.com and multiple blatantly false press releases.

While PWEI had been promoted back in the autumn of 2012 by Victory Mark Corp and by some lesser promoters, it received a new wave of promotion in February 2013. The new wave of promotion started February 10th with ImpressivePennyStocks.com / Todaypennystocks.com (paid $100,000 by Perfect Genius Investments, previously paid $100,000 by Green Meadow Enterprises back in 2012). Starting on February 11th, PWEI was promoted by StockExploder.com (paid $25,000 by Flip Ventures LLC). MicroCap Consultants LLC paid a few F-list promoters a few thousand dollars each to promote the stock at that time as well. Capital Financial Media also promoted PWEI and was paid $250,000 by Sancove Holdings Ltd.

I first received pump emails on PWEI at 8:00 PM Eastern on March 24th from StockTips.com. Their last email promoting it came at 11:44 AM on March 27th. Someone who bought PWEI on the first day and sold a week later could have easily lost 50%.

Compensation disclosed: $25,000
Paying party: Laluna Inc

Disclaimer for the PWEI pump below (click to enlarge):

The next StockTips.com pump and dump was AMMG, starting in July. But back in late May AMMG was promoted by a couple ineffective pumpers. I received pump emails after the close on May 21st from OTCPicks.com / PennyTrader news.net (paid $12,000 by Impexco Group). The last email sent by that promoter came on May 29th at 9:56 AM Eastern and then I received no emails promoting AMMG until StockTips.com promoted it.

The AMMG (Amarium Minerals) pump started after the market close on August 18th. It is quite obvious that volume was low (because StockTips.com’s previous pumps had never done well and had lasted only weeks) but then the stock broke out and hit a high of about $0.59 which is up over 100% from the median price on the first pump day of about $0.25. The last pump emails came on September 27th at 2:56 PM eastern.

Compensation disclosed: $25,000
Paying party: Laluna Inc

Here is the disclaimer from those emails (click to enlarge):

The PGLO (Pan Global) pump began after the market close on October 20th. Emails then came every trading day until November 6th, when an email was sent at 8:19 AM Eastern. After that email, no further emails were sent until November 14th at 1:53 PM Eastern. The final pump email was sent at 8:23 AM Eastern on November 19th. From a median price of about $0.35 on the first day to the high of the pump of about $0.96 on November 5th, the stock went up 170%.

Compensation disclosed: $1,100,000
Paying party: Laluna Inc

Below is the disclaimer sent with the emails (click to enlarge):

Tiger Oil and Gas (TGRO): The Current Stocktips.com pump & dump

The current stock promotion of StockTips.com is Tiger Oil and Energy, Inc (TGRO). Before describing the current promotion of TGRO I should mention its prior promotion back in January. It was promoted by Blue Lys Capital (WallstreetReport.net among other websites, paid $55,000) after the close on January 16th. Prior to the open the next day it was promoted by Andalusian Holding (FreeOTCPicks.com along with other websites, paid $55,000) and StockMister LLC (paid $15,000 by Cream Consulting). I received no further pump emails on TGRO after 2:20 PM Eastern on January 17th.

The current StockTips.com promotion of TGRO began on December 8th (a Sunday) and emails have come each trading day (or Sunday night). From a price of about $0.42 at 9:45am on the first trading day after the pump began TGRO hit a high of about $0.63 the next day for a potential gain of 50%.

Compensation disclosed: $2,500,000

Paying party: Laluna Services Inc

Below is the disclaimer from the emails promoting TGRO (click to enlarge):

The emails from StockTIps.com link to a video at http://www.stocktips.com/TGRO/ which then takes the viewer to http://www.stocktips.com/special-thank-tgro/ which links to the Invests.com page promoting TGRO.http://invests.com/opportunity-in-tigeroilandenergy-tgro

The disclaimer on that page says:

Invests.com expects to receive $1,250,000.00 for publication of this advertorial by StockTips.com.

PDF copy of Invests.com promotion page.

Why the SEC should have its sights set on StockTips.com

I have noticed several things about StockTips.com that make me believe that they are violating the law. These are all relatively small things that by themselves warrant no more than a slap on the wrist but they could indicate far bigger problems. If I worked for the SEC these would definitely make me think of investigating StockTips.com. First, the website discloses in all its emails that it is owned by Amerada Corp. In every email it lists its address as “4000 Aurora Avenue N. Ste. 119 Seattle, Washington 98103 US”. A quick search of corporations in Washington found only Amerada Petroleum Corp (a subsidiary of Hess Corporation, registered in Delaware). A search of Nevada and Delaware corporate registries found no companies with that name that currently exist (in Delaware an Amerada Corp. has been defunct since 1998). It is quite possible that the Amerada Corp that owns Stocktips.com exists in some other state and all this shows is a lack of proper disclosure or registration (using an address in Washington should mean that they have to file as a foreign corporation, in which case they would show up in the search I conducted).

The same question of the existence of Amerada Corp. can be asked of Laluna Inc — searches of the corporation registries of Washington, Nevada, and Delaware showed no potential matches. Furthermore, the name changed from Laluna Inc to Laluna Services Inc for the TGRO pump (all previous pumps listed “Laluna Inc” as the paying party. This makes it seem less likely that the company exists (although it is possible they made a typo but adding a “Services” to a company name is not a common typo). I should point out that while there are some foreign jurisdictions that do use “Inc.” or “Incorporated” that is much less prevalent than “Ltd.” or “Limited”.

Another suspicious fact about StockTips.com is that for every single stock promotion I have seen by them they have been paid by the same company, Laluna Inc (except for TGRO which was paid by Laluna Services Inc). Most promoters, when they do disclose who paid them, list a revolving door of common third-party promoter payers (such as Flip Ventures LLC), other promoters (such as MicroCap Consultants LLC) and entities that appear to be one-off entities created for one stock promotion.

I do have to admit that what I have described above is no more than what has seemed like ordinary stock promoter behavior over the last few years. But times have changed and the SEC’s Microcap Task Force has been kicking ass and taking names. Any prominent stock promoter that does anything even mildly suspicious is going to quickly find itself being investigated by the SEC. And any stock being promoted by such a promoter is at risk of a trading suspension.

[Edit 2013-12-16 3:20 PM]: In addition to what I described above, many of the large shareholders in TGRO have ties to recent pump and dumps such as NHUR and NVGC. See Ivan’s SeekingAlpha article and the Promotion Stock Secrets article on NGRC for details. In fact, TGRO CEO Kenneth B. Liebscher was criminally prosecuted in the past for stock fraud, although he was acquitted on all counts. The history of the CEO and the ties of large shareholders to other major pump and dump companies (including NHUR and NGRC) make it more likely that trading in TGRO be suspended by the SEC. See also the Promotion Stock Secrets blog post about TGRO.

Disclaimer: [Edit 2013-12-16: 3:20 PM — I am no longer net short TGRO but will soon be net short again] I am short TGRO and I intend to trade around my position (cover / reshort) in the following trading days and I will not update my disclaimer; I have no relationship with any parties mentioned above. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.

SEC Suspends trading in pump and dump Makism 3D $MDDD

The stock promotion of Makism 3D Corp (MDDD) had only been going for nine days and still the SEC suspended trading in the stock today prior to the market open. Just as with Life Stem Genetics, SeekingAlpha published a negative article on MDDD by StockRealist the day prior to the suspension.

SEC trading suspension release
SEC trading suspension order

The Commission temporarily suspended trading in the securities of Makism3D because of
concerns regarding the accuracy and adequacy of information in the marketplace and potentially
manipulative transactions in Makism3D’s common stock.

SEC Suspends trading in pump & dump Guar Global $GGBL

The stock promotion of Guar Global (GGBL) began just last weekend. The SEC suspended trading in the stock today prior to the market open after only four days of promotion.

SEC trading suspension release
SEC trading suspension order

Just like with the suspension of trading of Sovereign Lithium (SLCO), the SEC highlighted potentially manipulative trading in the stock in addition to the standard concerns about adequacy of information about the company:

The Commission temporarily suspended trading in the securities of Guar Global because of
concerns regarding the accuracy and adequacy of information in the marketplace and potentially
manipulative transactions in Guar Global’s common stock.