The SEC charged a ring of eight individuals for their roles in an alleged pump-and-dump scheme involving a penny stock company based in California that has repeatedly changed its name and purported line of business over the past several years.
The husband and wife duo who orchestrated the scheme are being charged by the SEC in the case along with others enlisted to buy, sell, or promote stock in the company now called Gepco Ltd. The husband in this case installed some of these associates as officers and directors of Gepco while he secretly ran the company behind the scenes. Collectively, they amassed large blocks of shares of Gepco common stock while the couple manipulated the market to create the appearance of genuine investor demand, allowing an associate to sell his stock at inflated prices to make hundreds of thousands of dollars in illicit profits.
The SEC has obtained an emergency court order to freeze the assets of the couple and others who profited illegally through the alleged scheme.
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