The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a former microcap company CEO and a boiler room operator with defrauding seniors and others who were pressured to invest in a pair of penny stock companies and promised lucrative profits.
The SEC alleges that Craig V. Sizer founded Sanomedics Inc. and Fun Cool Free Inc., which were purportedly in the business of selling non-contact infrared thermometers and software applications respectively, and he hired Miguel “Michael” Mesa to help him attract and defraud investors in both companies. Sizer allegedly provided Mesa with a list of pitch points for use by boiler-room agents hired by Mesa to sell shares of the stocks based on misrepresentations that investor funds would be used for research and development and no sales commissions would be paid out of investor funds. According to the SEC’s complaint, Sizer and Mesa misappropriated approximately 90 percent of the funds raised from investors, enriching themselves and paying sales commissions to the boiler-room agents. Several hundred investors nationwide were allegedly defrauded out of a total of approximately $20 million.
“We allege that Sizer and Mesa fraudulently touted Sanomedics and Fun Cool Free stocks as profitable investments while in fact only Sizer and Mesa and the sales agents were profiting at the expense of investors, many of whom were seniors,” said Eric I. Bustillo, Director of the SEC’s Miami Regional Office.
In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida today announced criminal charges.
Sizer and Mesa have agreed to partial settlements of the SEC’s charges without admitting or denying the allegations. They both agreed to be barred from future penny stock offerings, and Sizer agreed to be barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company. Financial sanctions will be decided by the court at a later date. The SEC’s complaint alleges that Sizer and Mesa violated Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5. Mesa also allegedly violated Section 15(a) of the Exchange Act, and Sizer allegedly aided and abetted Mesa’s violations.
The SEC’s continuing investigation is being conducted by Gary M. Miller and Eric E. Morales of the Enforcement Division’s Microcap Fraud Task Force in the Miami office, and the case has been supervised by Elisha L. Frank and Jason R. Berkowitz of the Microcap Fraud Task Force. The SEC’s litigation is being led by Alejandro O. Soto. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
SEC Press Release
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