FLORIDA RESIDENT CHARGED BY SEC WITH SELLING UNREGISTERED SECURITIES

FROM:   SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 

SEC Charges Florida Resident with Unregistered Sales of Securities

On July 23, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed settled charges against Florida resident Jorge Bravo, Jr., for unlawful sales of millions of shares of a microcap company to the public without complying with the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933.

According to the SEC's complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, from April 2009 until May 2010, Bravo unlawfully sold approximately 93 million shares of stock of AVVAA World Health Care Products, Inc. in unregistered transactions for proceeds of approximately $523,000. The complaint alleges that Bravo obtained the shares through three "wrap around agreements." The wrap around agreements involved debts that AVVAA supposedly owed to its officers, affiliates, or other persons closely associated with the company ("Affiliates") for unpaid compensation for services rendered. Under the wrap around agreements, the Affiliates assigned to Bravo the debts that AVVAA purportedly owed to them, and AVVAA consented to the assignment and agreed to modify the terms of the original debt obligation so that the debts now owed to Bravo were immediately convertible into shares of AVVAA common stock. According to the complaint, within weeks of entering into the first two agreements, and approximately four months after the execution of the third, Bravo began selling the shares he obtained under the agreements to the public. He then used some of the proceeds of the stock sales to pay the amounts owed to the Affiliates under the wrap around agreements. The complaint further alleges that Bravo had previously been involved in wrap around agreements, in his capacity as of president and chief executive of Cross Atlantic Commodities, Inc., a public company located in Weston, Florida, and that those wrap around agreements were subjects of a prior Commission enforcement action, SEC v. K&L International Enterprises, Inc., 6:09-cv-1638-GAP-KRS (M.D. Fla. Sept. 24, 2009). Bravo was not charged in that matter.

Without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations, Bravo agreed to settle the case against him by consenting to the entry of a final judgment permanently enjoining him from future violations of Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act; permanently enjoining him from participating in any offering of penny stock; and requiring him to pay disgorgement of $ 392,000, the amount of his ill-gotten gains, plus prejudgment interest of $ 53,866 and a civil penalty in the amount of $150,000. The settlement must be approved by the court.

The SEC's investigation was conducted by New York Regional Office Enforcement staff Karen Lee, Christopher Ferrante, and Leslie Kazon. The Commission acknowledges the assistance of FINRA, the British Columbia Securities Commission, and the Ontario Securities Commission in this matter.