COURT ENTERS FINAL JUDGMENT AGAINST GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT & ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES, INC.

FROM:  SEC
May 11, 2012
The Commission announced that on April 23, 2012, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida entered a Final Judgment against Defendants Philip Pritchard, Pietro Cimino, and Global Development & Environmental Resources, Inc. The Final Judgment orders Pritchard, Cimino, and Global to pay, jointly and severally, disgorgement in the amount of $2,122,625, plus $523,173.27 in prejudgment interest. The Final Judgment also orders Pritchard and Cimino to each pay a civil penalty of $130,000.
The Commission commenced this action by filing its complaint on May 22, 2008. The complaint alleged defendants participated in a fraudulent "pump and dump" scheme to evade the registration provisions of the federal securities laws and then sell purportedly unrestricted Global shares during a fraudulent promotional campaign.

The Commission previously announced on March 8, 2010 that following a five day trial, a seven member jury in the U.S. District Court in Tampa, Florida found Darko S. Mrakuzic liable for violating the anti-fraud and registration provisions of the federal securities laws in connection with the above scheme that netted Mrakuzic more than $6 million in profits in violation of Sections 5(a) and (c) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. On February 7, 2011, the Court ordered Mrakuzic to pay a total of $9,135,089 which included disgorgement of $6,568,568, pre-judgment interest of $2,306,521 and a civil penalty of $260,000.

Global, Pritchard, Cimino, and Defendants Carmine J. Bua, Anthony M. Cimini, Sr., and Dante M. Panella, all previously settled the Commission’s anti-fraud and securities registration charges against them by consenting, without admitting or denying the Commission’s allegations, to permanent injunctions. All the individuals consented to penny stock bars, and Cimini, Pritchard, and Cimino consented to officer-and-director bars. The Court also previously ordered disgorgement and civil penalties against Cimini, Bua, and Panella. The Commission’s claim for a civil penalty against Global Development has been voluntarily dismissed.

PENNY STOCK PROMOTERS ENJOINED AND BARRED

FROM:  SEC

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission) announced that on April 10, 2012, the Honorable Sidney A. Fitzwater of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas enjoined Ryan M. Reynolds of Dallas, TX, Timothy T. Page of Malibu, CA, Steven Fischer of Bonita Springs, FL, Phillip W. Offill, Jr., a Dallas attorney, RSMR Capital Group Inc. (RSMR), Page Properties LP, and ATN Enterprises LLC from violating Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933. 

The Commission’s complaint alleged that these individuals and entities violated the securities laws by acting as underwriters engaged in a scheme to evade the securities registration requirements by offering and selling the securities of one or more of six companies when no registration statements were filed or in effect to provide information to public investors. The six companies issued penny stocks, which are defined as equity securities trading at a price of less than five dollars per share, and the defendants initiated public trading in the over-the-counter market under the following trading symbols: American Television & Film Company (ATFT), Ecogate, Inc. (ECGT), Media International Concepts, Inc. (MEIC), Vanquish Productions, Inc. (VQPI), Auction Mills, Inc. (AUML), and Custom Designed Compressor Systems, Inc. (CUPY). The court also barred Reynolds, Page, Fischer, RSMR, Page, and Page Properties for seven years, and Offill permanently, from participating in the offer or sale of penny stocks. In addition, the court enjoined Reynolds, RSMR, Page, and Page Properties from violating Section 15(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by engaging in the securities transaction without registering as brokers or dealers with the Commission.

 The court also ordered the defendants to pay disgorgement totaling $12,219,468 of profits from their unregistered securities sales plus prejudgment interest, and civil penalties of $120,000 each. In addition, the court ordered relief defendants Timothy Barham and his company Ballad Enterprises, Inc. of Henderson, Tennessee, and Bellatalia LP, a company owned by Reynolds, to disgorge funds they received from the defendants’ illegal stock sales. The Commission’s claims for remedies against Shane Mullholand and his company Dissemination Services LLC remain to be resolved. The court previously enjoined Arizona attorney, David Stocker and his company Curtis-Case Inc. for their violations of Section 5 of the Securities Act, and barred them from participating in penny stock sales.