02.02.10
SEC sues lawyer who allegedly helped stock promoters sell unregistered shares
See the Dow Jones Newswire article for the story. That article is excerpted below:
The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission sued a New York lawyer on Monday for allegedly writing bogus opinion letters to help stock promoters improperly procure unrestricted stock certificates in three unregistered “penny” stock offerings.The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Monday, alleges that Stephen Czarnik, a partner at Cohen and Czarnik LLP, assisted three stock promoters in the abuse of a rule that allows accredited investors to acquire unrestricted shares from transfer agents in unregistered securities offerings that don’t exceed $1 million.
The SEC said Czarnik continues to serve as a “one-man ‘opinion-mill’ for unregistered penny stock offerings.” The regulator said Czarnik has authored at least 111 opinion letters for unregistered stock offerings, involving the transfer of more than 2.5 billion shares to penny stock promoters by 43 issuers.
Disclosure: No positions in any stocks mentioned and no relation to anyone mentioned. I have a terms of use.