February 16, 2017: Those participating in the ongoing promotion campaign of Platinum Pari-Mutuel Holdings, Inc. (PPMH) received a rude awakening this morning, as the SEC suspending trading in the issuer before today's open. The regulator cited, "questions regarding the accuracy and adequacy of publicly available information in Platinum’s press releases...among other things, the valuation of recent corporate acquisitions..."; and, " we have concerns about third-party promotional materials to which the company has been subject since at least November 2016".
» Related: PPMH Past Performances
Among the promotional materials referenced by the SEC, are email pieces produced by Midam Ventures, one of the largest disseminators of email promotions, including those published by its sister company, EGM Firm. Over the last few days, PPMH pump pieces have been appearing in Inboxes from Awesome Penny Tips, another Midam publication, but one that tries to pass itself off as the old Awesome Penny Stocks crew.
PPMH has a long history of pump and dump campaigns going back to the days when it was known as Hokutou Holdings International and trading under the symbol HKTU.
» Related: Hok me? Hokutou! HKTU Flips Bag Holders The Bird!
The SEC's reference to "the valuation of recent corporate acquisitions", could mean some uneasy days for shareholders of South American Gold Corp. (SAGD). On February 13th, the company announced the acquisition of the PotCircles social network from PPMH in exchange for $700,000 worth of SAGD stock. If the regulator is indeed concerned with PPMH valuations, then it may feel that SAGD paid too much for PotCircles.
Further fueling speculation of a possible SAGD suspension, is an ongoing email promotion that was launched concurrently with the announcement of the PotCircles acquisition. It would not be a reach for the SEC to use this as criteria for a second suspension, as the PPMH promotions were also a consideration within the decision to halt trading on that ticker.
» Related: SAGD Past Performances