Hidden pockets are lined as the public is Shanghaied into buying shares of another worthless company
August 5, 2015: Acting on the tip of an unnamed source, theOTC.today has been able to determine that the current Pump & Dump email campaign being conducted on the intrinsically valueless shares of American Resources Exploration, Inc. (AREN) is designed to enable the liquidation of stock held in the name of Chinese nationals.
Confidential sources at Electronic Transaction Clearing, Inc. and Alpine Securities have confirmed that stock certificates representing millions of shares of Alazzio Entertainment Corp., AREN's predecessor entity, were deposited several months ago into accounts purportedly held by Chinese nationals at various brokerage firms that use the two clearing houses' services. ETC and Alpine are two of the few clearing houses that will accept the certificates of questionable companies such as AREN, charging clients significant fees to process the certificates and then full retail brokerage commissions to then dispose of the stock.
According to the sources at ETC and Alpine, the shares represented by these certificates are being liquidated under the current promotion. Both houses also confirm that FINRA has contacted them about trading in AREN and is requesting voluntary restrictions in the trading of these shares.
Eric Van Nyugen |
The use of Chinese nationals as nominee shareholders is not a new tactic. Recently, recidivist penny stock scam artist Phillip Kueber was sued by the SEC for his involvement in the Cynk Technology Corp (CYNK) Pump & Dump scheme. In the complaint, the SEC accuses Kueber of using Chinese nationals as nominee shareholders to mask the fact that it was Kueber himself who would benefit from the sale of the shares.
77. In June 2013, Kueber sent a broker-dealer firm, directly or indirectly, two beneficial ownership declarations representing that two different IBCs, Digital Systems and Icefox, owned the Cynk shares; that the Chinese national signing on behalf of each IBC exclusively owned the Cynk shares beneficially; and that neither of these purported beneficial owners of Cynk shares was a control person, officer, director, or founder of Cynk or promoted the purchases or sales of Cynk’s shares on Cynk’s behalf.
78. Kueber signed each declaration as “the investment adviser” for the account and “represent[ed] and warrant[ed]” that he was “not aware of any material facts, which are inconsistent with, or which have been omitted from, the facts recited in the declaration.”
79. In fact, as Kueber knew, Kueber himself beneficially owned these Cynk shares. Kueber, not the two Chinese nationals, beneficially owned and controlled the two IBCs.
W. Scott Lawler |
Phillip Kueber |