The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Friday it has obtained final judgments against a Canadian woman as a relief defendant in a “corporate hijacking” case, and against a U.S. attorney that was also involved.

The SEC announced that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted summary judgment against relief defendant Alena Dubinsky in a case where the commission alleges that 22 inactive publicly-traded companies were hijacked, so that their securities could then be manipulated. It says that the court found that Dubinsky opened brokerage accounts in her name through which certain defendants made unregistered sales of shares of issuers which they had hijacked. The final judgment against Dubinsky orders her to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest in the amount of US$1.1 million, it says.

Last month, an Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) panel ruled that Dubinsky and her partner, Alexander Khodjaiants, engaged in an illegal distribution and helped perpetrate a fraud on investors, but not that they engaged in market manipulation, as part of the “corporate hijacking” scheme.(See Investment Executive, Couple helped perpetrate fraud: OSC, September 17, 2013.)

In that proceeding, OSC staff alleged that they opened trading accounts to receive and trade fraudulent securities in a number of issuers; and the panel found that the pair did participate in an illegal distribution. No sanctions were handed down following that finding. A hearing to determine sanctions has been set for Nov. 12.

Separately, the SEC says that the court entered a consent final judgment against Nicolette Loisel, a Houston-based attorney, in the case. The final judgment permanently enjoins Loisel from violating the antifraud and registration provisions of the federal securities laws, prohibits her from participating in any penny stock offering, and orders her to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest of $143,755, the SEC says; although, it notes that payment of these amounts was waived, and no civil penalty was imposed, in light of her financial condition.

Last year, the SEC secured judgments and $12.9 million in monetary relief against three other Canadian defendants for their involvement in the case. The trio also settled similar allegations with the OSC last year.