(June 22) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has settled part of a micro cap fraud case involving cross-border trading.
The SEC says that the U.S. District Court in Chicago entered final judgments against Floyd Leland “Lee” Ogle, the former president of Exsorbet Industries Inc. of Arkansas, and four others in a micro cap market manipulation case involving cross-border trading by a B.C. resident.
The SEC’s complaint, filed Feb. 1, 1999, alleged that the defendants manipulated the price of Exsorbet stock from $1 a share to $13 from November 1993 through February 1996. The stock was traded over-the-counter.
The SEC also alleged “extensive cross-border manipulation of Exsorbet’s stock in British Columbia, Canada through wash sales and matched trades.” It accused the defendants of a scheme to illegally dominate the secondary market in the stock, paying bribes for co-operation, forging a letter of support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and issuing a false press release.
The defendants were ordered to pay over $2.3 million in disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and civil penalties. Permanent injunctions were also entered against all the defendants. The defendants consented to the judgments without admitting or denying the allegations in the SEC’s complaint.
The defendants who remain in the SEC’s lawsuit are Ogle’s Canadian business partner, Donald Tabor, and his Canadian company, Kailey Mining & Equipment Co., Ltd., and former San Diego stockbroker Robin Opp, against whom the SEC has filed a motion for a default judgment.