The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has secured US$12.9 million in judgments against three Ontario men accused of “hijacking” defunct companies.

The SEC reports that, on Aug. 2, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered judgments against Irwin Boock, Jason Wong, and Stanton B.J. DeFreitas, for their involvement in hijacking 23 defunct or inactive publicly-traded companies and making unregistered offers and sales of billions of shares.

It reports that the judgments hold Boock, Wong, and DeFreitas jointly and severally liable to pay US$6,140,172 in disgorgement and US$2,062,282 in prejudgment interest. They also order Boock, Wong, and DeFreitas to pay civil penalties of US$2,999,000, US$1,560,000, and US$130,000, respectively. The commission says that the court imposed a lower penalty on DeFreitas “based on his acceptance of responsibility and active cooperation with the commission staff during the litigation”.

Additionally, the SEC says that the judgment entered against Wong permanently enjoins him from committing future violations and imposes a permanent penny stock bar and officer and director bar (similar bans were imposed on Boock and DeFreitas by the court back in 2010). Also, on Sept. 24, the SEC instituted an order suspending a fourth defendant, Roger Shoss, from appearing or practicing as an attorney before the commission. The commission’s civil action against Shoss has been stayed pending the outcome of a criminal proceeding.

Earlier this year, the three men also entered settlement agreements with the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) over similar allegations. In February, Boock agreed to a permanent cease trade order, registration ban and director and officer ban, an administrative penalty of US$70,000, disgorgement of US$145,300, and US$55,000 in costs. In January, DeFreitas was banned for 15 years, agreed to pay an administrative penalty of US$70,000 and disgrogement of US$70,000; and, Wong accepted a 12 year ban, along with an administrative penalty of US$35,000, disgorgement of US$39,700, and costs of US$20,000.