The Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) filed charges against 10 individuals, five of which were registered brokers, involved in schemes to trick investors into buying shares of ForceField Energy Inc.
According to the complaint, the schemes involved ForceField’s then-chairman, Richard St. Julien, steering these registered brokers to sell the Coconut Creek, Florida-based company by bribing them with money and other benefits. All of these “benefits” were covertly given to the registered representatives, with the parties going so far as communicating with prepaid disposable “burner” phones and encrypted, content-expiring text messages.
The registered representatives included Richard L. Brown, Gerald J. Cocuzzo (CRD# 4047511) of Newbridge Securities Corporation, Naveed A. (Nick) Khan (CRD# 4615944) of Meyers Associates, Maroof Miyana (CRD# 4513966) of Legend Securities, and Pranav V. Patel (CRD# 130645) of Dawson James.
All of the listed brokers allegedly sold ForceField stocks without disclosing that they were being bribed with money and other benefits, which probably was the most important information for them to disclose.
According to court documents, the kickbacks paid to the registered brokers were hidden by using a company in Belize to pay them, wiring money from a company bank account to another involved in the scheme to pay to the promoters in cash, according to the complaint. Some of the investors were lured to invest through a nationwide cold calling campaign, and one of the unregistered representatives went so far as to appear on a Fox Business Network show as a purported market commentator to tout ForceField as a great investment.
ForceField is currently traded at $0.02 per share on the OTC Markets, but the OTC Market exchange is not listing the charts of the company because of the investigation. The entire ordeal is a complete travesty, and potentially many investors were swindled out of their hard-earned money to invest in something that was most likely unsuitable for them.
If you lost money investing with ForceField and/or invested with any of the investors mentioned above, you may be able to recover some or all of your losses.
Silver Law Group represents the interests of investors who have been the victims of investment fraud. If have questions about your legal rights, please contact Scott Silver of the Silver Law Group for a free consultation at ssilver@silverlaw.com or toll free at (800) 975-4345.