Pazoo, Inc. Used in Artificial Inflation Scheme
On June 21, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) charged a New Jersey-based group of stock promoters with fraud involving the manipulation and artificial inflation of the share price of a microcap company, Pazoo, Inc. The scheme grossed over $1 million.
The SEC alleges that James Farinella, and his purported consulting firm Integrated Capital Partners, Inc. (ICP), controlled virtually the entire public float of stock in microcap issuer Pazoo, Inc. Farinella paid Equity Awareness Group (EAG) to promote Pazoo and to engage in matched trading to create the appearance of an active market for Pazoo stock and boost the stock price. The SEC further alleges that Anthony Amado, an owner of EAG, and Carlo Palomino, an EAG employee, carried out the scheme, enabling Farinella to dump Pazoo shares for over $1 million.In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey announced criminal charges against Farinella.
The SEC’s complaint charges Farinella, ICP, Amado, EAG and Palomino with violating Sections 17(a)(1) and (3) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Sections 9(a)(1) and (2) and 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5(a) and (c) thereunder. The complaint seeks permanent injunctions, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains along with prejudgment interest, penalties, and penny stock bars.
For further information about this securities law blog post, please contact Brenda Hamilton, Securities Attorney at 101 Plaza Real S, Suite 202 N, Boca Raton, Florida, (561) 416-8956, or [email protected]. This securities law blog post is provided as a general informational service to clients and friends of Hamilton & Associates Law Group and should not be construed as, and does not constitute legal advice on any specific matter, nor does this message create an attorney-client relationship. Please note that the prior results discussed herein do not guarantee similar outcomes.
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Brenda Hamilton, Securities Attorney
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