SEC v. Jillian Sidoti, No. LR-24949, Central District of California (Oct. 19, 2020) — Press Release
raw: Jillian Sidoti
Jillian Sidoti, No. LR-24949 (Oct. 19, 2020)
summary
California attorney Jillian Sidoti was charged by the SEC for drafting false legal documents that enabled the control group to sell over 5 million unregistered shares of Blake Insomnia Therapeutics, part of a $35 million micro‑cap securities fraud scheme.
paragraph
Sidoti, acting as Blake Insomnia Therapeutics' counsel, prepared and signed fraudulent private placement memoranda, registration statements, and opinion letters that concealed the true ownership of the company's stock. The deceptive filings allowed a control group to sell more than 5 million shares into the public market, contributing to roughly $35 million in illegal sales across at least 45 micro‑cap companies. The SEC alleges she violated antifraud and registration provisions and now faces criminal and civil securities‑fraud charges.
narrative
The SEC has charged California attorney Jillian Sidoti for her role in a fraudulent micro‑cap scheme involving Blake Insomnia Therapeutics. As the company's lawyer, Sidoti drafted and signed false private placement memoranda, registration statements, and opinion letters that hid the control group's ownership of the stock. These falsified documents enabled the control group to sell over 5 million unregistered shares into the public market. The sales were part of a broader scheme that generated about $35 million in illegal proceeds across at least 45 penny‑stock companies. By removing restrictive legends and misrepresenting ownership, Sidoti facilitated the evasion of securities regulations. She now faces both criminal and civil charges for violating antifraud and registration rules.
Classified unregistered-securities(confidence 100%). EDGAR detection: forms Form D/S-1· recall 41% / precision 30%. detection rule →
Statutes
Parties
Securities and Exchange CommissionJillian Sidoti
Keywords
sidotistocksecuritiesjillian sidotisecurities exchangeblake's stockblakejilliansecsec'scontrolexchange commissionalleges sidotisidoti facilitatedpenny stock
Exhibits & Attached Documents (1)
Extracted insights
Dollar amounts 1
- $35.00M $35 million $10M–$100M
Entities 7
- person blake insomnia therapeutics
- person california attorney jillian sidoti
- company fraudulent dumping of securities
- person fraudulent microcap scheme
- person jillian sidoti
- agency Securities and Exchange Commission
- agency the securities and exchange commission
Triples 31
- Securities and Exchange Commission charged California attorney Jillian Sidoti for her role in a fraudulent scheme to sell unregistered securities to the public
- SEC alleges Sidoti facilitated the fraudulent dumping of securities of penny stock company Blake Insomnia Therapeutics
- Securities and Exchange Commission charged Jillian Sidoti
- Jillian Sidoti facilitated fraudulent dumping of securities
- Jillian Sidoti assisted fraudulent microcap scheme
- Securities and Exchange Commission filed complaint in federal court
- Jillian Sidoti is attorney for Blake Insomnia Therapeutics
- Securities and Exchange Commission charged California attorney Jillian Sidoti
- Jillian Sidoti facilitated the fraudulent dumping of securities of penny stock company Blake Insomnia Therapeutics
- Securities and Exchange Commission charged California attorney Jillian Sidoti for her role in a fraudulent scheme to sell unregistered securities to the public
- SEC alleges Sidoti facilitated the fraudulent dumping of securities of penny stock company Blake Insomnia Therapeutics
- Securities and Exchange Commission charged California attorney Jillian Sidoti
- Jillian Sidoti facilitated the fraudulent dumping of securities of penny stock company Blake Insomnia Therapeutics
- Jillian Sidoti charged with assisting fraudulent microcap scheme
- Jillian Sidoti facilitated fraudulent dumping of securities
- Blake Insomnia Therapeutics sold unregistered securities to the public
- SEC filed complaint in federal court
- Jillian Sidoti acted as attorney for Blake
- SEC alleged fraudulent scheme involving penny stock company
- The Securities and Exchange Commission charged California attorney Jillian Sidoti
- Sidoti facilitated the fraudulent dumping of securities of penny stock company Blake Insomnia Therapeutics
- SEC charged Jillian Sidoti
- Jillian Sidoti assisting fraudulent microcap scheme
- SEC filed complaint in federal court in California
- Sidoti facilitated fraudulent dumping of securities of penny stock company Blake Insomnia Therapeutics
- SEC alleges Sidoti facilitated the fraudulent dumping of securities of penny stock company Blake Insomnia Therapeutics
- SEC charged Jillian Sidoti
- Jillian Sidoti assisting fraudulent microcap scheme
- SEC filed complaint in federal court in California
- Sidoti facilitated fraudulent dumping of securities of penny stock company Blake Insomnia Therapeutics
- SEC alleges Sidoti facilitated the fraudulent dumping of securities of penny stock company Blake Insomnia Therapeutics
PDF (from attached: complaint)
Text layers
Extracted body text (2,488c)
SEC Charges Attorney with Assisting Fraudulent Microcap Scheme Litigation Release No. 24949 / October 19, 2020 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jillian Sidoti, 20-CV-02178 (C.D. Cal. filed Oct. 19, 2020) The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged California attorney Jillian Sidoti for her role in a fraudulent scheme to sell unregistered securities to the public. The SEC's complaint, filed in federal court in California, alleges that Sidoti facilitated the fraudulent dumping of securities of penny stock company Blake Insomnia Therapeutics. According to the complaint, as an attorney for Blake, Sidoti drafted and signed documents that she knew contained materially false information regarding the operations and control of Blake, including a private placement memorandum and registration statements filed with the Commission. As alleged in the complaint, Sidoti then arranged to sell almost all of Blake's stock to nominee shareholders to obscure that the shares were actually being sold to shareholders affiliated with Blake. The complaint also alleges that Sidoti authored opinion letters containing false statements about the control of Blake in order to induce the transfer agent to remove restrictive legends from stock certificates held by the control group. As alleged, Sidoti's actions enabled the control group to evade legal restrictions on the sales of stock by affiliates and sell over five million shares of Blake's stock into the public market. On January 2, 2020, the SEC charged 15 defendants in connection with a scheme that allegedly generated more than $35 million from illegal sales of stock of at least 45 microcap companies, including sales of Blake's stock that Sidoti facilitated. The SEC's complaint charges Sidoti with violating the antifraud provisions of Sections 17(a)(1) and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and the registration provisions of Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act. The SEC seeks permanent injunctive relief, including a conduct-based injunction restraining Sidoti from providing legal services in connection with certain unregistered offerings, a penny stock bar, and a civil penalty. The SEC's investigation was conducted by Rebecca Israel, Kathleen Shields, Trevor Donelan, Eric Forni, Jonathan Allen, David Scheffler, J. Lauchlan Wash, Sheila D'Entremont, and Amy Gwiazda of the SEC's Boston Regional Office. SEC Complaint
OCR text (2,488c · html-text · 99% conf)
SEC Charges Attorney with Assisting Fraudulent Microcap Scheme Litigation Release No. 24949 / October 19, 2020 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jillian Sidoti, 20-CV-02178 (C.D. Cal. filed Oct. 19, 2020) The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged California attorney Jillian Sidoti for her role in a fraudulent scheme to sell unregistered securities to the public. The SEC's complaint, filed in federal court in California, alleges that Sidoti facilitated the fraudulent dumping of securities of penny stock company Blake Insomnia Therapeutics. According to the complaint, as an attorney for Blake, Sidoti drafted and signed documents that she knew contained materially false information regarding the operations and control of Blake, including a private placement memorandum and registration statements filed with the Commission. As alleged in the complaint, Sidoti then arranged to sell almost all of Blake's stock to nominee shareholders to obscure that the shares were actually being sold to shareholders affiliated with Blake. The complaint also alleges that Sidoti authored opinion letters containing false statements about the control of Blake in order to induce the transfer agent to remove restrictive legends from stock certificates held by the control group. As alleged, Sidoti's actions enabled the control group to evade legal restrictions on the sales of stock by affiliates and sell over five million shares of Blake's stock into the public market. On January 2, 2020, the SEC charged 15 defendants in connection with a scheme that allegedly generated more than $35 million from illegal sales of stock of at least 45 microcap companies, including sales of Blake's stock that Sidoti facilitated. The SEC's complaint charges Sidoti with violating the antifraud provisions of Sections 17(a)(1) and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and the registration provisions of Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act. The SEC seeks permanent injunctive relief, including a conduct-based injunction restraining Sidoti from providing legal services in connection with certain unregistered offerings, a penny stock bar, and a civil penalty. The SEC's investigation was conducted by Rebecca Israel, Kathleen Shields, Trevor Donelan, Eric Forni, Jonathan Allen, David Scheffler, J. Lauchlan Wash, Sheila D'Entremont, and Amy Gwiazda of the SEC's Boston Regional Office. SEC Complaint