2018-05-15 sec-litreleases litigation_release 67 KB 3,054 chars

SEC v. Francisco Abellan Villena; Guillermo Ciupiak; James B. Panther, Jr.; and Faiyaz Dean, No. LR-24141, Southern District of New York (May 15, 2018) — Press Release

raw: Francisco Abellan Villena, Guillermo Ciupiak, James B. Panther, Jr., and Faiyaz Dean

Francisco Abellan Villena, Guillermo Ciupiak, James B. Panther, Jr., and Faiyaz Dean, No. LR-24141 (S.D.N.Y. May 15, 2018)

Caption
SEC v. Francisco Abellan Villena, et al.
Source PDF JSON
summary

The SEC charged four individuals—Francisco Abellan Villena, Guillermo Ciupiak, James B

paragraph

The SEC charged four individuals—Francisco Abellan Villena, Guillermo Ciupiak, James B. Panther, Jr., and attorney Faiyaz Dean—with orchestrating a $34 million market manipulation scheme involving the microcap stock of Biozoom Inc. The defendants used offshore accounts, nominee structures, sham documents, and deceptive promotions to artificially inflate the stock price and illegally sell shares to retail investors, violating Sections 10(b) and 5 of the Securities Exchange and Securities Acts. Abellan, previously sanctioned for a similar scheme, and the others face charges seeking monetary and equitable relief, while the SEC had already frozen proceeds in 2013 and established a fair fund returning over $14 million to harmed investors. The SEC also pursued related actions against two registered reps and a brokerage firm for unregistered sales and supervisory failures, with international regulators providing investigative support. The litigation remains ongoing, led by SEC Enforcement attorneys and supported by forensic and global regulatory teams.

narrative

The SEC charged four individuals—Francisco Abellan Villena, Guillermo Ciupiak, James B. Panther, Jr., and attorney Faiyaz Dean—with orchestrating a $34 million market manipulation scheme involving the microcap stock of Biozoom Inc. The defendants used offshore accounts, nominee structures, sham documents, and deceptive promotions to artificially inflate the stock price and illegally sell shares to retail investors, violating Sections 10(b) and 5 of the Securities Exchange and Securities Acts. Abellan, previously sanctioned for a similar scheme, and the others face charges seeking monetary and equitable relief, while the SEC had already frozen proceeds in 2013 and established a fair fund returning over $14 million to harmed investors. The SEC also pursued related actions against two registered reps and a brokerage firm for unregistered sales and supervisory failures, with international regulators providing investigative support. The litigation remains ongoing, led by SEC Enforcement attorneys and supported by forensic and global regulatory teams. The SEC charged four individuals—Francisco Abellan Villena, Guillermo Ciupiak, James B. Panther, Jr., and attorney Faiyaz Dean—with orchestrating a $34 million market manipulation scheme involving the microcap stock of Biozoom Inc. The defendants used offshore accounts, nominee structures, sham documents, and deceptive promotions to artificially inflate the stock price and illegally sell shares to retail investors, violating Sections 10(b), 5, and 17(a) of the federal securities laws. Abellan had previously been sanctioned for a similar scheme, and the SEC had already frozen proceeds from the fraud in 2013, later distributing over $14 million to harmed investors via a fair fund. The SEC seeks monetary penalties and equitable relief, while also pursuing related actions against registered representatives and a brokerage firm for supervisory failures. The investigation involved international cooperation with regulators from Spain, Canada, Hong Kong, Cyprus, Panama, and others.

Enriched metadata

Scheme
market-manipulation (100%)
Court
Southern District of New York
Victim loss
$14,000,000
Entity
Biozoom Inc.
Classified market-manipulation(confidence 100%). EDGAR detection: forms SC 13D/G/13F· recall 53% / precision 9%. detection rule →
Statutes
15 U.S.C. § 78j(b)15 U.S.C. § 77(e)15 U.S.C. § 77q(a)17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange ActSection 5 of the Securities ActSection 17(a) of the Securities ActRule 10b-5
Parties
Securities and Exchange CommissionFrancisco Abellan VillenaGuillermo CiupiakJames B. Panther, Jr.Faiyaz Dean
Keywords
securitiessecfrancisco abellanabellan villenavillena guillermoguillermo ciupiakciupiak jamesjames pantherpanther faiyazfaiyaz deansecurities exchangecommissionexchange commissionsales biozoomabellan

Exhibits & Attached Documents (1)

Extracted insights

Dollar amounts 2
  • $34.00M $34 million $10M–$100M
  • $14.00M $14 million $10M–$100M
Entities 7
  • person Faiyaz Dean
  • person Francisco Abellan Villena
  • person fraudulent scheme
  • person Guillermo Ciupiak
  • person James B. Panther, Jr.
  • agency Securities and Exchange Commission
  • organization Securities and Exchange Commission
Triples 17
  • SEC Files Charges in International Manipulation Scheme
  • SEC charged four individuals for their roles in a fraudulent scheme
  • fraudulent scheme generated nearly $34 million from unlawful stock sales
  • fraudulent scheme caused significant harm to retail
  • Securities and Exchange Commission charged four individuals for their roles in a fraudulent scheme that generated nearly $34 million from unlawful stock sales and caused significant harm to retail investors
  • Francisco Abellan Villena participated in a fraudulent scheme involving unlawful stock sales
  • Guillermo Ciupiak participated in a fraudulent scheme involving unlawful stock sales
  • James B. Panther, Jr. participated in a fraudulent scheme involving unlawful stock sales
  • Faiyaz Dean participated in a fraudulent scheme involving unlawful stock sales
  • Francisco Abellan Villena charged for their roles in a fraudulent scheme
  • Guillermo Ciupiak charged for their roles in a fraudulent scheme
  • James B. Panther, Jr. charged for their roles in a fraudulent scheme
  • Faiyaz Dean charged for their roles in a fraudulent scheme
  • Securities and Exchange Commission charged four individuals for their roles in a fraudulent scheme
  • Securities and Exchange Commission filed Securities and Exchange Commission v. Francisco Abellan Villena, Guillermo Ciupiak, James B. Panther, Jr., and Faiyaz Dean, No. 18-civ-04309
  • Securities and Exchange Commission generated nearly $34 million from unlawful stock sales
  • Securities and Exchange Commission caused significant harm to retail investors
PDF (from attached: complaint)
SEC v. FRANCISCO ABELLAN VILLENA · Source
Text layers
Extracted body text (3,054c) 
SEC Files Charges in International Manipulation Scheme Litigation Release No. 24141 / May 15, 2018 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Francisco Abellan Villena, Guillermo Ciupiak, James B. Panther, Jr., and Faiyaz Dean, No. 18-civ-04309 (SDNY filed May 15, 2018) The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged four individuals for their roles in a fraudulent scheme that generated nearly $34 million from unlawful stock sales and caused significant harm to retail investors. According to the SEC's complaint, the defendants manipulated the market for and illegally sold the stock of microcap issuer Biozoom Inc. As part of the alleged scheme, the defendants hid their ownership and sales of Biozoom shares by using offshore bank accounts, sham legal documents, a network of nominees, anonymizing techniques, and other deceptive practices. The defendants also allegedly directed a wide-ranging promotional campaign and employed sophisticated, manipulative trading techniques to artificially inflate Biozoom's share price. The alleged scheme culminated in the defendants' illegal sales of Biozoom, which netted them nearly $34 million in unlawful proceeds. The SEC's complaint, which was filed in federal district court in the Southern District of New York, charges Francisco Abellan Villena, Guillermo Ciupiak, James B. Panther, Jr., and attorney Faiyaz Dean with violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b), and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, 17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5, as well as Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act"), 15 U.S.C. § 77(e), and Section 17(a) of the Securities Act, 15 U.S.C. § 77q(a). The SEC seeks monetary and equitable relief. The SEC previously obtained a judgment against Abellan for his role in another market manipulation scheme. In separate actions, the SEC charged two registered representatives for their roles in the unregistered sales of Biozoom stock and a brokerage firm for supervisory and recordkeeping failures. The SEC obtained a court order in 2013 freezing proceeds from the unlawful Biozoom sales. It subsequently obtained a default judgment and established a fair fund, which has returned more than $14 million to harmed investors. The SEC also previously charged a lawyer and officer of Biozoom's predecessor entity. The SEC's continuing investigation is being conducted by Marc E. Johnson and Jennie B. Krasner with the assistance of the Enforcement Division's Information Technology Forensics Group, and under the supervision of Deborah A. Tarasevich and Ms. Chion. The litigation is being conducted by Duane K. Thompson and Daniel Maher, and supervised by Cheryl Crumpton. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the British Columbia Securities Commission, the Comision Nacional del Mercado de Valores of Spain, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, the Ontario Securities Commission, and the Supertendencia del Mercado de Valores of Panama. SEC Complaint
OCR text (3,054c · html-text · 99% conf) 
SEC Files Charges in International Manipulation Scheme Litigation Release No. 24141 / May 15, 2018 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Francisco Abellan Villena, Guillermo Ciupiak, James B. Panther, Jr., and Faiyaz Dean, No. 18-civ-04309 (SDNY filed May 15, 2018) The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged four individuals for their roles in a fraudulent scheme that generated nearly $34 million from unlawful stock sales and caused significant harm to retail investors. According to the SEC's complaint, the defendants manipulated the market for and illegally sold the stock of microcap issuer Biozoom Inc. As part of the alleged scheme, the defendants hid their ownership and sales of Biozoom shares by using offshore bank accounts, sham legal documents, a network of nominees, anonymizing techniques, and other deceptive practices. The defendants also allegedly directed a wide-ranging promotional campaign and employed sophisticated, manipulative trading techniques to artificially inflate Biozoom's share price. The alleged scheme culminated in the defendants' illegal sales of Biozoom, which netted them nearly $34 million in unlawful proceeds. The SEC's complaint, which was filed in federal district court in the Southern District of New York, charges Francisco Abellan Villena, Guillermo Ciupiak, James B. Panther, Jr., and attorney Faiyaz Dean with violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b), and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, 17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5, as well as Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act"), 15 U.S.C. § 77(e), and Section 17(a) of the Securities Act, 15 U.S.C. § 77q(a). The SEC seeks monetary and equitable relief. The SEC previously obtained a judgment against Abellan for his role in another market manipulation scheme. In separate actions, the SEC charged two registered representatives for their roles in the unregistered sales of Biozoom stock and a brokerage firm for supervisory and recordkeeping failures. The SEC obtained a court order in 2013 freezing proceeds from the unlawful Biozoom sales. It subsequently obtained a default judgment and established a fair fund, which has returned more than $14 million to harmed investors. The SEC also previously charged a lawyer and officer of Biozoom's predecessor entity. The SEC's continuing investigation is being conducted by Marc E. Johnson and Jennie B. Krasner with the assistance of the Enforcement Division's Information Technology Forensics Group, and under the supervision of Deborah A. Tarasevich and Ms. Chion. The litigation is being conducted by Duane K. Thompson and Daniel Maher, and supervised by Cheryl Crumpton. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the British Columbia Securities Commission, the Comision Nacional del Mercado de Valores of Spain, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, the Ontario Securities Commission, and the Supertendencia del Mercado de Valores of Panama. SEC Complaint

Related documents (1)