U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 20090 / April 25, 2007
SEC v. Platinum Capital Advocates, Inc., Platinum Capital Advocates Elite, Inc., Stephen P. Amella, Andre Hayden, and Strategic Management Alliance, Inc., Civil Action No. 07CV0985 (N.D. Ill.) (Holderman, J.)
The Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") announced that on April 13, 2007, the Clerk of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois distributed $1,228,828.68 to investors who were the subject of the Commission's Complaint in the above referenced case. On February 21, 2007, the Commission filed a Complaint alleging that from October 2006 through February 2007, Stephen P. Amella and Andre Hayden, through Platinum Capital Advocates, Inc. ("PCA"), Platinum Capital Advocates Elite, Inc. ("PCA Elite") and Strategic Management Alliance, Inc. ("SMA"), raised approximately $1.3 million from 27 investors in four states in violation of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The Complaint alleged that the Defendants made misrepresentations in the offer and sale and the purchase and sale of preferred stock of PCA and PCA Elite. The Defendants consented to the entry of a Temporary Restraining Order and Asset Freeze and an Order of Preliminary Injunction after the Commission filed its Complaint. The Defendants, without admitting or denying the allegations of the Commission's Complaint, subsequently consented to the entry of Orders of Permanent Injunction enjoining them from further violations of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws, which were entered on March 8, 2007. On March 27, 2007, the Court, pursuant to Defendants' consent, entered an Order which required that Defendants, jointly and severally, pay disgorgement in the amount of $1.29 million, the amount that they raised from the investors in the securities that were the subject of the Commission's Complaint, and that the funds frozen in the bank and brokerage accounts of PCA, PCA Elite and SMA be turned over to the Clerk of the Court, with a plan of distribution to be proposed. On April 13, 2007, $1,228,828.68 was returned to investors pursuant to a plan of distribution approved by the Court. Through such distribution, the investors each received approximately 97% of their net investments.
For additional information see Litigation Release No. 20016.