On November 3, 2003, the Honorable Elizabeth A. Kovachevich, United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, issued a final judgment entering a permanent injunction and imposing a total of $145,107.13 in disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalty against Defendant, Sebastian Corriere ("Corriere"). This order was later amended on December 3, 2003 to include provisions relating to the enforcement of the disgorgement and prejudgment interest amounts. The Court based its orders on a finding that Corriere offered and sold over $3.59 million in fictitious "prime bank" securities to investors throughout the United States and internationally. The Court ordered that Corriere disgorge $30,000 in investor funds he misappropriated, plus prejudgment interest totaling $5,107.10. The Court also imposed a third tier civil penalty against him in the amount of $110,000. In addition, the Court found the Relief Defendants, Maria Corriere, Quantum Equities, Inc., and The Kings Fellowship, Inc. jointly and severally liable with Corriere for their portions of the misappropriated investors funds and ordered them to disgorge $13,009.57, $15,990.43, and $1,000.00, and prejudgment interest in the amount of $1,891.69, $2,722.17, and $170.24, respectively.
The Court's final judgment found that Corriere violated Sections 5(a), 5(c) and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The Court previously issued a preliminary injunction against Corriere on June 18, 2002 and a temporary restraining order on April 18, 2002, based on a complaint filed by the Commission. Corriere, formerly a resident of Clearwater, Florida, now resides in Accra, Ghana, on the continent of Africa.
This case is part of the Commission's continuing effort to combat prime bank fraud and to alert the public to the risks posed by these phony investments. The risk of this type of fraud and warnings about how to avoid it are spelled out in the Interagency Advisory: Warning Concerning "Prime Bank" Notes, Guarantees, and Letters of Credit and Similar Financial Instruments (October 21, 1993), which is discussed on the Commission's Homepage at http://www.sec.gov/divisions/enforce/primebank.shtml. For further information, see Lit. Rel. Nos. 17506 and 17582.