Jerry D. Guess and Guess & Co. Corporation

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 26357 / July 22, 2025

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jerry D. Guess, et al, No. 8:24-cv-00172 (D. Neb. filed May 9, 2024)

SEC Obtains Default Judgment Against Convicted Felon for Offering Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska entered a final judgment on July 7, 2025 against Jerry D. Guess, a convicted felon, and his company, Guess & Co. Corporation (“Guess & Co.”), whom the SEC previously charged with conducting a fraudulent offering of Guess & Co. stock.

According to the SEC’s amended complaint, from at least June 2021 through April 2022, the Defendants made multiple false and misleading statements of material facts to at least 57 prospective investors in at least 12 states and one foreign country to solicit them to invest in Guess & Co. stock. The amended complaint alleges that the Defendants falsely represented to prospective investors that Guess & Co. was a diversified energy, health care, technology, and real estate company that had earned millions of dollars in revenue from its business operations in 2019 to 2021, and they misleadingly projected the company would earn billions in revenue in both 2021 and 2022. However, as alleged in the amended complaint, during the period of the offering, Guess & Co. had no operations, customers, or business revenue other than the sales of 19 computers to electronics re-sale shops for $14,654.

The judgment, entered on the basis of default, enjoins Jerry Guess and Guess & Co. from violating Sections 17(a)(1) and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933. The judgment also enjoins Jerry Guess and Guess and Co. for a period of five years from participating in the issuance, purchase, offer, or sale of any security, except to the extent that Jerry Guess may purchase and sell securities for his own account. In addition, the judgment orders Jerry Guess to pay a civil penalty of $15,000.

The SEC’s investigation was conducted by James G. O’Keefe and Wilburn Saylor and supervised by Steven L. Klawans of the SEC’s Chicago Regional Office. The litigation was supervised by Benjamin Hanauer of the SEC’s Chicago Regional Office.