U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 23301 / July 10, 2015
Securities and Exchange Commission v. PTG Capital Partners LTD, et al., Civil Action No. 15-CV-04290 (S.D.N.Y.) (LAK)
SEC Obtains Preliminary Injunction Order, Including Asset Freeze, Against Companies Charged in Avon Market Manipulation Scheme
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that on July 7, 2015, a federal court granted in part the SEC's motion for a preliminary injunction, continued the freeze of over $2 million in assets in brokerage accounts in the name of defendants Strategic Capital Partners Muster Limited and Strategic Wealth Investments, Inc., and extended a previously obtained temporary restraining order against defendant Nedko Nedev.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York imposed the preliminary injunction Order, made findings of fact and conclusions of law against Strategic Capital and Strategic Wealth, based on the SEC's Complaint, Memorandum of Law, and supporting evidence submitted by the SEC. The Court's Order extended the temporary restraining order against Nedev and scheduled further proceedings on the SEC's motion for a preliminary injunction against him for September 10, 2015.
The Complaint and emergency application, filed on June 4, 2015, allege that Nedev, Strategic Capital, and Strategic Wealth, among others, engaged in a scheme to manipulate the stocks of Avon Products, Inc., Tower Group International, Ltd., and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Inc. by filing false tender offers on the SEC's public database commonly known as EDGAR and issuing a fraudulent press release. The SEC alleges that defendants executed the scheme in an attempt to drive up the price of the stock of these three companies so that they could sell their positions, which had been losing value, at artificially-inflated prices.
For further information, please see Press Release 2015-110 (June 4, 2015).