Litigation Release No. 17884 / December 6, 2002
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Rajiv Vohra, Sean T. Healey, Lantern Investments, Ltd., Lipton Holdings, Ltd., and Beaufort Holdings, Ltd., United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Civil Action No. 00-7286-Civ-Seitz/Garber
On November 26, 2002, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that the Honorable Patricia A. Seitz, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, entered an Order To Show Cause why Defendant Rajiv Vohra (Vohra) should not be held in civil contempt for his violation of the Court's January 15, 2002 default judgment requiring him to pay disgorgement and civil penalties. The Order gives Vohra until December 9, 2002, to demonstrate why he should not be held in contempt.
The Commission's Complaint, filed on September 5, 2000, alleged that Vohra, Sean T. Healey (Healey), and three Bahamian companies, Lantern Investments, Ltd., Lipton Holdings, Ltd., and Beaufort Holdings, Ltd. used "wash sales" to create the appearance of active trading in the stock of New Directions Manufacturing, Inc. (New Directions), a small furniture manufacturing company. The Complaint further alleged that Vohra and Healey also arranged to have a false and misleading research report published on a stock-picker web site, on their own web site, and through unsolicited mass e-mails (spam). The research report falsely claimed that New Directions had significantly expanded, that the author of the report was an independent analyst, and that the purported analyst had issued a buy recommendation. Vohra and Healey attempted to conceal their scheme by conducting much of their activity through Canadian brokerage accounts and the Bahamian companies.
For tips on how to avoid Internet "pump-and-dump" stock manipulation schemes, visit http://www.sec.gov/investor/online/pump.htm. For more information about Internet fraud, visit http://www.sec.gov/divisions/enforce/internetenforce.htm. To report suspicious activity involving possible Internet fraud, visit http://www.sec.gov/complaint.shtml.
See also: L.R. 16687 (September 6, 2000); L.R. 16952 (April 4, 2001); L. R. 16973 (April 25, 2001); L.R. 17333 (January 23, 2002); L.R. 17382 (February 26, 2002); and L.R. 17823 (November 1, 2002).