U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 18520 / December 23, 2003
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION V. MARCO G. FIORE, JR., BENJAMIN V. SALMONESE, JR., THOMAS DECEGLIE, DAVID C. LAVENDER, AND PETER C. RESTIVO, Civil Action No. 00 Civ. 9422 (S.D.N.Y.) (J.G.K.)
NEW YORK - The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") announced today that the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York entered final judgments by consent on November 20, 2003 against two control persons and three registered representatives of the New York City branch office of Nationwide Securities Corporation ("Nationwide"), a now dissolved Texas registered broker-dealer, in an action brought by the SEC for deceptive and fraudulent sales practices in connection with the 1996 initial public offering of the securities of Thermo-Mizer Environmental Corp. ("Thermo-Mizer").
Subject to the judgments are:
Marco G. Fiore, Jr. ("Fiore"), a de-facto control person at Nationwide, who is 37 years old and lives in East Islip, New York.
Benjamin V. Salmonese, Jr. ("Salmonese"), a de-facto control person at Nationwide, who is 34 years old and lives in Old Bridge, New Jersey.
Thomas DeCeglie ("DeCeglie"), a Nationwide registered representative, who is 41 years old and lives in Old Bridge, New Jersey.
David C. Lavender ("Lavender"), a Nationwide registered representative, who is 33 years old and lives in Staten Island, New York.
Peter C. Restivo ("Restivo"), a Nationwide registered representative, who is 31 years old and lives in Valley Stream, New York.
The SEC's complaint alleged that, from between approximately January 1996 and March 1996, at the direction and under the control of Fiore and Salmonese, DeCeglie, Lavender, and Restivo used a variety of fraudulent sales practices to sell Thermo-Mizer securities to customers of Nationwide and thereafter, in aftermarket trading, inflate artificially the market price of, and demand for, Thermo-Mizer securities so that the defendants could sell their own holdings of Thermo-Mizer at an inflated price.
Without admitting or denying the allegations of the SEC's complaint, Fiore, Salmonese, DeCeglie, Lavender, and Restivo consented to the entry of the Court's Final Judgments. The Final Judgments permanently enjoin Fiore, Salmonese, DeCeglie, and Lavender from further violations of Sections 5 and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, 15 U.S.C. §§77e and q(a), Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act, 15 U.S.C. §78j(b), Rule 10b-5, 17 C.F.R. §240.10b-5, and Rules 101 and 102 of Regulation M promulgated thereunder, 17 C.F.R. §§242.101 and 242.102. In the case of Restivo, who already has been enjoined from future violations of the registration and anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws in SEC v. Emsanet Internet Services, Inc., et al., Lit. Rel. No. 17801 (E.D.N.Y. Oct. 23, 2002), the Final Judgment permanently enjoins him from further violations of Rules 101 and 102 of Regulation M, 17 C.F.R. §§242.101 and 242.102, and bars him, for a period of ten years from the entry of the Final Judgment, from participating in any unregistered securities offering.
See also Litigation Release No. 16823 (December 12, 2000) (filing of Complaint).