Smashmouth Investigative Journalism
UPDATE 7.20.21: FINRA finally closed out their investigation into Laidlaw’s role in aiding market manipulation for their investment banking clients. The firm was fined $1.5 million, censored, and ordered to create real supervision checks for their brokers. FINRA found the firm didn’t supervise brokers who conducted wash trades crossed the trades, and “marked the close” […]
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The Securities and Exchange Commission has finalized the settlement deals for three members of Barry Honig’s pump and dump securities fraud scheme. John Stetson, Michael Brauser, and John O’Rourke III all agreed to penny stock bans at varying degrees and to not hold more than 4.99% in a penny stock. The SEC settlement is seen […]
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A New York federal judge ruled this week that some of the charges against a defendant in the Barry Honig ring of pump and dump bad actors brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission will be dismissed. Judge Ramos ruled on February 25 that claims 3 and 4 of the SEC’s complaint relating to charging […]
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A defendant in the Barry Honig pump and dump securities fraud case disclosed last week the Securities and Exchange Commission is planing on filing additional charges. On Dec 5, 2019 Robert Ladd, CEO of MGT Capital ($MGTI) received a Wells Notice from the Regulator, which stated the new charges related to disclosure issues in public […]
ContinueAn electronic gaming company, Torque Esports ($GAME.V) , is at risk of being forced to change it’s TV and event brand name, World’s Fastest Gamer, because a former country musician, Boo McAfee, has sued for trademark infringement and unfair competition. McAfee, who says he owns the trademark for World’s Fastest Drummer, had also developed a […]
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A private text exchange between an Aphria deal lawyer and a member of the board calls into question the accuracy of an regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission about a bid cannabis company Green Growth Brands made to takeover Aphria. The bid was deemed as ‘hostile’ by Aphria’s board early this year and […]
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A Colorado Springs wholesale CBD company, Folium Biosciences, announced it is going public via a reverse merger with Australis Capital ($AUSA) this week. Australis Capital is a spin-off of Aurora Cannabis ($ACB) a large Canadian cannabis company. I have reported extensively on some troubling behavior of Folium’s CEO Kashif Shan at Cannabis Law Report. This […]
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Canadian cannabis company Aphria, run by Irwin Simon, continues to tout the narrative that another cannabis company backed by Ohio mega millionaires, the Schottenstein family, made an unsolicited and hostile take over offer of Aphria this January after the company was exposed for alleged corporate disclosure conflicts and overpaying for cannabis assets that were owned […]
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