This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.

Here is a sample of this item:

by Mike Caswell

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has won a three-year penny stock ban against Christine Petraglia, a New York woman it had accused of deceiving investors with a paid touting scheme. The SEC claimed that she arranged to have bullish articles posted on websites while falsely stating that the authors had received no payment. The stocks that the SEC identified as being part of the scheme included Vancouver-linked Anavex Life Sciences Corp. and Toronto's Greenestone Healthcare Corp.

The sanction for Ms. Petraglia is contained in a judgment entered on Thursday, March 15, in New York. In addition to the three-year penny stock ban, Ms. Petraglia must pay financial penalties totalling $18,294. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) She is also subject to an injunction barring future violations. The judgment represents a negotiated settlement, in which Ms. Petraglia did not admit any wrongdoing.

The settlement comes close to one year after the SEC first charged Ms. Petraglia, filing a civil complaint in the Southern District of New York on April 10, 2017. The SEC cited her and her company, CSIR Group LLC, for attempts to have paid articles placed on Seeking Alpha, a website that allows members of the public to contribute material. Articles on the site are usually related to investing in public companies. The site has a substantial number of paid subscribers in the New York area.

The remainder is available to Stockwatch subscribers.
Sign-up for a FREE 30-day Stockwatch subscription and SEE NO ADS