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by Mike Caswell

John Babikian, the Montreal man behind the AwesomePennyStocks.com touting website, complains that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has unfairly frozen over $10-million worth of his assets. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) He says the SEC is attempting to deny him access to any money he could use to defend himself from civil charges the regulator is pursuing against him. The amount the SEC has frozen is worth over 20 times the figures reasonably at issue, he claims.

Mr. Babikian's complaints come after the SEC obtained an emergency order against him on March 13, 2014. The regulator claimed that he had fraudulently profited from scalping a purported Utah coal miner called America West Resources Ltd. He recommended the stock as a pick on Feb. 23, 2012, sending it to $1.80, up from 29 cents. He allegedly sold 1.3 million shares that same day, generating $1.9-million.

The SEC obtained the emergency asset freeze to prevent Mr. Babikian from moving any assets out of its reach. The order applied to a $2.5-million partial ownership interest he had in a private jet, which he was in the process of selling. It also applied to two homes in the Los Angeles area and to an agricultural property in Oregon.

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