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by Mike Caswell

Vancouver's Bruce Strebinger has reached a deal to settle charges stemming from the promotion of Americas Energy Company, a purported coal stock that went to $5.21 in 2010. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) Terms of the agreement are not yet public, but the SEC had sought disgorgement of his gains plus a fine. The regulator previously pegged those gains at $4.9-million.

The charges stemmed from a scheme to promote Americas Energy with misleading tout sheets and co-ordinated trading. Mr. Strebinger and another Canadian, Brent Chapman, ran a seven-month promotional campaign in which paid touts predicted the stock would go as high as $20, the SEC said. Meanwhile the two men secretly sold millions of shares, according to the regulator.

Details of Mr. Strebinger's settlement are not available, as the SEC commissioners have not yet approved it. Approval typically takes six to eight weeks, after which lawyers for the SEC will present the agreement to the judge. Meanwhile the judge has stayed pretrial portions of the case until the deal is finalized.

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