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by Mike Caswell

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has won a $175,000 fine against Jon Isaac, a Canadian charged for manipulating the books of Nasdaq listing Live Ventures Inc. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) The SEC claimed that Mr. Isaac artificially inflated the earnings of Live Ventures and then attempted to unload $760,000 worth of stock. As part of the scheme, he paid a public relations firm $120,000 to send out the inflated figures, the SEC said.

The fine for Mr. Isaac is contained in a judgment handed down in federal court in Nevada on Monday, Aug. 24. The $175,000 fine represents a negotiated settlement in which Mr. Isaac has not admitted any wrongdoing. He must pay the money through instalments over a one-year period.

The fine comes just over five years after the SEC charged Mr. Isaac, with the details of the case set out in a civil complaint filed on Aug. 2, 2021. The scheme, as described by the SEC, goes back to 2016, when Mr. Isaac restructured an acquisition in a way that added $915,500 to Live Ventures' income. Mr. Isaac deliberately had the change backdated to Sept. 15, 2016, allowing it to be included in the company's 2016 financials, the SEC claimed. (The company's year-end was Sept. 30.) On top of that, Mr. Isaac inflated the company's earnings per share by using an incorrect share count, the SEC said.

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