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

Paul Dowdall, an Ontario man charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a scheme to manipulate the revenue of Canadian Securities Exchange listing Ignite International Brands Ltd., denies that he did anything wrong. The SEC claims that Mr. Dowdall was Ignite International's chief financial officer as it reported $4.6-million in revenue that did not exist. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) As part of the scheme, Mr. Dowdall helped reconcile fraudulent invoices with Ignite International's accounting records, the SEC says.

The denials from Mr. Dowdall are contained in an answer filed on Wednesday, July 16, in federal court in New York. Mr. Dowdall, who was the chief financial officer of Ignite, says that he "discharged his duties in good faith and exercised the reasonable diligence required of his position." As he sees things, there will be "no finding of culpability" against him.

Mr. Dowdall is one of several defendants in the case. The others include convicted fraudster Paul Bilzerian, who the SEC identified as the directing mind of Ignite. The SEC claims that Mr. Bilzerian arranged the scheme, which involved having a company he controlled nominally purchase inventory from Ignite. (Ignite supplied disposable vape pens, among other things.)

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