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by Mike Caswell

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has imposed a permanent penny stock ban and $1.07-million in monetary sanctions against Michael Caridi, the former chairman of Canadian Securities Exchange listing Tree of Knowledge International Corp., to settle charges stemming from a fraudulent deal for hospital masks. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) The SEC says that Mr. Caridi, 60, claimed that Tree of Knowledge could sell medical-grade masks in the early days of COVID-19, when the masks were scarce. A Quebec hospital paid $13.7-million for the masks, but received useless non-medical masks, the SEC says.

The penalties for Mr. Caridi, a resident of Connecticut, are contained in a judgment that the SEC released on Wednesday, Jan. 8. The judgment permanently bans Mr. Caridi from penny stocks and bars him from serving as an officer or director of a public company for seven years. He must also pay $1.07-million, comprising disgorgement of $895,972 in gains and a $180,000 fine. The penalties represent a negotiated settlement, in which Mr. Caridi has not admitted any wrongdoing.

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