Five Florida Residents Charged With Fraud Involving Penny Stocks

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida announced that one Palm Beach and four Broward County residents have been charged with securities fraud in four separate cases involving micro-cap stocks.

Ft. Lauderdale resident, Jack Freedman, is charged with securities fraud in connection with Green Planet Group, Inc. (symbol: GNPG). Specifically, Freedman, a stock promoter, is charged with manipulating the quoted share priced and trading volume of GNPG common stock. According to Yahoo Finance, Green Planet engages in the production and distribution of fuel-based energy conservation and clean-air products.

Richard Green of Davie and Peter Santamaria of Coconut Creek are charged with conspiring to commit securities fraud in connection with stock in VDO-PH International. (symbol: VDPH). The government alleges that Green and Santamaria engaged in a scheme to manipulate the publicly quoted share price and trading volume of VDPH. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, VDPH purports to be a software development company.

Coral Springs resident Mark Balbirer is charged with committing mail fraud in connection with the South Florida Film Fund (symbol: SFFF). Balbirer allegedly sent illegal kickbacks to hedge fund fiduciaries to induce them to invest in SFFF.

Sheldon Simon of Palm Beach Gardens is charged with wire fraud. According to the Justice Department, Simon, a stock promoter for Exoemissions Solutions, Inc. (symbol: ECMZ), allegedly manipulated the stock price and trading volume of ECMZ by releasing false press releases to make it appear that fraudulent purchases of ECMZ stock were induced by positive news about the company.