NEW YORK (The Deal) -- The FBI, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority have opened investigations into the involvement of Scottsdale Capital Advisors and Alpine Securities in the trading of Biozoom, according to a person familiar with those investigations.
Investors in Biozoom lost some $300 million after the SEC halted trading in the stock in June. The commission cited "a lack of current and accurate information" about the stock and suspicions that the company and some shareholders may have illegally sold unregistered shares to the public.
Before it allowed trading in Biozoom to resume in July, the SEC obtained an emergency order from the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, freezing almost $16 million in cash in U.S. brokerage accounts.
Another $17 million in trading revenues connected to sales of Biozoom shares was wired overseas before the court order, the SEC claimed in its court filing. Another $8 million in wire transfers requested by Biozoom shareholders were halted by the broker-dealers before they could go overseas.
The SEC also ordered the broker-dealers involved in the transactions, Arizona-based Scottsdale Capital, Salt Lake City-based Alpine and Legend Securities of New York, to preserve all of their records connected to the Biozoom transactions.
The regulator charged eight Argentine citizens with illegal sales of unregistered shares of Biozoom. The complaint also named two other Argentines who owned shares of Biozoom but did not sell them prior to the asset freeze.
Biozoom, which lists Kassel, Germany, as its headquarters, purports to manufacture a "biofeedback device" that consumers can use to monitor and analyze data related to their health. The company went public in February through a reverse merger with registered shell company Entertainment Art and raised $1.15 million in a private placement to an investor whose identity was not disclosed.
The stock was the subject of an unusual promotion four months later. Recommendations for Biozoom stock appeared in at least 13 email newsletters, according to Hotstocked.com, a Web site that tracks stock promotions. Legal disclaimers that accompanied the promotions claimed that no compensation had been paid for the stock-friendly hype. Legal disclaimers in penny stock newsletters often identify the companies that pay for stock promotions and sometimes provide details of the compensation, as is required under securities law. Some stock promotion budgets run as high as $3 million.
One of the promotions claimed that Biozoom's "hand held device for the non-invasive transdermal analysis of antioxidants and other biomarkers in the human body... replaces expensive, time consuming and invasive blood tests."
"Future applications, future roll-out markets and applications are even more impressive," another newsletter stated. "Relevant biomarkers can and will be identified and analyzed for things such as cholesterol, alcohol, various illegal drugs, smoke, poisons and blood pressure -- to name a few. The unit is being further developed to measure blood sugar levels, tapping into a staggering $220 billion a year diabetes market in the U.S. and 350 million people with diabetes around the world."
Biozoom stock was also promoted in an unusual advertising campaign that made use of mainstream media outlets, including the New York Times and USA Today. In June, ads that took up most of a full page were placed in those newspapers that ostensibly promoted a London-based publication called Global Financial Insights. But, while the ads included subscription information and other details about the publication, most of their space was taken up with the magazine's recommendation of Biozoom stock.
A full-page black and white ad in USA Today could have cost $125,000, according to information that the newspaper distributes to advertisers. A similar New York Times ad would run $80,000 to $100,000, according to a newspaper spokesperson.
Both ads featured a headline that read, "Innovative Technology Company Invents Real 'Star Trek' Medical Scanner that Diagnoses Patient Health in Seconds."
A recommendation for Biozoom stock also featured prominently in an advertisement for a newsletter called TheStockReport.com that ran on the Rush Limbaugh radio show.
Previously, TheStockReport.com had produced a 24-page publication about Biozoom, which was distributed May 16, the day that Biozoom began trading at $1.10. The report valued the shares at $10.30.
Biozoom started trading with a thin volume of about 10,000 shares a day. The $1.10 share price implied a market value of $108.6 million for the company.
But when the promotion began to pick up speed, the shares rose to $1.50 on their way to an intraday high of $4.50 and a market cap of $421.5 million. Trading volume jumped as high as 11.7 million shares.
When the stock was halted, the shares were at $3.45. When trading resumed, they plunged to 13 cents, giving Biozoom a market capitalization of just $9.56 million. Investors lost more than $300 million.
Finra and SEC officials declined to comment for this story. An FBI spokesman would neither confirm nor deny the existence of a criminal probe tied to Biozoom trading.
But a source who has spoken to investigators said the investigations are ongoing. The probes by Finra and the SEC began in May, prior to the trading halt.
The brokerage firm Scottsdale Capital is owned by Scottsdale Capital Advisors Holdings LLC and the Hurry Family Irrevocable Trust. Alpine is owned by SCA Clearing LLC. Both Scottsdale and Alpine are controlled by John Hurry, who is a director of both companies. Hurry's wife Justine is a director with Scottsdale and a minority owner.
The home pages of both Scottsdale Capital's and Alpine's Web sites feature the same motto, "At the top of the Small Cap Market," along with a photo of a mountain peak. For Scottsdale, it is a desert mountain. For Alpine, it's a snow capped peak.
Investors in Biozoom lost some $300 million after the SEC halted trading in the stock in June. The commission cited "a lack of current and accurate information" about the stock and suspicions that the company and some shareholders may have illegally sold unregistered shares to the public.
Before it allowed trading in Biozoom to resume in July, the SEC obtained an emergency order from the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, freezing almost $16 million in cash in U.S. brokerage accounts.
Another $17 million in trading revenues connected to sales of Biozoom shares was wired overseas before the court order, the SEC claimed in its court filing. Another $8 million in wire transfers requested by Biozoom shareholders were halted by the broker-dealers before they could go overseas.
The SEC also ordered the broker-dealers involved in the transactions, Arizona-based Scottsdale Capital, Salt Lake City-based Alpine and Legend Securities of New York, to preserve all of their records connected to the Biozoom transactions.
The regulator charged eight Argentine citizens with illegal sales of unregistered shares of Biozoom. The complaint also named two other Argentines who owned shares of Biozoom but did not sell them prior to the asset freeze.
Biozoom, which lists Kassel, Germany, as its headquarters, purports to manufacture a "biofeedback device" that consumers can use to monitor and analyze data related to their health. The company went public in February through a reverse merger with registered shell company Entertainment Art and raised $1.15 million in a private placement to an investor whose identity was not disclosed.
The stock was the subject of an unusual promotion four months later. Recommendations for Biozoom stock appeared in at least 13 email newsletters, according to Hotstocked.com, a Web site that tracks stock promotions. Legal disclaimers that accompanied the promotions claimed that no compensation had been paid for the stock-friendly hype. Legal disclaimers in penny stock newsletters often identify the companies that pay for stock promotions and sometimes provide details of the compensation, as is required under securities law. Some stock promotion budgets run as high as $3 million.
One of the promotions claimed that Biozoom's "hand held device for the non-invasive transdermal analysis of antioxidants and other biomarkers in the human body... replaces expensive, time consuming and invasive blood tests."
"Future applications, future roll-out markets and applications are even more impressive," another newsletter stated. "Relevant biomarkers can and will be identified and analyzed for things such as cholesterol, alcohol, various illegal drugs, smoke, poisons and blood pressure -- to name a few. The unit is being further developed to measure blood sugar levels, tapping into a staggering $220 billion a year diabetes market in the U.S. and 350 million people with diabetes around the world."
Biozoom stock was also promoted in an unusual advertising campaign that made use of mainstream media outlets, including the New York Times and USA Today. In June, ads that took up most of a full page were placed in those newspapers that ostensibly promoted a London-based publication called Global Financial Insights. But, while the ads included subscription information and other details about the publication, most of their space was taken up with the magazine's recommendation of Biozoom stock.
A full-page black and white ad in USA Today could have cost $125,000, according to information that the newspaper distributes to advertisers. A similar New York Times ad would run $80,000 to $100,000, according to a newspaper spokesperson.
Both ads featured a headline that read, "Innovative Technology Company Invents Real 'Star Trek' Medical Scanner that Diagnoses Patient Health in Seconds."
A recommendation for Biozoom stock also featured prominently in an advertisement for a newsletter called TheStockReport.com that ran on the Rush Limbaugh radio show.
Previously, TheStockReport.com had produced a 24-page publication about Biozoom, which was distributed May 16, the day that Biozoom began trading at $1.10. The report valued the shares at $10.30.
Biozoom started trading with a thin volume of about 10,000 shares a day. The $1.10 share price implied a market value of $108.6 million for the company.
But when the promotion began to pick up speed, the shares rose to $1.50 on their way to an intraday high of $4.50 and a market cap of $421.5 million. Trading volume jumped as high as 11.7 million shares.
When the stock was halted, the shares were at $3.45. When trading resumed, they plunged to 13 cents, giving Biozoom a market capitalization of just $9.56 million. Investors lost more than $300 million.
Finra and SEC officials declined to comment for this story. An FBI spokesman would neither confirm nor deny the existence of a criminal probe tied to Biozoom trading.
But a source who has spoken to investigators said the investigations are ongoing. The probes by Finra and the SEC began in May, prior to the trading halt.
The brokerage firm Scottsdale Capital is owned by Scottsdale Capital Advisors Holdings LLC and the Hurry Family Irrevocable Trust. Alpine is owned by SCA Clearing LLC. Both Scottsdale and Alpine are controlled by John Hurry, who is a director of both companies. Hurry's wife Justine is a director with Scottsdale and a minority owner.
The home pages of both Scottsdale Capital's and Alpine's Web sites feature the same motto, "At the top of the Small Cap Market," along with a photo of a mountain peak. For Scottsdale, it is a desert mountain. For Alpine, it's a snow capped peak.
