SHANE A. MULLHOLAND Banned from Penny Stock Of

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission) announced that on July 30, 2012, the Honorable Sidney A. Fitzwater of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas enjoined Shane A. Mullholand of Dallas, TX, and Dissemination Services LLC (Dissemination) from violating Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933, based on the defendants’ consent to sanctions after summary judgment was entered against them on January 26, 2012. The Commission’s complaint alleged that Mullholand and Dissemination violated the securities laws by acting as underwriters engaged in a scheme to evade the securities registration requirements by offering and selling the securities of six companies when no registration statements were filed or in effect to provide information to public investors. The six companies issued  penny stocks , which are defined as equity securities trading at a price of less than five dollars per share, and the defendants initiated public trading in the over-the-counter market under the following trading symbols: American Television & Film Company (ATFT), Ecogate, Inc. (ECGT), Media International Concepts, Inc. (MEIC), Vanquish Productions, Inc. (VQPI), Auction Mills, Inc. (AUML), and Custom Designed Compressor Systems, Inc. (CUPY). The court also barred Mullholand and Dissemination for seven years from participating in the offer or sale of penny stocks. In addition, the court enjoined Mullholand and Dissemination from violating Section 15(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by engaging in the securities transaction without registering as brokers or dealers with the Commission. The court also ordered the defendants to pay disgorgement totaling $3,349,334 of profits from their unregistered securities sales plus prejudgment interest of $1,499,278, and civil penalties of $120,000 each. The Commission’s claims against other defendants were previously resolved on April 10, 2012 and May 7, 2009.

[SEC v. Offill, et al., No. 07-cv-1643 (N.D. Tex.)] (LR 20302, Sept. 27, 2007)(LR 22334, Apr. 17, 2012) (LR 21049, May 19, 2009).

http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2012/lr22431.htm