MIAMI – A federal agency has filed a suit against businesses and individuals alleging they sold unregistered shares.
Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint on Feb. 16 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against PV Enterprises Inc., Panagiotis Villiotis, Virtual Sourcing Inc., Norman Birmingham, Mario Faraone and Sweet Challenge LLC, citing violations of the Securities Act.
According to the complaint, the defendants sold millions of shares of its stock to a financing company, but federal law prohibits the sale of securities unless they were registered with SEC. The plaintiff alleges that the stocks were not registered. The suit also states that PVEC and Virtual sold debt to a financing company and were then sued by that company for defaulting on a debt, and that the defendants made false statements in court regarding the suit.
The plaintiff seeks the following: issuance of permanent injunction, an order to disgorge all ill-gotten gains, an order directing to pay a civil money penalty, an order barring the defendants from participating in any penny stock offerings, an order barring Villiotis from acting as an officer or director of any issuer and any further relief that the court may deem necessary and appropriate. It is represented by Edward G. Sullivan and Gregory F. Smolar of the Securities and Exchange Commission in Atlanta, Georgia.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida Case Number 1:16-cv-20542