SEC Accuses CMKM Diamonds of Multi-Million Dollar Penny Stock Fraud
April 09, 08 by IDEX Online Staff Reporter
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges against tiny gold and diamond mining company CMKM Diamonds, Inc., accusing the firm of fraudulently issuing up to 622 billion shares of purportedly unrestricted stock to John Edwards, the scheme’s mastermind, and others.
The SEC alleges that, as then CEO Urban Casavant generated demand for CMKM stock through fraudulent promotion of the company, Edwards, Casavant and their nominees sold their shares into the public markets for at least $64.2 million in profit.
According to the SEC, the false promotion of the company was “extremely successful, and about 40,000 investors purchased CMKM stock during the period of the fraud without knowing that Casavant ran the company from his house in Ls Vegas, and that CMKM’s primary activity was to issue and promote its own stock.”
The Commission’s investigation is continuing.