STOCK FRAUD! Is there anything I can do?

[LuckyLady]

Back in 2000ish, a friend thru a friend told me about a great stock. It was for medical testing of Mad Cow Disease and new Rapid HIV testing.

In November I bought at a $1 per share, bought 3000 shares. It was expected to go public mid March of the following year at 13 per share.

I spoke to a guy direct Micheal Germania? in Boca Raton numerous times before & after the transaction. I then settled and went thru with it. He even called me again to try and sell me more shares.

I went thru with it knowing that there were people smarter than me, more money than me were buying in to it and did no research on my own assuming that they did.

I got a little nervous when months rolled by and no certificate, finally got it.

March rolled around still nothing received emails in regards to it, and finally got a call back and things looked to be okay months passed, with the certificate put away in to the safe, I forgot about it.

I knew a year later after reading over and over that the FDA kept failing them for stuff. I knew shortly after it was a loss, about a year ago it got brought in to court system

In speaking to the court system they said my claim is so small compared to others that restitution is not likely to me.

Its not a lot of money by any means but at 20 yrs old it was. Anything I can do?

Here is what it is

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 19752 / July 3, 2006
SEC v. Efoora, Inc. Partners Holding, LLC, David S. Grosky and Melvin S. Dokich, Civil Action No. 06 C 3526 (N.D. Ill. filed June 29, 2006)
SEC Charges Efoora, Inc., Its Former CEO and Another Individual for Their Roles in an Unregistered, Fraudulent Offering
On June 29, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") filed a complaint in the Northern District of Illinois, charging Efoora, Inc., based in Buffalo Grove, David S. Grosky, its former CEO and a resident of Highland Park, and Partners Holding, LLC, a company controlled by Grosky, with participating in an unregistered and fraudulent offering of Efoora stock. The complaint charges another Efoora employee, Melvin S. Dokich, with participating in the unregistered offering and seeks an order requiring two of Grosky's relatives to return money that they received from Partners Holding.

The complaint alleged the following: From at least January 2000 through at least April 2006, Efoora raised approximately $40 million by selling over 100 million shares of its stock to about 5,000 investors. Its offering was not registered with the Commission as required by the federal securities laws. Efoora, through a network of "finders" that included Partners Holding, also solicited investors by making a series of false or misleading statements about Efoora's business, including, among other things, the amount of offering proceeds it paid to its finders and that it would be receiving FDA approval for its HIV Rapid Test and conducting an IPO by certain dates. Partners Holding was not registered as a broker or dealer at the time its salespersons sold shares of Efoora stock. Grosky drafted or approved Efoora's false or misleading offering materials and controls Partners Holding. Grosky and Dokich also improperly sold Efoora stock issued in their names directly to the general public. Grosky received approximately $1 million from Efoora, Partners Holding and investors.

Without admitting or denying the allegations of the complaint, Efoora, Partners Holding, Grosky and Dokich consented to the entry of orders preliminarily enjoining them from violating the registration provisions of the securities laws, Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act"), enjoining Partners Holding from violating the antifraud and broker dealer registration provisions of the securities laws, Sections 17(a) of the Securities Act, Sections 10(b) and 15(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange Act") and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and enjoining Grosky from aiding and abetting Partners Holding's broker dealer registration violations. The orders also provide for, among other things, a freeze on the assets of Partners Holding and Grosky, a freeze on Efoora's intellectual property assets, and a freeze on certain assets of Grosky's relatives.

Grosky and Dokich were indicted on May 17 in a parallel criminal proceeding. The Commission acknowledges the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Service, and the Illinois Securities Department.

[gottaflylee]

This sounds like a job for GLENN W...good luck with it and I hope it comes out better for you than the "Class Action" did for me and Mercury...

[LuckyLady]

I know my claim is small, but I would bet that 80% of the investors have more money then they know what to do with. 3K would pay my taxes and insurance for a year

[intruder]

Mary,

No matter how small the amount of money, you still need to get in line. File your claim if you can by yourself or consult with an attorney. I have been in similar situations and collected on the money over time. Good Luck!

[LuckyLady]

Mary,

No matter how small the amount of money, you still need to get in line. File your claim if you can by yourself or consult with an attorney. I have been in similar situations and collected on the money over time. Good Luck!

I sent everything I had to the FBI and as far as I know I did file my claim, but its at the bottom of list per the FBI since mine is so small

Thanks guys!

[LuckyLady]

What I do not understand, what happened to the guy in FL that sold it to me?

Here is the latest update

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 20282 / September 13, 2007
SEC v. Efoora, Inc., et al., U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, No. 06-CV-3526
U.S. v. Grosky, et al., U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, No. 06-CR-0359
SEC Obtains Injunctions in Offering Fraud Action Against David S. Grosky and Partners Holding, LLC
On August 23, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, entered judgments against David S. Grosky, the former CEO of Efoora, Inc. and a resident of Highland Park, and Partners Holding, LLC, a company controlled by Grosky, enjoining them from future violations of the antifraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the securities registration provisions of the Securities Act, and the broker-dealer registration provisions of the Exchange Act. The Court had previously entered preliminarily injunctions against Grosky and Partners Holding.

The Commission's complaint alleged that, from at least January 2000 through at least April 2006, Efoora raised approximately $40 million by selling over 100 million shares of its stock to about 5,000 investors. Efoora did not register its offering with the Commission as required by the federal securities laws. Efoora, through a network of "finders" that included Partners Holding, also solicited investors by making a series of false or misleading statements about Efoora's business, including, among other things, the amount of offering proceeds it paid to its finders and that it would be receiving FDA approval for its HIV Rapid Test and conducting an IPO by certain dates. Partners Holding was not registered as a broker or dealer at the time its salespersons sold shares of Efoora stock. Grosky drafted or approved Efoora's false and misleading offering materials and controlled Partners Holding. Grosky and Defendant Melvin S. Dokich also improperly sold Efoora stock issued in their names directly to the general public.

The judgments enjoin Grosky and Partners Holding from future violations of Sections 5 and 17(a) of the Securities Act and Sections 10(b) and 15(a) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The judgments also bar both defendants from participating in an offering of penny stock. Finally, the judgments provide that, upon motion of the Commission, the Court shall determine if it should order the defendants to disgorge any ill-gotten gains or to pay a civil penalty. Grosky and Partners Holding consented to the entry of the judgments without admitting or denying the allegations in the Commission's complaint.

On August 27, in a related criminal action, also in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Grosky and Dokich pled guilty to criminal charges related to their roles with Efoora. Grosky and Dokich pled guilty to one count of mail fraud in connection with the fraudulent sale of Efoora stock to investors. Grosky also pled guilty to one count of wire fraud in connection with commissions paid to finders, and Dokich pled guilty to 33 counts of structuring bank transactions to avoid the currency transactions reporting requirements. Both defendants are scheduled to be sentenced on December 7.

The Commission acknowledges the assistance of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Postal Inspection Service.

[Deep C]

That crap is rampant down here... It sucks. Even legit medical IPO's are risky. My dad was involved with ground floor on one that stemmed from the Rockefeller University as a director on the board. Opted for stock over pay. Bottom line is we have 300,000 shares that wouldn't even make decent toilet paper beacuse its on 3 certificates.
Boca seems a hot bed for that crap you are talking about though. I was approached by a couple guys down there who wanted me to bring Compleat Angler (my lure company) out public. They were talking millions. No game plan, no business plan, beefed up P+L statements, etc. I could smell scam going in and could see they just wanted to pop this thing out there, make a mint and split leaving shareholders and me in the crapper.
I'd suggest just keep plodding along. Don't hold your breath for restitution though. Florida sucks that way. Bad guys do probation. As long as they pay their fines to the state they pretty much walk.

[hubris 1]

at least your young. take it as a lesson in life that you cant learn anywhere else. when i was 25 i bought 3000 shares of an energy company in texas with all the same ideas. i lost it all. i always remembered that everytime an opportunity came along. its not a total loss. college costs about $35,000 a year and they cant teach you this lesson.

[LuckyLady]

I wrote it off in my mind a long time ago, 6 months after buying it. Every so often I get an update on what is going on and reminds me of how it pisses me off and how I would like to take 3k out on one of them check book or not

For 3k its not worth the time or aggrevation just wondering if there is something I can simply do or not.

[Reeltitanium]

AHHH!! Florida never trust a state known for being a great place to live and go bankrupt Lost some large when the Gov't took over a S & L quite a gulp on that one for us! Greatest thing was why it was taken over the President was a wealthy republican and the president was Clinton = democrap and the rest is history.