December 15, 2015
The SEC charged New Jersey resident
Samuel DelPresto and his company
MLF Group, Inc. with illicitly pocketing $13 million from an elaborate pump-and-dump scheme. The SEC alleges that DelPresto teamed with others to secretly obtain control of substantially all available stock in four microcap companies,
BioNeutral Group,
NXT Nutritionals Holdings,
Mesa Energy Holdings, and
Clear-Lite Holdings, and facilitate coordinated trading that created the appearance of liquidity and market demand for the stocks. After unwitting investors were enticed through promotional campaigns to buy the stock at inflated prices, DelPresto dumped his shares on the market. In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of new Jersey announced criminal charges against DelPresto.
SEC