June 8, 2016
Ethiopia’s electric utility, Ethiopian Electric Power, will pay almost $6.5 million to settle charges that it violated U.S. securities laws by failing to register bonds it offered and sold to U.S. residents of Ethiopian descent. According to the SEC’s order, EEP conducted an unregistered bond offering to help finance construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Abay River in Ethiopia. EEP held a series of road shows in major cities across the U.S., marketed the bonds on the website of the U.S. Embassy of Ethiopia, and through radio and television advertising aimed at Ethiopians living in the U.S. EEP raised approximately $5.8 million from more than 3,100 U.S. residents between 2011 and 2014 without ever registering the bond offering with the SEC. SEC
Tagged in: Regulatory Violations, Securities Fraud,