(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced charges in two cases involving companies that claimed in press releases to offer products to combat the COVID-19 virus \u2013 one against Applied BioSciences Corp. and one against Turbo Global Partners, Inc. and its CEO, Robert W. Singerman. The SEC previously suspended trading temporarily in the securities of Applied BioSciences and Turbo Global.<\/p>\n
According to the SEC\u2019s complaint against Applied BioSciences, filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, the company issued a press release on March 31 stating that it had begun offering and shipping supposed finger-prick COVID-19 tests to the general public that could be used for \u201cHomes, Schools, Hospitals, Law Enforcement, Military, Public Servants or anyone wanting immediate and private results.\u201d The complaint alleges that contrary to these claims, the tests were not intended for home use by the general public and could be administered only in consultation with a medical professional. The complaint further alleges that Applied BioSciences had not shipped any COVID-19 tests as of March 31, and its press release failed to disclose that the tests were not authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. <\/p>\n
The SEC\u2019s complaint against Turbo Global and Singerman, filed in federal court in the Middle District of Florida, alleges that the company issued false and misleading press releases on March 30 and April 3 regarding a purported \u201cmulti-national public-private-partnership\u201d to sell thermal scanning equipment to detect individuals with fevers. According to the complaint, the company claimed in its press releases that this technology could be instrumental in \u201cbreaking the chain of virus transmission through early identification of elevated fever, one of the key early signs of COVID-19.\u201d As alleged, the press releases also included statements, attributed to the CEO of Turbo Global\u2019s supposed corporate partner in the partnership, that the technology \u201cis 99.99% accurate\u201d and was \u201cdesigned to be deployed IMMEDIATELY in each State.\u201d In fact, the complaint alleges, Turbo Global had no agreement to sell the product, there was no partnership involving any government entities, and the CEO of Turbo Global\u2019s supposed corporate partner did not make or authorize the statements attributed to him. According to the complaint, Singerman drafted the releases, which he knew to be false. The SEC charged Singerman with fraud in 1999 based on his fraudulent sale of securities through a network of boiler rooms, and obtained a permanent injunction against him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are actively monitoring the markets to detect potential fraudsters who seek to use the COVID-19 crisis as a basis for investment scams,\u201d said Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC\u2019s Division of Enforcement. \u201cAs alleged in these complaints, Applied BioSciences and Turbo Global sought to take advantage of the COVID-19 crisis by misleading investors about their ability to provide solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese fraud actions demonstrate the SEC\u2019s vigilance over public companies that make materially misleading claims in press releases,\u201d said Steven Peikin, Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. \u201cWe will continue to act swiftly when necessary to protect investors.\u201d <\/p>\n
The SEC\u2019s complaint against Applied BioSciences charges the company with violating antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and seeks permanent injunctive relief and civil penalties. The SEC\u2019s complaint against Turbo Global and Singerman charges them with violating antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and seeks permanent injunctive relief and civil penalties, and an officer and director bar against Singerman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced charges in two cases involving companies that claimed in press releases to offer products to combat the COVID-19 virus \u2013 one against Applied BioSciences Corp. and one against Turbo Global Partners, Inc. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3,16048],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hedgeco-networks-press-releases","category-hedgeco-news","category-hedgecovest-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74139"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74140,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74139\/revisions\/74140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}