SEC v. Ballout

Benjamin Ballout, Mohamed Zayed, and William Fielding allegedly participated in a fraudulent scheme to pump and dump the publicly traded stock of Enerkon Solar International, Inc. ("Enerkon"). Ballout, who served as Enerkon's CEO, allegedly authored, approved, and issued at least three press releases that falsely claimed that Enerkon had acquired a company with distribution rights to a Covid-19 instant test; received a $28 million purchase order for the Covid-19 tests; and entered into an agreement to buy commercial property to build a large solar and hydrogen plant. Zayed allegedly participated in the scheme by fabricating a bogus purchase order. Fielding and Zayed allegedly coordinated with Ballout to profit from the artificially inflated price of Enerkon's stock using a phony convertible promissory note. According to the complaint, Fielding allegedly sold 2.6 million Enerkon shares to a third-party investor for $407,000 in May 2021, paying $96,000 of his trading proceeds to Zayed for his role in the fraudulent scheme.

Summary generated from official Securities and Exchange Commission press release