BULLETIN: NOT JUST EUROPE: Court Filings In Profitable Sunrise Fraud Case Say Some Of The Money Went To Entities In Australia And Panama

UPDATED 9:11 P.M. EDT (APRIL 17, U.S.A.) Some Profitable Sunrise investors wired money to entities in Australia and Panama, according to new filings in the SEC’s pyramid-scheme and fraud case.

The new filings, dated today, identify those entities as Technocash Limited of Sydney and Trackford Business Corp. of Panama City. Earlier filings named four other entities that the SEC says received funds from Profitable Sunrise investors: Melland Company SRO of the Czech Republic; Color Shock SRO of the Czech Republic; Solutions Company SRO of the Czech Republic; and Fortuna-K SRO of the Czech Republic.

Melland, Color Shock, Solutions and Fortuna-K all have been named relief defendants. How the SEC intends to proceed against Technocash and Trackford was not immediately clear today. Various state regulators in the United States have said that Profitable Sunrise traded on Bible verse.

Profitable Sunrise operated as Inter Reef LTD through a “mail drop” in England, and its director, Agnes Jouaneau, “is a resident of the Seychelles. She is director of several dozen other UK companies,” according to court filings.

“Having heard from witnesses, examined documents, considered the legal precedents and the arguments of counsel, the Court finds that the SEC has established a prima facie case that Inter Reef violated Sections 5(a), 5(c), and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 (‘Securities Act’) [15 U.S.C. §§ 77e(a), 77e(c), and 77q(a)], Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (‘Exchange Act’) [15 U.S.C. § 78j(b)], and Exchange Act Rule 10b-5 [17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5],” wrote U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr.

Thrash has approved a preliminary injunction and continued an asset freeze in the Profitable Sunrise case.

A proceeding was held in open court today, according to the new filings. At that 20-minute proceeding, “no one” appeared for Profitable Sunrise or the relief defendants.

Evidence entered by the SEC, according to Thrash, supports findings that Profitable Sunrise:

• “offered a series of passive investments with low minimum investments claiming to pay interest rates varying between 1.6 percent and 2.7 percent per business day . . .”
• Sold “securities” as defined under federal securities law . . .
• “failed to register those securities with the SEC, and no exemption from registration has been proven . . .”
• Sold “unregistered securities through misrepresentations and omissions of material fact” and that the sale of those securities “constitutes a device, scheme and artifice to defraud.”

A minute entry from today’s proceeding before Thash suggests that the SEC has deposed Profitable Sunrise pitchman Anthony M. Infante of Florida and that at least a portion of his deposition was read into the record today.

Read SEC statement issued April 16.

The ASD Updates Blog is maintaining an archive of Profitable Sunrise-related court filings.