PHILADELPHIA — The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against Wayne resident Howard Appel, citing alleged violations of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Act of 1934.
The SEC filed a complaint July 27 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, charging Appel with carrying out a scheme to manipulate the prices of three microcap companies' stock.
According to the complaint, between 2010 and 2013, "Appel obtained a large block of stock in three companies and also secretly controlled large additional amounts of shares in each company held by his associates. Appel then directed his associates to engage in manipulative, coordinated trading to create the appearance of liquidity and active trading in the stocks."
The SEC seeks an order requiring Appel to turn over all ill-gotten gains he received, with pre-judgment interest and pay civil penalties. The SEC also asked the court to bar Appel from serving as an officer or director of any company that has a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act and from participating in any offering of a penny stock.
The plaintiff is represented by Marc Berger, Lara Mehraban, Adam Grace, Preethi Krishnamurthy and Rhonda Jung of the Securities and Exchange Commission in New York.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case number 2:18-cv-03200-PD