USA: SEC freezes assets alleging fraudulent public offering

The USA's Securities and Exchange Commission has obtained an order freezing the assets of two companies, Thomas Fletcher and Co., Inc and Thomas Fletcher and Company, Inc after satisfying a court that there is evidence of fraudulent unregistered offering of securities.

The Securities and Exchange Commission applied for an injunction on Friday, November 22, 2002 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York alleging that Thomas Fletcher conducted a fraudulent unregistered offering that raised over $2.5 million from at least 32 investors.

Sergei Voronchenko, the President and Director of Thomas Fletcher and Roman Thaker, the Secretary and Treasurer of Thomas Fletcher, were responsible for a false and misleading private offering memorandum.

In addition, an affiliated broker-dealer, TFC, and its registered representatives, Alex Berg, John Donadio, and Padraig McGlynn made oral misrepresentations to investors to induce them to purchase Thomas Fletcher securities.

A further hearing for various orders, including the continuation of the freezing orders, is to be heard in early December 2002.