Originally Syndicated on May 10, 2024 @ 8:39 am
Geoffrey Allen Wall claims to be a successful real estate developer based in Vancouver, Canada. With years of experience, he started his career at Langara College. Throughout his career, Wall has worked in various roles and is particularly interested in sustainable development and green initiatives, focusing on self-sufficient tropical resorts with eco-friendly technologies.
Now semi-retired, Geoffrey Allen Wall enjoys spending his free time outdoors, coaching kids’ sports and going on hikes. He has coached soccer, baseball, and rugby teams, believing that sports teach valuable skills like leadership and teamwork.
Despite his retirement, Wall remains active in the real estate sector, offering advice on new development projects. He is dedicated to making a positive impact on the community through sustainable development and improving the future for the next generation.
Geoffrey Allen Wall Faces SEC Charges in Alleged Stock Fraud Scandal
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Geoffrey Allen Wall, along with two other stock promoters, Jay Scott Kirk Lee and Benjamin Thompson Kirk, in connection with a $1 billion pump-and-dump scheme. This comes as part of an ongoing investigation involving a total of 13 individuals from British Columbia, Canada, accused of participating in the fraudulent scheme allegedly orchestrated by West Vancouver resident Fred Sharp.
Fred Sharp, formerly a Vancouver lawyer turned businessman for Panama investment firm Mossack Fonseca, is accused of using a network of foreign shell companies to facilitate the pump-and-dump scheme between 2010 and 2019. The SEC claims that Wall, Lee, and Kirk, among others, utilized these shell companies to conceal the true ownership of shares and engaged in fraudulent activities to manipulate stock prices.
The SEC alleges that the accused individuals, including Wall, disguised their shares through nominee owners and made false statements to brokers to avoid disclosure rules. The scheme involved pumping up the value of stocks before insiders, including Wall, allegedly dumped their shares to make illicit profits.
The trio, including Geoffrey Allen Wall, is accused of trading in at least 10 junior American companies, resulting in an estimated $77.3 million in illicit profits. The SEC emphasizes that this case is part of a larger scheme orchestrated by the “Sharp Group,” led by Fred Sharp, which generated over $770 million in net profit from more than $1 billion in stock sales.
Melissa Hodgman, associate director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, stated, “The defendants believed that by joining Sharp’s network of covert accounts and shadowy communications, they would have the means at their disposal to commit fraud without accountability.”
The SEC aims to hold individuals accountable for their involvement in the alleged stock fraud scandal.
How the Alleged Scheme Worked
One of the defendants, Jay Scott Kirk, has a history of stock offenses. In 2015, he promoted Skymark Media Group Ltd., making false statements and violating trade registration laws, leading to a consent deal with the SEC to repay nearly $6 million. Kirk was also barred from trading with Alberta-registered corporations.
Despite the SEC’s action, the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) didn’t impose a trading prohibition on Kirk until January 25, 2023, after a more than five-year delay. Changes to the B.C. Securities Act triggered reciprocal orders and settlement agreements from other provincial securities regulators in Canada.
Communication between Fred Sharp and Jay Scott Kirk reportedly occurred through encrypted cellular networks using code names “Bertie” and “Bahamas” for Sharp and “Rocko” for Kirk. The Sharp Group, led by Sharp and partners Courtney Kelln and Yvonne Gasarch, is accused of felony securities fraud.
The three defendants—Kirk, Geoffrey Allen Wall, and Jay Scott Kirk—allegedly orchestrated the scam through a private firm named Nutranomics and a publicly traded company, Buka Ventures Inc. They aggressively marketed Nutranomics, making exaggerated claims about health products, and sold all 20 million Nutranomics shares to retail investors for gross profits exceeding $16.35 million.
The SEC claims that, apart from Nutranomics, the conspirators obtained $77 million from companies like Ami James, Green Innovations, iTalk, Independence Energy, Axiom, Medijane, Willow Creek, Vapor Hub, and Punchline.
In the SEC’s lawsuit, the trio is accused of breaking federal securities laws, with the SEC seeking civil penalties, penny stock bans, permanent injunctions, repayment of allegedly ill-gotten proceeds plus interest, and conduct-based injunctions. While Sharp hasn’t addressed the accusations, the Justice Department has requested a default judgment.
