Petroleum Products Company CEO Enjoined and Fined for False Press Releases

The SEC alleged that defendant perpetrated a microcap fraud on the market by providing information that appeared in two false press releases issued in 2008 by High Velocity Alternative Energy Corporation, a publicly traded company that distributed petroleum products to the automotive and manufacturing industries. Defendant was the President and CEO of High Velocity. He also allegedly reviewed and approved the press releases before they were issued, one of which was filed as an attachment to a Form 8-K. They falsely stated that the company had received large contracts to supply two of its customers with automotive products, which in fact it had not.