S.E.C. vs. 'Tokyo' Joe
Yoo Sun Oh Park, also known as 'Tokyo' Joe on the Internet, has grown quite popular as a stock advisor to customers over the Internet.
Charging them up to $200 a month to be part of his e-mail and Web updates, consumers were given tips on stock buying and target prices to sell stock at. What the Securities Exchange Commission claims, is that he profited from his actions more so than his customers.
Accused of defrauding his followers with a method known as scalping, the SEC claims that Mr. Park advocated certain stocks and certain target prices at which to sell these stocks. Selling his stocks prior to reaching the target, he used his customers to push the stock prices higher as he made more profits. This is in violation of several securities laws.
In another complaint, he is accused of taking shares of a Florida based company in exchange for advocating the company on his Web site. By not telling his customers that he had received the stock, he was in violation of several other securities laws.
Starting in 1997 with investment chat rooms at Silicon Investor, his picks soon become quite popular. Seeing this, he started his own company Societe Anonyme and used those contacts to quickly gather a large following.
This case is the SEC's first crack at a major Internet player such as Mr. Parks. They state that recently adopted laws are providing them with a backbone to win the case.
