Litigation Release No. 24566 / August 16, 2019
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jehu Hand, et al., No. 1:15-cv-14109 (D. Mass. filed Dec. 10, 2015)
USA v. Jehu Hand, No. 1:15-cr-10386-WGY (D. Mass.)
The Securities and Exchange Commission has obtained a final judgment by consent against California securities attorney Jehu Hand, who was charged, along with another defendant, for his role in a pump-and-dump scheme involving the stock of Greenway Technology in 2015. In that action, the SEC alleged that Hand carried out the pump-and-dump scheme by, among other things, writing and sending false legal opinion letters to brokerage and other firms transacting in Greenway stock. These opinion letters were designed to clear the way for Greenway stock held by the scheme participants to be sold, without restriction, to unsuspecting investors in the market.
The final judgment, entered on July 29, 2019 by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, permanently prohibits Hand from participating in penny stock offerings, and enjoins him from violating the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”) and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and the registration provisions of Sections 5(a) and (c) of the Securities Act.
In a parallel criminal action in the District of Massachusetts, Hand was convicted by a jury on May 21, 2018 of securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit those offenses, and was subsequently sentenced to 66 months in prison and three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a fine of $1,000,000 for his role in two pump-and-dump schemes, and restitution of $486,953.
On July 11, 2019, the SEC ordered that Hand be forthwith suspended from appearing or practicing before the Commission pursuant to Rule 102(e)(2) of the Commission’s Rules of Practice, based on his criminal conviction.