The End of The Road – Biozoom, Inc. (OTCBB:BIZM) Suspended by SEC
When the market opened yesterday there was an unpleasant surprise waiting for everybody who still had hopes about Biozoom, Inc. (OTCBB:BIZM). It seems that even backed by the biggest marketing promotion we had ever seen the company will never reach the price target of $10.30 because they had been halted by the SEC. Apparently we weren’t the only ones who recognized that BIZM is nothing more than a pump scheme.
Behind the veil of optimistic press releases praising their “one-of-a-kind”, “cutting-edge” spectroscopic scanner, there were some really troubling details. Seed shareholders had acquired more than 20 million shares (after a 33:1 forward split of course) for just $0.003 per share. The company that was a shell with no assets, no revenues and no real business activities at the start of the year now suddenly had a market cap. of more than $180 million.
But what really pushed such an underwhelming company to the heights of $4.50 per share was the widespread promotion run for them by Global Investors Research, LLP. And when we say widespread we really mean it. They spared no expense in their efforts to attract unsuspecting investors. The hard mailers, who require millions of dollars to be produced and distributed, were just the beginning. What followed were radio ads played during the Rush Limbaugh show but even that wasn’t enough. No, they went one step furhter and paid for a full-page feature in the business section of The New York Times. The curious part is that Global Investors Research, LLP claim to have received no compensation at all.
With such shameless ads it was just a matter of time before BIZM caught the attention of SEC, who are uncharacteristically active this year. Since March they have suspended the stock of four companies among which are Face Up Entertainment (OTCMKTS:FUEG) and Polar Petroleum (OTCMKTS:POLR). We covered the pumps for both of them here and here, repsectively. For the first time even FINRA was forced to step up and halt the stock of Eco-Trade Corp (OTCMKTS:BOPT) for 14 trading days back in April. You can read more about this disaster in our article about it.
The allegations against BIZM are quite different though. According to the announcement, SEC believe that certain Biozoom affiliates and shareholders have violated Rule 144 and have “engaged in an unlawful distribution of securities through the OTCBB”. Now everybody who trusted the pump materials and failed to shed their holdings will have little to no chance of recovering their investment. Some may hope to at least mitigate their losses when the company starts trading again in 10 days, most likely on the grey market.
Yesterday the stock of Norstra Energy Inc. (OTCBB:NORX) managed to stabilize and closed in the green. Investors are still cautious and even the freshly printed hard mailers only managed to lift the stock by a meager 1%. African Copper Corp. (OTCBB:ACCS), on the other hand, are plummeting further and further down and lost 40% despite still being touted by Victory Mark.
