Securities Arbitration Lawyer Blog
IORIO ALTAMIRANO LLP IS INVESTIGATING CLAIMS ON BEHALF OF AIRBORNE STOCKHOLDERS FOLLOWING SEC FRAUD CHARGES
On March 2, 2021, the SEC charged seven individuals and a technology company in connection with a fraudulent scheme to gain control of Airborne Wireless Network (ABWN), promote its stock, and defraud investors.
If your stockbroker recommended that you invest in Airborne Wireless Network (ABWN) stock, you might have a claim. Contact New York securities arbitration lawyers Iorio Altamirano LLP for a free and confidential evaluation of your account.
SEC Complaint
According to the SEC’s complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (S.D.N.Y.), between August 2015 and at least May 2018, Kelly Kabilafkas orchestrated a scheme to defraud market participants, including retail investors in New York, using a publicly-traded company, Airborne Wireless Network, which he secretly controlled.
The fraud culminated when Kabilafkas, Airborne’s CEO Jack Edward Daniels, and Airborne inflated the company’s stock price through multi-million dollar promotional campaigns, reaping $23 million by dumping shares, obtained for a small fraction of that amount, on an unsuspecting market. Airborne also raised over $22 million from investors, while its public filings contained numerous material misstatements and omissions during the same time. The SEC alleges that they netted over $45 million in illicit proceeds.
At no time did Kabilafkas, Airborne, or Daniels disclose Kabilafkas’s role as a control person or that, while Airborne was raising money from investors, they were dumping millions of shares into the public market.
Targeting of New York Investors
The SEC complaint details promotional activity, including television advertising, which targeted and reached investors in New York.
Airborne advertised on an electronic billboard in New York City’s Times Square and made payments to media companies in Manhattan. Additionally, Airborne obtained money in an offering from a limited liability company investor in New York.
Airborne’s stock was quoted and traded on the Manhattan-based OTC Link ATS, which investors use to trade stocks with small per-share dollar values, so-called “penny stocks.” For each trade in Airborne stock, the Depository Trust Company (“DTC”) performed required clearing services that were processed through its Manhattan data center, and which facilitated the actual exchange of stock for money between Kabilafkas and his associates, and purchasers of Airborne shares.
The Stock: Airborne Wireless Network (ABWN)
Airborne Wireless Network (ABWN) is a Nevada corporation headquartered in Simi Valley, CA. ABWN was originally incorporated in January 2011 as Ample-Tee, Inc. to focus “on selling hard-to-find ergonomic products for the physically disabled, such as chairs, workstations, back/arm/leg/wrist supports, through [its] proposed online website.”
In May 2016, the company changed its name to Airborne Wireless Network (ABWN) and later changed its line of business to, purportedly, “developing, marketing and licensing a high-speed meshed broadband airborne wireless network by linking commercial aircraft in flight.”
How to Recover Losses or Obtain a Free Consultation
If your stockbroker recommended that you invest in Airborne Wireless Network (ABWN) stock, contact New York securities arbitration lawyers August Iorio and Jorge Altamirano of Iorio Altamirano LLP at august@ia-law.com, jorge@ia-law.com or toll-free at (855) 430-4010 for a free and confidential evaluation of your account.
Iorio Altamirano LLP is a securities arbitration law firm based in New York, NY. We pursue FINRA arbitration claims nationwide on behalf of investors to recover financial losses arising out of wrongful conduct by financial advisors and brokerage firms.