SEC v. Benjamin Wey, et al. (reverse merger schemes, 2015)
Dismissed
Checked against the primary document on October 4, 2026. The library's summary, tags and figures for this record were compared with the regulator's own document by an AI model (Claude) following written instructions, with sampled and disputed records read a second time. No lawyer has reviewed them. A checked record can still contain errors, and checked does not mean endorsed. See how we check records or report a correction.
The SEC's September 2015 reverse-merger case against Benjamin Wey and New York Global Group was voluntarily dismissed as to Wey, his firm, Michaela Wey, Robert Newman and William Uchimoto on 1 September 2017. The SEC says it had relied on evidence later suppressed in the parallel criminal case. A claim against Seref Dogan Erbek was still continuing in April 2018.
The record
| Agency | SEC |
|---|---|
| Release number | LR-23342 |
| Date filed | 2015-09-10 |
| Date resolved | 2017-09-01 |
| Status | dismissed |
| Criminal parallel | Yes: charged (Benjamin Wey and Seref Dogan Erbek (U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York); a later release says evidence was suppressed in the criminal proceeding) |
| Defendants | Benjamin Wey ; New York Global Group ; Michaela Wey ; Tianyi Wei ; Seref Dogan Erbek ; Robert Newman ; William Uchimoto |
| Cited as charged or alleged | Exchange Act s.10(b) and Rule 10b-5 ; Exchange Act s.13(d) and 13(g) ; Exchange Act s.16(a) ; Securities Act s.17(a) |
| Techniques | Reverse merger schemes , Undisclosed control blocks |
What was ordered
- Civil penalty
- —
- Disgorgement
- —
- Prejudgment interest
- —
- Total relief
- —
- Alleged gain
- —
What is alleged to have happened
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced on September 10, 2015 (litigation release 23342) a complaint filed in the Southern District of New York, with a parallel criminal case announced by the U.S. Attorney's Office against Wey and Erbek.
The SEC alleged that Wey and his firm structured reverse mergers between Chinese clients and public shells so that he and relatives secretly took stakes above five per cent, spread the shares across a network of foreign accounts to avoid beneficial-ownership reporting, and sold into artificially inflated markets for tens of millions of dollars in profit. It alleged antifraud violations, violations of Section 13(d) and, for Wey and Wei, Section 16(a). These are allegations.
The release carries an update that the SEC later dismissed its claims against many of these defendants, referring to litigation release 24105. This library tags the matter as reverse merger schemes and undisclosed control blocks. The defendant field previously held only "Benjamin Wey, et al."
In a release of 9 April 2018 the SEC reported that on 1 September 2017 it voluntarily dismissed its claims against Wey, New York Global Group, Michaela Wey, Robert Newman and William Uchimoto, explaining that it had relied on evidence later suppressed in the parallel criminal proceeding and that its ability to use that evidence might be affected. It also dismissed claims against several relief-defendant entities in September and October 2017 as dissolved, and against Tianyi Wei on 8 March 2018. It states that its litigation against Seref Dogan Erbek was continuing. A voluntary dismissal is not a finding on the merits: the SEC's allegations were neither proved nor rejected by a court. The date recorded is the dismissal of the lead defendants, and Erbek's later outcome was not checked.
For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary documents linked above. This page summarises the structured record and does not reproduce them.
What technique is this, and how does it work?
This action is tagged with 2 techniques in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.
- Reverse merger schemes — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.
- Undisclosed control blocks — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.
Timeline
- 2015-09-10 Litigation release published
- 2017-09-01 SEC voluntarily dismisses claims against Wey, New York Global Group and three others (S.D.N.Y.)
Primary documents
Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.
Related actions
Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.
| Action | Agency | Filed | Technique | Penalty | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEC v. Brian Quinn and David Skriloff (Environmental Packaging, 2024) | SEC | 2024-10-18 | Reverse Merger Schemes , Undisclosed Control Blocks | $461k | judgment |
| SEC v. Darren Ofsink and Michael T. Morris (CodeSmart, 2023) | SEC | 2023-04-03 | Reverse Merger Schemes , Undisclosed Control Blocks +1 | — | judgment |
| SEC v. Peter DiChiara (reverse merger schemes, 2020) | SEC | 2020-09-03 | Reverse Merger Schemes , Undisclosed Control Blocks | $40k | settled |
| SEC v. Morrie Tobin et al. (undisclosed control blocks, 2019) | SEC | 2019-08-30 | Undisclosed Control Blocks , Reverse Merger Schemes | — | settled |
| SEC v. David G. Dreslin, Michael Toups and Leslie Toups (2018) | SEC | 2018-12-03 | Reverse Merger Schemes , Undisclosed Control Blocks | $345k | settled |
| SEC v. Delaney Equity Group LLC, David C. Delaney and Ian C. Kass (reverse merger schemes, 2018) | SEC | 2018-08-29 | Reverse Merger Schemes , Shell Factories +1 | — | settled |