SEC v. Cliffe R. Bodden (2016)
Settled
Checked against the primary document on October 3, 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.
In September 2016 the SEC settled administrative proceedings against Cliffe Bodden, finding he helped Fusion Pharm draft fraudulent documents, including backdated convertible notes, in a roughly $12 million scheme. He is barred from penny-stock offerings, and any money is to be decided at a later hearing.
The record
| Agency | SEC |
|---|---|
| Release number | 3-17549 |
| Date filed | 2016-09-16 |
| Date resolved | 2016-09-16 |
| Status | settled |
| Asset class | equities |
| Venue | OTC |
| Criminal parallel | No |
| Defendants | Cliffe R. Bodden |
| Cited as charged or alleged | Exchange Act s.10(b) and Rule 10b-5 ; Securities Act s.17(a) ; Securities Act s.5 |
| Techniques |
What was ordered
- Civil penalty
- —
- Disgorgement
- —
- Prejudgment interest
- —
- Total relief
- —
- Alleged gain
- —
What is alleged to have happened
The Securities and Exchange Commission instituted and settled this proceeding on September 16, 2016 (Securities Act release 10214), without admission or denial by Bodden, who was then serving a 74-month federal sentence for an unrelated offering fraud.
The order describes a scheme at Fusion Pharm in which backdated convertible notes and preferred stock were used to issue shares to entities controlled by an undisclosed de facto officer, William Sears, who sold them into the market and returned proceeds that Fusion Pharm booked as false revenue. Bodden's own role found is assisting Fusion Pharm in drafting fraudulent documents, including the backdated notes. He was ordered to cease and desist from Sections 5(a), 5(c) and 17(a)(1) and (3) of the Securities Act and Rule 10b-5(a) and (c), and barred from penny-stock offerings.
The order sets a later hearing on whether to impose disgorgement or penalties, so no amount is recorded. Because Bodden did not conceal control himself, the undisclosed-control tag is removed from this record; it stays on the Fusion Pharm record. His name had been split into two defendants.
For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above. This page deliberately summarises the structured record rather than reproducing the release.
Timeline
Primary documents
Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.