SEC v. Caledonian Bank Ltd., et al. (unregistered distributions, 2017)

Judgment entered

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In 2017 a federal court entered default judgments against five offshore entities for selling unregistered penny stocks, including a $19.2 million penalty on Verdmont Capital.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$19.2m

Disgorgement

—

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$19.2m

Alleged gain

—

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

On August 25, 2017 the SEC announced default final judgments entered July 31, 2017 against five offshore entities for conducting unregistered penny stock sales that reaped over $75 million. All were enjoined from Securities Act Section 5 violations and given penny stock bars; the Caledonian entities were held jointly liable for $25 million, waived because of liquidation proceedings; Verdmont must pay $19.2 million in disgorgement and interest combined and a separate $19.2 million penalty; Clear Water and Legacy Global owe over $17.3 million and $14.9 million. Only Verdmont's penalty is recorded; its disgorgement is blank because it is combined with interest. The record previously showed $19.2 million as both disgorgement and penalty.

This library tags the matter as unregistered distributions, based on the conduct the document describes. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

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.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with one technique 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.

• Unregistered distributions — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2017-08-25 Litigation release published

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

• SEC litigation release

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Same matter

The library links these 2 records because they appear to concern one matter: the same lead defendant, an overlapping technique tag and close filing dates, or a shared court docket or a release that cites the other. Records are listed by date filed.

This grouping is the library's, made by matching names, techniques, dates and citations when the site is built. It is not the regulator's or a court's determination that the records are one case, and it errs towards missing a link rather than making a false one.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.