SEC v. Daniel P. McKelvey, Alvin S. Mirman, Steven Sanders and others (blank check shells, 2015)

Judgment entered

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In April 2015 the SEC charged ten individuals over a scheme that created nearly two dozen undisclosed blank check companies and sold most of them for about $6 million for use in reverse mergers. In the Southern District of Florida, final judgments against the six court defendants were in place by February 23, 2018, with some money claims dropped after parallel criminal forfeiture and sentencing. The four figureheads who settled in administrative orders were not checked.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

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Disgorgement

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Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

—

Alleged gain

$6m

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

the Securities and Exchange Commission announced this matter on April 16, 2015 as release LR-23243. The respondents named are Daniel P. McKelvey, Alvin S. Mirman, Steven Sanders, Edward G. Sanders, Scott F. Hughes, Jeffrey L. Lamson, Edward T. Farmer, William J. Gaffney, Kevin D. Miller and Ronald A. Warren (10 individuals, 0 entities). The action was brought in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida.

The complaint alleges that the three principals evaded blank-check-company requirements by installing figurehead officers and filing false business plans, and forged certifications and other documents. The release calls such shells attractive for pump-and-dump schemes but does not charge a pump-and-dump. Four figureheads (Farmer, Gaffney, Miller and Warren) consented to bars and disgorgement. This library tags the matter as reverse merger schemes.

The conduct is recorded against equities.

Non-monetary relief recorded: officer-and-director bar, penny stock bar.

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.

Outcome for the six defendants sued in the Southern District of Florida (McKelvey, Mirman, Steven Sanders, Edward Sanders, Hughes, Lamson). Permanent injunctions were entered in 2015 and 2016. The last final judgments, entered on February 23, 2018, covered McKelvey, Edward Sanders, Hughes and Lamson: McKelvey was barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company; Hughes was ordered to pay $10,000 in disgorgement, $1,506.02 in interest and a $150,000 penalty; Lamson was ordered to pay $74,104 in disgorgement plus interest; and Edward Sanders was ordered to pay $5,000 in disgorgement plus $268.22 in interest and a penalty whose figure is illegible in the scanned copy. The SEC dropped its disgorgement and penalty claims against Mirman and Steven Sanders on October 6, 2017, citing the parallel criminal case in which Mirman was sentenced to twelve months in prison and ordered to forfeit $2,409,806. Because of the illegible figure and the dropped claims, no combined money total is recorded here. The four figureheads (Farmer, Gaffney, Miller, Warren) who settled in separate administrative proceedings were not checked, and Daniel McKelvey's later administrative proceeding was not read.

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.

• Reverse merger schemes — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2015-04-16 Litigation release published
2. 2017-10-06 SEC drops disgorgement and penalty claims against Mirman and Steven Sanders after parallel criminal sentencing
3. 2018-02-23 Final judgments entered against McKelvey, Edward Sanders, Hughes and Lamson

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
• Final judgment as to McKelvey, 23 February 2018
• Final judgment as to Hughes, 23 February 2018
• Final judgment as to Lamson, 23 February 2018
• Final judgment as to Edward Sanders, 23 February 2018
• SEC notice of dismissal of money claims as to Mirman, 6 October 2017
• SEC notice of dismissal of money claims as to Steven Sanders, 6 October 2017

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.

Related actions

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

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.