SEC v. In Ovations Holdings, Inc. and Mark Goldberg (fake press releases, 2018)

Judgment entered

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In September 2018 the SEC sued In Ovations Holdings and its CEO Mark Goldberg over allegedly false press releases. The Eastern District of New York entered a consent judgment against Goldberg on 6 October 2022 (disgorgement of $250,000 plus interest, deemed satisfied by criminal orders, and two bars) and a $150,000 penalty judgment against the company on 2 November 2022.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$150k

Disgorgement

$250k

Prejudgment interest

$44.9k

Total relief

$445k

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

the Securities and Exchange Commission announced this matter on September 6, 2018 as release LR-24260. The respondents named are In Ovations Holdings, Inc. and Mark Goldberg (1 individual, 1 entity).

The complaint alleges that the issuer and its CEO issued false and misleading press releases so that stock promoters could sell their shares, citing a claimed exclusive licence that the complaint says did not exist. It charges Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5(b); no undisclosed paid promotion is alleged, so the record is tagged fake press releases.

This library tags the matter as fake press releases, based on the conduct the regulator describes. Each tag links to a page explaining how that technique works, what statute it engages, and what penalties comparable actions have attracted. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

The conduct is recorded against equities, with INOH identified in the release.

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

The release references a parallel criminal proceeding. Where a criminal case exists, the civil and criminal outcomes are recorded separately, because they resolve on different standards of proof.

Two later SEC litigation releases show how the case ended for both defendants. On 6 October 2022 the court entered a final consent judgment against Goldberg enjoining him, imposing officer-and-director and penny stock bars, and ordering disgorgement of $250,000 plus prejudgment interest of $44,889.86, deemed satisfied by restitution and forfeiture orders in his criminal case. On 2 November 2022 the court entered a final judgment against In Ovations Holdings enjoining it and imposing a $150,000 civil penalty; the release does not say whether the company consented. The money fields combine the two judgments. The releases do not give a sentence for Goldberg's criminal case.

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.

• Fake press releases — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2018-09-06 Litigation release published
2. 2022-10-06 Final consent judgment entered against Goldberg
3. 2022-11-02 Final judgment entered against In Ovations Holdings ($150,000 penalty)

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
• SEC litigation release LR-25559 (Goldberg)
• SEC litigation release LR-25589 (In Ovations Holdings)

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.