Market Manipulation. Search

SEC v. In Ovations Holdings, Inc. and Mark Goldberg (fake press releases, 2022)

Judgment entered

Machine-extracted, pending human review. The structured fields on this page were parsed automatically from the regulator's own release, linked below. Read the primary document before relying on any figure here, and tell us if something is wrong.

In 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a judgment against In Ovations Holdings, Inc. and Mark Goldberg, alleging conduct this library classifies as fake press releases and paid stock promotion. The release does not state a monetary figure that we were able to extract. A parallel criminal matter is referenced in the release.

The record

Structured fields for this action, as recorded in our case library.
Agency SEC
Release number LR-25589
Date filed 2022-12-09
Date resolved 2022-12-09
Court U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
Status judgment
Criminal parallel Yes
Defendants In Ovations Holdings, Inc. (entity) ; Mark Goldberg (individual)
Techniques Fake press releases , Paid stock promotion

What was ordered

Civil penalty
Disgorgement
Prejudgment interest
Total relief
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 December 9, 2022 as release LR-25589. The respondents named are In Ovations Holdings, Inc. and Mark Goldberg (1 individual, 1 entity). The action was brought in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York.

This library tags the matter as fake press releases and paid stock promotion, 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 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.

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 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.

Timeline

  1. 2022-12-09 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.

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.

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

Action Agency Filed Technique Penalty Status
SEC v. Michael J. Starkweather and Andiamo Corporation (fake press releases, 2021) SEC 2021-12-03 Fake Press Releases , Paid Stock Promotion judgment
SEC v. Brian Weber and Bebida Beverage Co. (fake press releases, 2018) SEC 2018-10-31 Fake Press Releases , Paid Stock Promotion judgment
SEC v. Wellness Center USA, Inc. (fake press releases, 2018) SEC 2018-04-12 Fake Press Releases , Paid Stock Promotion settled
SEC v. Andalusian Resorts and others (fake press releases, 2017) SEC 2017-10-30 Fake Press Releases , Paid Stock Promotion +2 filed
SEC v. Joshua A. Weiss (paid stock promotion, 2026) SEC 2026-07-10 Paid Stock Promotion judgment
SEC v. Stephen J. Czarnik (paid stock promotion, 2026) SEC 2026-06-29 Paid Stock Promotion , Unregistered Distributions judgment

Record added September 8, 2026. submit a correction.