SEC v. Joe Yiu Cheung, a/k/a Dylon de lu Zhang (paid stock promotion, 2017)

Settled

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In August 2017 the Securities and Exchange Commission settled an administrative proceeding with Joe Yiu Cheung, also known as Dylon de lu Zhang, finding that he secretly held up to 33 percent of United American Petroleum Corp., financed a false promotional campaign in 2012 and dumped his shares into the demand it created, selling about $542,498 of stock. He was barred as an officer or director and from penny stock offerings for ten years and ordered to pay $542,498 in disgorgement, $94,132 in interest and a $150,000 penalty.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$150k

Disgorgement

$542k

Prejudgment interest

$94.1k

Total relief

$787k

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 August 2, 2017 as release 3-18093. The respondent named is Joe Yiu Cheung (1 individual, 0 entities).

The order finds that a financier hid beneficial ownership of United American Petroleum, financed a false promotional campaign and dumped his shares, and orders $542,498 of disgorgement, $94,132 of interest and a $150,000 penalty. Financing a promotion is not undisclosed paid publicity, so the paid-promotion tag has been removed.

The order finds that between January and July 2012 Cheung paid for blast emails and mailings with false claims about the company's oil prospects while selling his shares, and never filed required ownership reports. Earlier reverse mergers in which he held undisclosed control are background and are not the charged conduct. This library tags the matter as paid stock promotion, pump and dump and undisclosed control blocks.

The conduct is recorded against equities.

The relief recorded in our data is a civil monetary penalty of $150,000, disgorgement of $542,498, prejudgment interest of $94,132. Penalty and disgorgement are distinct: disgorgement returns the gain, while the penalty is punitive. We store them separately so that aggregate figures across the library are not double-counted.

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 3 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.

• Paid stock promotion — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.
• Pump and dump — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.
• Undisclosed control blocks — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2017-08-02 Administrative proceeding instituted (cease-and-desist)

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 order

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.