SEC v. Joseph A. Fiore, Berkshire Capital Management Company, Inc., and Eat at Joe's, Ltd. (n/k/a SPYR, Inc.) (newsletter scalping, 2018)

Settled

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In June 2018 the SEC sued penny-stock financier Joseph Fiore, Berkshire Capital Management and Eat at Joe's (now SPYR) over alleged manipulation and scalping of Plandai Biotechnology stock. On 14 April 2020 the Southern District of New York entered consent judgments, without admission or denial, with $2 million of disgorgement and interest, three $500,000 penalties and five-year bars.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$1.5m

Disgorgement

—

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$1.5m

Alleged gain

$11m

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 June 20, 2018 as release LR-24171. The respondents named are Joseph A. Fiore, Berkshire Capital Management Company, Inc., and Eat at Joe's, Ltd. (n/k/a SPYR, Inc.) (0 individuals, 2 entities).

This library tags the matter as newsletter scalping, 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.

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

A later SEC litigation release shows the case ended in settlements. On 14 April 2020 the court entered final judgments by consent against all three defendants, who did not admit or deny the allegations. They are jointly and severally liable for $2 million of disgorgement and prejudgment interest, and each pays a separate $500,000 civil penalty, which is the $1.5 million recorded here. The release does not split the $2 million between disgorgement and interest, so those fields stay empty. All three are enjoined from further violations, Fiore and Berkshire are barred for five years from penny stock offerings, and Fiore is barred for five years from serving as an officer or director of a reporting issuer. The release does not mention a criminal case.

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.

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

Timeline

1. 2018-06-20 Litigation release published
2. 2020-04-14 Consent final judgments entered against Fiore, Berkshire and SPYR ($2 million disgorgement and interest, three $500,000 penalties, five-year bars)

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-24795 (consent judgments)

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.