SEC v. Mark Burnett, Jeffrey Miller, Christian Romandetti, Frank Sarro, Anthony Vassallo, and Elite Stock Research, Inc. (boiler rooms, 2018)
Judgment entered
Checked against the primary document on October 4, 2026. The library's summary, tags and figures for this record were compared with the regulator's own document by an AI model (Claude) following written instructions, with sampled and disputed records read a second time. No lawyer has reviewed them. A checked record can still contain errors, and checked does not mean endorsed. See how we check records or report a correction.
In November 2018 the SEC charged Mark Burnett, Jeffrey Miller, Christian Romandetti, Frank Sarro, Anthony Vassallo and Elite Stock Research in the Eastern District of New York over an alleged scheme, with a parallel criminal case. Final judgments were entered against Burnett, Miller and Romandetti on November 29, 2023 and against Vassallo on March 14, 2025; Sarro and Elite Stock Research were not found.
The record
| Agency | SEC |
|---|---|
| Release number | LR-24353 |
| Date filed | 2018-11-15 |
| Date resolved | 2025-03-14 |
| Status | judgment |
| Asset class | equities |
| Criminal parallel | Yes: charged (Romandetti, Burnett, Miller and Sarro) |
| Bars imposed | officer-and-director bar, penny stock bar |
| Defendants | Mark Burnett ; Jeffrey Miller ; Christian Romandetti ; Frank Sarro ; Anthony Vassallo ; Elite Stock Research, Inc. |
| Also named elsewhere | Elite Stock Research, Inc. |
| Techniques | Boiler rooms |
What was ordered
- Civil penalty
- —
- Disgorgement
- $2.4m
- Prejudgment interest
- $669k
- Total relief
- $3.1m
- Alleged gain
- —
What is alleged to have happened
the Securities and Exchange Commission announced this matter on November 15, 2018 as litigation release 24353. The defendants named are Mark Burnett, Jeffrey Miller, Christian Romandetti, Frank Sarro, Anthony Vassallo and Elite Stock Research, Inc. As alleged, from at least September 2013 to June 2016 they traded through multiple accounts to disguise manipulation and hired Elite Stock Research, a boiler room run by Mr Vassallo, to promote First Choice to vulnerable investors, lifting the price from under $1 to $3.40 and duping more than 100 victims. Parallel criminal charges were announced against Romandetti, Burnett, Miller and Sarro. Elite Stock Research had been sued earlier, in the July 2017 case recorded under Powertraderspress.com.
This library tags the matter as boiler rooms, based on the conduct the document describes. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.
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.
Final judgments read. On November 29, 2023 the court entered judgments against Burnett, Miller and Romandetti. Burnett was ordered to pay $69,320 in disgorgement plus $15,518.37 in interest and was barred from penny stock offerings; Romandetti was ordered to pay $1,886,000 in disgorgement plus $442,210.60 in interest and was also barred from penny stock offerings; Miller's judgment contains an injunction, and no money figure appeared in the text read. Both Burnett's and Romandetti's payment obligations are deemed satisfied by restitution or forfeiture orders in their criminal cases, and no civil penalty was imposed on them because of their guilty pleas and convictions. On March 14, 2025 the court entered a judgment against Vassallo for $485,682 in disgorgement and $211,151.51 in interest, also deemed satisfied by his criminal order. The disgorgement and interest totals recorded here are the sums for Burnett, Romandetti and Vassallo. Frank Sarro and Elite Stock Research, Inc. were not found in the SEC's judgment lookup and were not checked further, so the case may remain open as to them.
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.
- Boiler rooms — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.
Timeline
- 2018-11-15 Litigation release published
- 2023-11-29 Final judgments entered against Burnett, Miller and Romandetti
- 2025-03-14 Final judgment entered against Anthony Vassallo
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 Burnett, 29 November 2023
- Final judgment as to Romandetti, 29 November 2023
- Final judgment as to Miller, 29 November 2023
- Final judgment as to Vassallo, 14 March 2025
Related actions
Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.
| Action | Agency | Filed | Technique | Penalty | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEC v. Andrew Spaventa and others (boiler rooms, 2026) | SEC | 2026-08-17 | Boiler Rooms | — | filed |
| SEC v. Timothy Page, Trevor Page and others (boiler rooms, 2024) | SEC | 2024-11-20 | Boiler Rooms , Undisclosed Control Blocks | $7.7m | judgment |
| SEC v. Mario Gogliormella, Steven Lacaj, and Karim Ibrahim a/k/a/ Chris Hayes (boiler rooms, 2024) | SEC | 2024-06-12 | Boiler Rooms | — | filed |
| SEC v. Legend Venture Partners LLC (boiler rooms, 2023) | SEC | 2023-07-11 | Boiler Rooms | — | filed |
| SEC v. Vuuzle Media Corp., Vuuzle Media Corp. Limited, Ronald Shane Flynn, and Richard Marchitto (boiler rooms, 2023) | SEC | 2023-06-27 | Boiler Rooms | $25.8m | judgment |
| SEC v. Matthew Nicosia, William Reininger, Fabrizio Di Carlo, and Ronald Touchard (boiler rooms, 2023) | SEC | 2023-04-10 | Boiler Rooms | $223k | judgment |