SEC v. S. Paul Kelley, et al. (reverse merger schemes, 2019)

Status unknown

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 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission brought an action against S. Paul Kelley, et al., alleging conduct this library classifies as reverse merger schemes and unregistered distributions. The release records disgorgement of $1.2 million, prejudgment interest of $129,436.

The record

Structured fields for this action, as recorded in our case library.
Agency	SEC
Release number	LR-24696
Date filed	2019-12-20
Court	U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey
Status	unknown
Asset class	equities
Criminal parallel	No
Defendants	S. Paul Kelley, et al. (individual)
Techniques	Reverse merger schemes , Unregistered distributions

What was ordered

Civil penalty: —
Disgorgement: $1.2m
Prejudgment interest: $129k
Total relief: $1.3m
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 20, 2019 as release LR-24696. The respondents named are S. Paul Kelley, et al. (1 individual, 0 entities). The action was brought in the U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey.

This library tags the matter as reverse merger schemes and unregistered distributions, 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.

The relief recorded in our data is disgorgement of $1.2 million, prejudgment interest of $129,436. 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 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.

Reverse merger schemes — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.
Unregistered distributions — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

2019-12-20 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.

SEC litigation release

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. Darren L. Ofsink (reverse merger schemes, 2023)	SEC	2023-04-04	Reverse Merger Schemes , Unregistered Distributions	—	judgment
SEC v. Charles Parkinson Lloyd (reverse merger schemes, 2021)	SEC	2021-09-15	Reverse Merger Schemes , Unregistered Distributions	—	settled
SEC v. Olde Monmouth Stock Transfer Co., Inc. and Matthew J. Troster (reverse merger schemes, 2017)	SEC	2017-02-07	Reverse Merger Schemes , Unregistered Distributions	$100k	judgment
SEC v. Diane D. Dalmy, Esq. (reverse merger schemes, 2015)	SEC	2015-12-22	Reverse Merger Schemes , Unregistered Distributions	—	filed
SEC v. Abraxas J. Discala, Marc E. Wexler, Matthew A. Bell, Craig L. Josephberg, and Ira Shapiro (reverse merger schemes, 2015)	SEC	2015-11-04	Reverse Merger Schemes , Unregistered Distributions	—	judgment
SEC v. International Capital Group, LLC (reverse merger schemes, 2015)	SEC	2015-01-29	Reverse Merger Schemes , Unregistered Distributions	$1.5m	settled

Record added September 8, 2026. submit a correction.