"The Mass Psychology of Suckers Part 1 & 2– Sefe, Inc. (SEFE)" (CMKX included)
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AboutThe Mass Psychology of Suckers Part 1 – Sefe, Inc. (SEFE)April 23, 2012 – 7:39 pm Posted in Bucket Shops, Fail, Morons, Reverse Mergers Every once in a while someone will ask us here at BuyersStrike! about a small company that is, in our eyes, obviously a stock promotion. But to some it seems real. They want to believe it is real. And now is one of those times. Introducing SEFE, Inc. (SEFE), a company that hits new highs on increasing volume every single day. A company that today possesses a market cap of over $110mm, but at the end of 2011 had less than $6000.00 in the bank.
SEFE is also the newest client of Geoffrey Eiten‘s notorious stock pumping investor relations shop OTC Financial Network aka National Financial Communications, and Paul Cohen‘s ridiculous Grassroots Research aka Cohen Research. More on those two fine fellows in a bit, but first lets look at the origins of SEFE, Inc.
Sleepy Indio, California, most famous for the Coachella Valley Music Festival every spring, was also in 2005 the birthplace of SEFE. SEFE began life as a humble Nevada incorporated shell called Midnight Candle Company (MCDL). The sole officer, director, and 95.6% majority shareholder was Ms. Helen C. Carey. The company was being run out of a 1700 square foot condominium at 79013 Bayside Court in Indio. See it here.
A woman with the same name, and of the same age, shows up linked to several properties in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area of Arizona. Remember that.
In January 2006, shares of Midnight Candle were listed for trading on the Pink Sheets. By May 2008, enough time had passed to “season” the shell, and activity began. First Helen decided to do a 30 for 1 forward split of the stock, and to increase the amount of authorized shares to 200,000,000.
Then, sometime between May and July of 2008, a gentleman named Patrick Deparini linked up with Helen and became the CFO. According to his resume, Deparini went to school at the University of Nevada – Las Vegas in 1993, finally emerging with a B.S. in Finance in 1999. This genius took six years to get a degree from UNLV. One wonders who else was fighting for the rights to hire this wunderkind. Midnight Candle must have been lucky.
Or was it something else, different from luck? For Mr. Deparini’s resume shows lots of fascinating, overlapping work experience. From 2001 up until this very day Patrick has worked for the Nascent Group:
Nascent Group, Inc. May 2001 – Present (11 years)
Nascent Group, Inc. is a boutique consulting services firm. We are a group of attorneys, CPAs and consultants that work hard to obtain results for our clients in both a timely and cost-effective manner. We are a full-service team with a great deal of experience and expertise in the following:
* Taking companies public * Private and public securities offerings
In reality the Nascent Group is one of many reverse-merger schlock house located in Las Vegas. Check out their website here. At the same time that Patrick was working in the dirtiest part of the stock market at Nascent Group, he was also working as a lowly paralegal.
Paralegal Law Offices of Harold P. Gewerter, Esq., Ltd. 2001 – 2004 (3 years)
• Formed securities law and litigation division for the law firm. • Provided regulatory and accounting services to clients. • Marketed the firm’s services to attract clients and negotiated contract terms. • Grew client base to over 100 companies across the US and Internationally. • Communicated with FINRA, SEC and various State Securities Divisions.
Wow! If Patrick formed the securities law and litigation division, he must have been some amazing paralegal. Or is Patrick just buffing his resume a lot?
Gewerter has been practicing law since 1979, and his business appears to be almost entirely securities law and litigation. The Las Vegas law firm of Harold P. Gewerter is connected to many penny stocks, including two that seem to do nothing more than create and promote more reverse merger trash! Check out the website for Gerwerter’s Crown Equity Holdings (CRWE) a one and a half cent special, and under a penny pinksheeter Public Company Management Corp (PCMC). However, Harold is most well known for his role as John Edwards‘ attorney in the CMKM Diamonds (CMKX) scam. Edwards was instrumental in putting the CKMX deal together in the first place. According to an article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
The scheme started when Edwards did a reverse merger between his public company, CMKM, and several private Canadian companies controlled by Urban Casavant, according to the order.
Casavant was chief executive and chairman of CMKM while Edwards, using the alias Ian McIntyre, was director of post-term matters.
The Las Vegas Review Journal has done a great job reporting on the CMKX fraud. Read more about it here, and more here, and in the New York Times, here and here.
CMKX was quite a phenomenon, although an obvious fraud its low share price and massive media attention created a large following of shareholders who were virtually cult-like. While likely accidental, the frequency and repetition of the CMKM Diamonds message, name, and ticker, would have made Goebbels proud. Many CMKX shareholders, like China Agritech (CAGC) shareholders, still have not accepted that they were scammed, check out this moron who still appears to believe that the SEC, the DTCC, and other actors secretly conspired to keep untold riches out of CMKX shareholders’ hands.
But enough for today. Let’s come back to Patrick, Midnight Candle, Geoff Eiten and SEFE very soon…
« Last Edit: Apr 26, 2012, 12:40am by travelerone3 »
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AboutThe Mass Psychology of Suckers Part 2 – Sefe, Inc. (SEFE)April 24, 2012 – 4:14 pm Posted in Bucket Shops, Fail, Morons, Reverse Mergers When we ended The Mass Psychology of Suckers Part 1, we were examining the unique resume of SEFE (aka Midnight Candle) CFO, Patrick Deparini. At first glance he appears to be an odd choice as CFO. He had no real experience working in finance, nor in the candle business. His real job was as a paralegal at the law firm of Harold P. Gewerter, Esq. Ltd.
Harold Gewerter’s most famous client, John Edwards*, was mighty busy by the mid-00s. Not only was John the mastermind behind the CMKX fraud, but he was also behind Pinnacle Business Management (PBCM), US Canadian Minerals (UCAD), St. George Minerals (SGGM), BioTech Medics (BMCS), Global Diamond Exchange (GBDX), Equitable Mining (EQBM), OMDA Oil and Gas (OOAG), and Grand Entertainment & Music (GMSC). Read more in this excellent piece by Janice Shell, here, or go to Pacer, and read the entire USA v. Turino, Edwards, et. al. indictment of March 24, 2010.
So, perhaps some of John’s industriousness rubbed off on Patrick, for soon Patrick started his very own little shell company. In late 2004, young Patrick, then only 29, was listed as the CEO and majority shareholder of Las Vegas based Nascent Wine Company (NCTW) today a pink sheet stock that sells for less than 1/4 of a cent per share.
How did SEFE (fka MDCL) CEO, Helen C. Cary, sitting in Indio, CA and Patrick Deparini, in the offices of a sleazy law firm in Las Vegas, find one another?
The lawyer that is listed on the original SB-2 filing (see here) for NCTW was Wendy E. Miller. Wendy was not only an attorney at the firm of Harold P. Gewerter, Esq. Ltd., (see here) but she also represented Harold in the most recent SEC v CMKX case, filed in November of 2011.
The lawyer that is listed on the original SB-2 filing for MCDL (nka SEFE)? Wendy E. Miller yet again (check it out here). What a surprise!
First Gewerter‘s firm creates a shell, then they install one of their own as CFO, but now what? By the end of 2008, SEFE (fka MDCL) has still not generate a dime in revenues, and has only $272.00 in the bank. By the end of 2009, according to their 10K, the company still has no revenues and only $11 remains on the balance sheet.
Where is the money coming from to pay the ongoing costs of the shell? A 10Q filing, available here, for the quarter ended March 31, 2010 gives a clue, when it explains the $16k in Notes Payable on the balance sheet:
Represents numerous unsecured loans aggregating $16,535 from a non-affiliated third-party that loans the Company money on an as-needed basis. The notes are due on demand and bear no interest.
What non-affiliated third-party would ever loan money to a candle company, that has not had a penny in revenues since its formation almost 6 years prior, on an as-needed basis at no interest? Clearly something is up. And we will not have to wait long to find out…
*Edwards‘ wife Diana Lee Edwards (fka Diana Lee Flaherty) is also a felon, and a onetime fugitive from justice herself. She was involved in the Phoenix Metals USA II (PMTU) scam in the mid 90s. Read more about her and PMTU here and here.
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