A U.S. businessman whose extravagant claims about supposed projects in Ukraine were exposed in an RFE/RL investigation has been charged with stock manipulation by financial regulators in the United States.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said that Benjamin Ballout, the CEO of Enerkon Solar International, "authored, approved, and issued" at least three false press releases designed to drive up the price of the company's stock so that he and his associates could sell shares for a profit.
The charges stem from what the SEC said were false claims about purported U.K. and U.S. deals in press releases published between March and May 2021, at least two months after the initial Ukraine project claims.
This kind of scheme, known as "pump and dump," is not uncommon in the world of public companies that are valued at well under $1 billion and trade on the over-the-counter market as opposed to regulated exchanges.
Two of Ballout's associates, Mohamed Zayed and William Fielding, were also charged, the SEC said in a September 23 statement.
The government watchdog said it was seeking to force the return of the trio's allegedly illegal gains, impose civil penalties, and bar them from trading what are known as "penny stocks."
It said Fielding had agreed to settle with the SEC, giving up $311,000 in profits and $53,230 in interest and paying a $195,000 fine.
RFE/RL exposed Ballout's activities in a March 2021 article after he published a press release claiming that Enerkon had been "awarded" the right to create a massive solar-power project in Ukraine and build out a next-generation wireless-technology network around the country.
Enerkon's stock price jumped in the days and weeks following the press release, making Ballout overnight a multimillionaire on paper.
SEE ALSO: A Penny Stock Skyrocketed After It Announced Two Big Ukraine Projects. There's Just One Problem.Ballout also claimed, in a filing with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), that he would be setting up meetings for a Ukrainian deputy prime minister with leading U.S. companies during the official’s upcoming visit to the United States.
An RFE/RL investigation showed that no such rights had been awarded to Enerkon. The Ukrainian government also denied that Ballout had been tapped to set up business meetings.
The investigation also showed that Ballout had no record of developing major projects and had struggled financially, filing for personal bankruptcy twice.
In phone calls and written messages, Ballout harassed and threatened RFE/RL reporters in an attempt to stop the article's publication.
"You and your crew under big scrutiny now. U can’t ever spy on me to a foreign gov and get away with it," he wrote in a March 22, 2021, text message.
Ballout did not answer his phone when RFE/RL tried to reach him for comment following the SEC charges.