COVID vaccinations are continuing to roll out and we can hope to see an end to the pandemic. Regulators are continuing to roll out cases against people and companies that tried to illegally profit from the pandemic.
The latest case is against Arrayit Corporation, a life sciences company in Sunnyvale, California. Although a public company, the Securities and Exchange Commission had put a halt to the trading in its shares on public markets in 2015 because the company had failed to file annual reports with audited financial statements. The company failed to respond to auditors requests for information. That moved its share trading to the OTC pink sheets.
The CEO of Arrayit, Rene Schena, and her brother Mark Schena, President of Arrayit, began telling investors that the reports were coming out and the company had some new revenue sources.
In March of 2020 Arrayit began making statements to investors.
“Dear [investor], Confirming that we have a SARS-Cov-2 test and that the test is pending emergency approval.”
At that point Arrayit had no reagents needed for a test. Also, Arrayit had not actually applied for Emergency Use Authorization.
Arrayit took it a step further and told investors that it had received more than 50,000 requests for its finger stick blood test. This was not true. As a result of the untrue or misleading statements Arrayit’s stock price traded up 50% and its volume increased 100%.
The SEC charged Arrayit, Rene Schena, and Mark Schena with fraud. Arrayit and Rene Schena have settled with the SEC. She will pay a $50,000 fine and is barred from acting as an officer or director. Mark Schena’s case is still pending.
Sources:
- SEC Charges California Company and Its CEO with Misleading Investors About Covid-19 Blood Test and Financial Reports: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2021/lr25029.htm
- SEC Complaint against Arrayit and Rene Schena: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2021/comp25029.pdf
- SEC Complaint against Mark Schena: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2020/comp-pr2020-224.pdf
