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Gilles Trahan, the chairman of both Atlantic Wind & Solar (AWSL.PK) and MSE Enviro-Tech (MEVT.PK), better hope that investors don’t start judging him by the company he keeps.
After all, Trahan has ties to Basil Meecham – a past target of securities regulators – that date back at least eight years. The two men remained connected as Facebook friends as recently as last month, although they have since taken steps to block visitor access to their personal information. The Street Sweeper captured evidence of that Facebook friendship weeks ago, however, in anticipation of such changes.
Meanwhile, past ties between Trahan and Meecham remain a matter of public record. The paper trail starts during the early years of this decade, when both men worked for a doomed penny stock company known as Symphony Telecom. The company employed Trahan as its chairman and CEO, public filings show, while it paid Meecham (with 1.5 million shares of its own stock) for providing “consulting services” to the firm.
The same company retained Mario Giangioppo – a disbarred attorney – as its legal advisor, The Globe and Mail revealed, before later changing its name. While running for political office in 2003, the newspaper noted, Giongioppo wound up dropping out of the race when his past came back to haunt him.
By then, Trahan and Meecham had quietly moved on. Trahan established a firm called Geneva Bancorp to provide investment banking and public relations services to emerging companies, while Meecham joined the board of a penny-stock company known as Environmental Technologies. Geneva Bancorp ultimately landed Environmental Technologies as a client, paying a stock promoter $6,000 in late 2004 to interview Meecham about the company’s future prospects.
Meecham’s days at Environmental Technologies proved to be numbered, however, as he resigned from the company’s board – along with Chairman John Hedges – the following year. By early 2006, Meecham and Hedges had teamed up at yet another penny stock company called Southwestern Medical Solutions. Securities regulators cracked down on both men for their actions at that firm.
The Warning Signs
Between January and August of 2006, the U.S. Securities and Exchange later claimed, Meecham and Hedges issued a series of misleading press releases falsely stating that Southwestern Medical had secured regulatory approval – and begun racking up sales – for its diagnostic testing devices. Last year, the SEC followed up by issuing permanent injunctions barring both men from serving as directors or officers of any publicly traded companies and banning them from participating in future offerings of any penny stocks.
By then, investors had already begun sounding alarms about Meecham’s activities. Nearly four years ago, in fact, one investor tried to warn others away from any company tied to Meecham at all.
“To the person who emailed about Basil Meecham, if you are considering doing business with him, YOU ARE CRAZY!” the investor posted on a message board for Dragon Environmental, a failed penny stock company led by Meecham more than a decade ago. “If you do any research on his background, you will find where he screws everyone. None of his ventures have paid off for anyone, except maybe himself.”
In conclusion, the post stated, “BE VERY SCARED!”
Interestingly, records for the Pink Sheets show, Atlantic Wind & Solar used to carry the same name – Dragon Environmental – featured by the company mentioned in that message-board post. It operated as Dragon Environmental UK around the same time that Dragon Environmental itself announced ambitious plans for a major expansion into the United Kingdom. Despite all of the hype, however, Dragon Environmental wound up slashing its operations – with Meecham resigning as president – less than three years later.
Apparently, some burned investors never forgot him. Nearly six years had passed since Meecham’s resignation as Dragon Environmental’s president when that message-board poster cautioned others against doing business with him. Meanwhile, the same month that chat-room warning appeared, Meecham allegedly began issuing the false Southwestern Medical press releases that landed him in trouble. The SEC finally nailed Meecham, banishing him from the penny-stock trade, in July of last year.
The Shell Game
Just a few months after that SEC crackdown, records show, Atlantic Wind & Solar stepped forward to purchase Environmental Technologies – where Meecham had previously served as a director – through a reverse merger. Trahan, Meecham’s longtime business associate, served as chairman of Atlantic Wind & Solar at the time of that transaction.
By then, Trahan had become chairman and CEO of MSE Enviro-Tech as well. Geneva Bancorp, the firm that Trahan founded, has since gone on to manage investor relations for Atlantic Wind & Solar and MSE Enviro-Tech alike. Although Trahan no longer owns or runs Geneva Bancorp, an attorney for Atlantic Wind & Solar says, he still maintains a “close working relationship” with the firm and sometimes helps it out for free.
Since Geneva Bancorp began managing their publicity, Atlantic Wind & Solar and MSE Enviro-Tech have scored glowing reviews from penny stock promoters. This spring, for example, David Diamond (another Facebook friend of Trahan’s) began touting both companies on his GreenBubbleStocks.com website. Meanwhile, PennyStockChaser – a tout site closely scrutinized by The Street Sweeper in a past investigative report – has loudly promoted both of the companies as well.
Earlier this month, in fact, PennyStockChaser predicted that Atlantic Wind & Solar could jump to $10 a share by the end of this year. At that price, the company – which has never recorded any sales or profits – would boast a market value of almost $300 million.
“This stock is an excellent example of a solid pick which has gone higher and stayed higher,” PennyStockChaser wrote last week. “We think AWSL is headed to $8 to $10 pre-split … The shorts must be shaking here.”
The Ultimate Tout
Atlantic Wind & Solar, which closed at $3.75 the day before that alert, did jump to $4.20 over the course of the next three trading sessions. The stock suddenly reversed course and fell back to $3.80 on Tuesday, however, after the record date for a planned stock dividend passed without any confirmation from the company that the dividend would actually take place.
Jamie Frank, the outside attorney for Atlantic Wind & Solar, told The Street Sweeper on Tuesday that the company had yet to secure formal approval for the stock dividend from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). However, he said, the company has “every intention” of issuing the shares once FINRA clears the way.
But critics of Atlantic Wind & Solar view the dividend announcement as little more than a ploy to squeeze short sellers who’ve placed bets against the company. Although Atlantic Wind & Solar claimed that it was issuing more shares in an effort to “improve market liquidity” for the stock, critics say, the company seemed to be defeating that purpose by restricting sales of the new stock for up to a year.
Meanwhile, Atlantic Wind & Solar bulls continue to aggressively tout the shares. One of the company’s loudest chat-room fans, who posts messages under the name “Sidney Amis,” keeps insisting that the stock is poised to explode. (Interestingly, Amis has posted bullish messages on Trahan-led MSE Enviro-Tech as well; he also defends company management on a regular basis.) When a fellow investor predicted that Atlantic Wind & Solar could hit $80 a share, Amis boldly topped that call.
“I was calling $5 when it was 20 cents,” Amis claimed in a recent posting on the Yahoo message board for Atlantic Wind & Solar. “Everyone will think I’m nuts for saying this (what else is new), but there’s no reason why this can’t go well over $100 per share in the future.”
While Atlantic Wind & Solar has admittedly enjoyed a remarkable run this year, the company would need its market value to approach $3 billion – topping the values earned by far more established energy players – for that rosy forecast to actually come true.
* To contact Melissa Davis, the author of this story, please send an email to editor@thestreetsweeper.org.
Gilles Trahan, the chairman of both Atlantic Wind & Solar (AWSL.PK) and MSE Enviro-Tech (MEVT.PK), better hope that investors don’t start judging him by the company he keeps.
After all, Trahan has ties to Basil Meecham – a past target of securities regulators – that date back at least eight years. The two men remained connected as Facebook friends as recently as last month, although they have since taken steps to block visitor access to their personal information. The Street Sweeper captured evidence of that Facebook friendship weeks ago, however, in anticipation of such changes.
Meanwhile, past ties between Trahan and Meecham remain a matter of public record. The paper trail starts during the early years of this decade, when both men worked for a doomed penny stock company known as Symphony Telecom. The company employed Trahan as its chairman and CEO, public filings show, while it paid Meecham (with 1.5 million shares of its own stock) for providing “consulting services” to the firm.
The same company retained Mario Giangioppo – a disbarred attorney – as its legal advisor, The Globe and Mail revealed, before later changing its name. While running for political office in 2003, the newspaper noted, Giongioppo wound up dropping out of the race when his past came back to haunt him.
By then, Trahan and Meecham had quietly moved on. Trahan established a firm called Geneva Bancorp to provide investment banking and public relations services to emerging companies, while Meecham joined the board of a penny-stock company known as Environmental Technologies. Geneva Bancorp ultimately landed Environmental Technologies as a client, paying a stock promoter $6,000 in late 2004 to interview Meecham about the company’s future prospects.
Meecham’s days at Environmental Technologies proved to be numbered, however, as he resigned from the company’s board – along with Chairman John Hedges – the following year. By early 2006, Meecham and Hedges had teamed up at yet another penny stock company called Southwestern Medical Solutions. Securities regulators cracked down on both men for their actions at that firm.
The Warning Signs
Between January and August of 2006, the U.S. Securities and Exchange later claimed, Meecham and Hedges issued a series of misleading press releases falsely stating that Southwestern Medical had secured regulatory approval – and begun racking up sales – for its diagnostic testing devices. Last year, the SEC followed up by issuing permanent injunctions barring both men from serving as directors or officers of any publicly traded companies and banning them from participating in future offerings of any penny stocks.
By then, investors had already begun sounding alarms about Meecham’s activities. Nearly four years ago, in fact, one investor tried to warn others away from any company tied to Meecham at all.
“To the person who emailed about Basil Meecham, if you are considering doing business with him, YOU ARE CRAZY!” the investor posted on a message board for Dragon Environmental, a failed penny stock company led by Meecham more than a decade ago. “If you do any research on his background, you will find where he screws everyone. None of his ventures have paid off for anyone, except maybe himself.”
In conclusion, the post stated, “BE VERY SCARED!”
Interestingly, records for the Pink Sheets show, Atlantic Wind & Solar used to carry the same name – Dragon Environmental – featured by the company mentioned in that message-board post. It operated as Dragon Environmental UK around the same time that Dragon Environmental itself announced ambitious plans for a major expansion into the United Kingdom. Despite all of the hype, however, Dragon Environmental wound up slashing its operations – with Meecham resigning as president – less than three years later.
Apparently, some burned investors never forgot him. Nearly six years had passed since Meecham’s resignation as Dragon Environmental’s president when that message-board poster cautioned others against doing business with him. Meanwhile, the same month that chat-room warning appeared, Meecham allegedly began issuing the false Southwestern Medical press releases that landed him in trouble. The SEC finally nailed Meecham, banishing him from the penny-stock trade, in July of last year.
The Shell Game
Just a few months after that SEC crackdown, records show, Atlantic Wind & Solar stepped forward to purchase Environmental Technologies – where Meecham had previously served as a director – through a reverse merger. Trahan, Meecham’s longtime business associate, served as chairman of Atlantic Wind & Solar at the time of that transaction.
By then, Trahan had become chairman and CEO of MSE Enviro-Tech as well. Geneva Bancorp, the firm that Trahan founded, has since gone on to manage investor relations for Atlantic Wind & Solar and MSE Enviro-Tech alike. Although Trahan no longer owns or runs Geneva Bancorp, an attorney for Atlantic Wind & Solar says, he still maintains a “close working relationship” with the firm and sometimes helps it out for free.
Since Geneva Bancorp began managing their publicity, Atlantic Wind & Solar and MSE Enviro-Tech have scored glowing reviews from penny stock promoters. This spring, for example, David Diamond (another Facebook friend of Trahan’s) began touting both companies on his GreenBubbleStocks.com website. Meanwhile, PennyStockChaser – a tout site closely scrutinized by The Street Sweeper in a past investigative report – has loudly promoted both of the companies as well.
Earlier this month, in fact, PennyStockChaser predicted that Atlantic Wind & Solar could jump to $10 a share by the end of this year. At that price, the company – which has never recorded any sales or profits – would boast a market value of almost $300 million.
“This stock is an excellent example of a solid pick which has gone higher and stayed higher,” PennyStockChaser wrote last week. “We think AWSL is headed to $8 to $10 pre-split … The shorts must be shaking here.”
The Ultimate Tout
Atlantic Wind & Solar, which closed at $3.75 the day before that alert, did jump to $4.20 over the course of the next three trading sessions. The stock suddenly reversed course and fell back to $3.80 on Tuesday, however, after the record date for a planned stock dividend passed without any confirmation from the company that the dividend would actually take place.
Jamie Frank, the outside attorney for Atlantic Wind & Solar, told The Street Sweeper on Tuesday that the company had yet to secure formal approval for the stock dividend from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). However, he said, the company has “every intention” of issuing the shares once FINRA clears the way.
But critics of Atlantic Wind & Solar view the dividend announcement as little more than a ploy to squeeze short sellers who’ve placed bets against the company. Although Atlantic Wind & Solar claimed that it was issuing more shares in an effort to “improve market liquidity” for the stock, critics say, the company seemed to be defeating that purpose by restricting sales of the new stock for up to a year.
Meanwhile, Atlantic Wind & Solar bulls continue to aggressively tout the shares. One of the company’s loudest chat-room fans, who posts messages under the name “Sidney Amis,” keeps insisting that the stock is poised to explode. (Interestingly, Amis has posted bullish messages on Trahan-led MSE Enviro-Tech as well; he also defends company management on a regular basis.) When a fellow investor predicted that Atlantic Wind & Solar could hit $80 a share, Amis boldly topped that call.
“I was calling $5 when it was 20 cents,” Amis claimed in a recent posting on the Yahoo message board for Atlantic Wind & Solar. “Everyone will think I’m nuts for saying this (what else is new), but there’s no reason why this can’t go well over $100 per share in the future.”
While Atlantic Wind & Solar has admittedly enjoyed a remarkable run this year, the company would need its market value to approach $3 billion – topping the values earned by far more established energy players – for that rosy forecast to actually come true.
* To contact Melissa Davis, the author of this story, please send an email to editor@thestreetsweeper.org.
