A US judge has entered an order requiring a Foirt Lauderdale resident to show why he should not be held in civil contempt for violating a default judgement after he and another man allegedly used three Bahamas-registered corporations to gain $500,000 from “a scheme to defraud purchasers of securities” in a furnitures manufacturing company.
The order was filed against Rajiv Vohra, who with Sean Healey, had earlier been accused in a lawsuit filed by the Securities and exchange Commission (SEC) of using three Bahamian companies – Lantern Investments, Lipton Holdings and Beaufort Holdings – to create “wash sales” that gave the “appearance of active trading in the stock” of New Directions Manufacturing, a firm quoted on the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) over-the-counter market.
In a ruling on February 26 in the southern district of Florida, a US judge ordered Beaufort Holdings to pay disgorgement worth $61,903 and prejudgement interest of $14,124, with Lantern Investments ordered to pay disgorement of $57,702 and prejudgement interest of $12,300. Both these companies had civil penalties of $100,000 each imposed against them.
By Neil Hartnell, The Tribune
