SEC v. Edmond L. Lonergan and Green Planet Group, Inc. (price manipulation, 2015)

Settled

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The SEC's June 2015 case against Green Planet Group and its chief executive Edmond Lonergan over a paid stock promotion ended, as to Lonergan, in a final judgment entered on 20 December 2016 in the Southern District of Florida. It requires a $25,000 penalty, payable in instalments, and a three-year officer-and-director bar. The outcome for the company was not read.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$25k

Disgorgement

—

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$25k

Alleged gain

—

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced this matter on June 2, 2015 as release LR-23274. The respondents named are Edmond L. Lonergan and Green Planet Group, Inc. (1 individual, 1 entity). The action was brought in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida.

The complaint alleges that the issuer and its CEO paid an inducement to a stock promoter who would buy shares in the open market ahead of planned press releases, creating the appearance of market activity. It charges Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5(a) and (c); the payment was to trade, not to publish promotion, so the record is tagged price manipulation.

This library tags the matter as price manipulation, based on the conduct the regulator describes. Each tag links to a page explaining how that technique works, what statute it engages, and what penalties comparable actions have attracted. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

The conduct is recorded against equities.

Non-monetary relief recorded: officer-and-director bar.

Nothing in the regulator's filing has been proven, and the respondents are entitled to the presumption that it has not been. This page will be updated if the matter is resolved, dismissed or withdrawn.

The court entered a judgment against Lonergan on 19 July 2016 and a further final judgment on 20 December 2016 that adopts it. The December order imposes a civil penalty of $25,000, payable in four instalments over a year, and prohibits Lonergan for three years from serving as an officer or director of a company with registered securities. Lonergan had entered a general appearance in the case and the judgment incorporates his undertakings. The judgment text I could read (a poorly scanned copy) shows no disgorgement figure. I did not read any judgment for Green Planet Group, Inc., so this page records the outcome for Lonergan only; the original allegation, that the company paid a promoter to buy shares ahead of press releases, was resolved without a trial on the record I read.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary documents linked above. This page summarises the structured record and does not reproduce them.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with one technique in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.

• Price manipulation — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2015-06-02 Litigation release published
2. 2016-12-20 Final judgment entered as to Lonergan (S.D. Fla.)

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

• SEC litigation release
• Final judgment as to Edmond L. Lonergan (20 Dec 2016)

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.