SEC v. Joseph Vitale (boiler rooms, 2019)
Judgment entered
Checked against the primary document on October 2, 2026. The library's summary, tags and figures for this record were compared with the regulator's own document by an AI model (Claude) following written instructions, with sampled and disputed records read a second time. No lawyer has reviewed them. A checked record can still contain errors, and checked does not mean endorsed. See how we check records or report a correction.
In 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a judgment against Joseph Vitale, alleging conduct this library classifies as boiler rooms. The release does not state a monetary figure that we were able to extract. A parallel criminal matter is referenced in the release.
The record
| Agency | SEC |
|---|---|
| Release number | 3-18252 |
| Date filed | 2019-02-04 |
| Date resolved | 2019-02-04 |
| Court | SEC administrative law judge |
| Status | judgment |
| Asset class | bonds, equities |
| Criminal parallel | Yes: sentenced (Vitale), U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, 2017-08-22 |
| Bars imposed | penny stock bar |
| Defendants | Joseph Vitale |
| Cited as charged or alleged | 18 U.S.C. 1341 (mail fraud) |
| Techniques | Boiler rooms |
What was ordered
- Civil penalty
- —
- Disgorgement
- —
- Prejudgment interest
- —
- Total relief
- —
- Alleged gain
- —
What is alleged to have happened
the Securities and Exchange Commission announced this matter on February 4, 2019 as release 3-18252. The respondents named are Joseph Vitale (1 individual, 0 entities). The action was brought in the SEC administrative law judge.
This library tags the matter as boiler rooms, 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 bonds and equities.
Non-monetary relief recorded: penny stock bar.
The release references a parallel criminal proceeding. Where a criminal case exists, the civil and criminal outcomes are recorded separately, because they resolve on different standards of proof.
For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above. This page deliberately summarises the structured record rather than reproducing the release.
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.
- Boiler rooms — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.
Timeline
- 2019-02-04 Initial decision
Primary documents
Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.
Related actions
Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.
| Action | Agency | Filed | Technique | Penalty | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEC v. Andrew Spaventa and others (boiler rooms, 2026) | SEC | 2026-08-17 | Boiler Rooms | — | filed |
| SEC v. Timothy Page, Trevor Page and others (boiler rooms, 2024) | SEC | 2024-11-20 | Boiler Rooms , Undisclosed Control Blocks | $7.7m | judgment |
| SEC v. Mario Gogliormella, Steven Lacaj, and Karim Ibrahim a/k/a/ Chris Hayes (boiler rooms, 2024) | SEC | 2024-06-12 | Boiler Rooms | — | filed |
| SEC v. Legend Venture Partners LLC (boiler rooms, 2023) | SEC | 2023-07-11 | Boiler Rooms | — | filed |
| SEC v. Vuuzle Media Corp., Vuuzle Media Corp. Limited, Ronald Shane Flynn, and Richard Marchitto (boiler rooms, 2023) | SEC | 2023-06-27 | Boiler Rooms | $25.8m | judgment |
| SEC v. Matthew Nicosia, William Reininger, Fabrizio Di Carlo, and Ronald Touchard (boiler rooms, 2023) | SEC | 2023-04-10 | Boiler Rooms | $223k | judgment |