SEC v. Peter Voutsas (undisclosed control blocks, 2015)

Settled

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In June 2015 the SEC settled administrative proceedings against Peter Voutsas, chief executive of Gepco, finding he negligently took part in an offering without disclosing that Izak Zirk de Maison controlled the company from behind the scenes. He agreed to a $50,000 penalty and a penny-stock bar.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$50k

Disgorgement

—

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$50k

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 instituted and settled this proceeding on June 30, 2015 as Securities Act release 9860, without admission or denial by Voutsas.

Voutsas became chief executive and chief investment officer of Gepco after its December 2013 reverse merger with GemVest. The order finds Gepco was controlled by Izak Zirk de Maison, who was never named as an officer or director and who told Voutsas and others not to reveal his role, and that Voutsas did not disclose it to investors. It also finds he negligently took part in misleading statements about the company, including a press release about a diamond purchase. The reverse merger itself is background rather than the charge.

This library tags the matter as undisclosed control blocks. The record previously also carried the reverse-merger tag. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's.

Voutsas was ordered to cease and desist from Section 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act, barred from penny-stock offerings and ordered to pay a $50,000 civil penalty.

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.

• Undisclosed control blocks — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2015-06-30 Administrative proceeding instituted (cease-and-desist)

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 order

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.