Kraft Heinz, Phillips 66 Targeted by Fake Securities Filings
September 24 2015 - 7:10PM
Dow Jones News
Two more companies were targets of apparently fake securities
filings, this time Kraft Heinz Co. and Phillips 66.
Two separate filings that said they were submitted by Loreto M.
Zamora on behalf of LMZ & Berkshire Hathaway Co. to the
Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday morning claimed to
hold at least 10% stakes in both Kraft Heinz and Phillips 66.
Both companies told The Wall Street Journal that the filings are
fraudulent and they have contacted the SEC. Warren Buffett, whose
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. owns stakes in the food and energy
companies, said in an email that he has never heard of Mr.
Zamora.
Attempts to reach Mr. Zamora were unsuccessful, and a
representative from the SEC declined to comment on the filings.
Also Thursday, the SEC said it settled charges against private
investment firm G Asset Management LLC that had issued what the
agency said was a "manipulative" news release in February 2014
announcing a takeover bid for retailer Barnes & Noble Inc. in
an effort to make a profit by inflating the book retailer's share
price. The firm didn't admit or deny the agency's findings in the
settlement.
The apparently phony filings in Kraft Heinz and Phillips 66
follow a similar situation in May, when an entity filed an
allegedly fraudulent takeover bid for Avon Products Inc. Avon said
it hadn't received such a bid, and the SEC in June filed a lawsuit
against a Bulgarian national who it says was behind the scheme. The
Journal previously reported the Federal Bureau of Investigation was
also investigating.
Mr. Zamora, who also falsely listed himself in one of the
filings as director of Kraft Heinz where Mr. Buffett sits on the
board, listed a Philippines address in the filings. Someone with
his name appears to have an active social media presence, with
several recent tweets praising Mr. Buffett and Berkshire.
The stakes were reported on what is called a Form 3, typically a
brief filing used to disclose an initial stake by a company insider
or an investor with a 10% or greater position in a given company.
Investment firms scan such filings for news, and new stakes can
often send share prices higher.
The shares of Kraft Heinz and Phillips 66 didn't appear to move
on the filings, with both stocks ending down less than 1%.
The SEC has previously said it is examining whether it should
make any changes to the public securities filing system, known as
Edgar.
The fraudulent filings underscore a weakness in the filing
system. It is possible to set up a fake account and make fraudulent
filings directly to a legitimate firm's cache of disclosures. To
make filings, one only needs to provide Edgar with a street address
and a document signed by a notary, according to an Edgar user's
manual published by the SEC. The manual warns that intentionally
making false filings is a federal crime.
Companies make thousands of SEC filings a day, most of them
routine. Third parties such as shareholders and insiders are
allowed to file directly to a company's Edgar feed, a system set up
to promote maximum disclosure.
Write to Yogita Patel at yogita.patel@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 24, 2015 18:55 ET (22:55 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Avon Products (NYSE:AVP)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2024 to Oct 2024
Avon Products (NYSE:AVP)
Historical Stock Chart
From Oct 2023 to Oct 2024