Subaye Inc. (SBAY):
Market Cap as of February 14, 2011: $79.22mm Last 12 Months Sales: $39.14mm Cash at the end of the last reported Q: $7.12mm
Although there is still more to be unearthed at ECTE, I ran into another interesting situation which has inspired me to multitask. Of course, no one can multitask quite like Mr. James T. Crane, CPA. Truly a legend among CFOs. This guy can simultaneously work for a company in CA, NJ, two in MA, two in Beijing, one in Shanxi, and who knows how many more? Oh, here’s a pic.
According to biographies from the Subaye (SBAY, a fine piece of Chinese reverse-merger wonder) filings, he graduated in 1999 from Bentley University (fka Bentley College) a school in leafy Waltham, MA., with a B.S. degree in Accountancy. After a summer off, Jimmy started work at E&Y in September 1999 and stayed until May, 2001. Now this is where the biographies begin to differ. According to some filings at that point in 2001 he hung out his own shingle and started J. Crane & Company, P.C.
In an 8-K filing dated October 19, 2006 from Plantlink Communications, Inc. (PNLK nka DCNMQ), the company announced that James had joined the Board of Directors. PLNK goes on to state that James worked at Baker, O’Connor and Sullivan, LLC, a small firm in Lexington, MA (just up the road from Bentley), from January 2005 until May 2006. And, the filing said that the creatively named J. Crane & Company, P.C. was founded in June 2006. Yet another filing, from one of his large stable of reverse-merger companies, Longwei Petroleum (LPH), stated that J. Crane & Company was founded in September 1999, and reorganized in July 2006.
The website for J. Crane & Co. seems to have disappeared, but caches still exist. One of the caches says the firm was founded in 1999. Whom to believe? Did E&Y know their new hire, fresh out of Bentley, was already moonlighting? Did he even work for E&Y at all?
In May 2007, at the tender ago of 30, James scored himself a second Board of Directors seat at CommercePlanet (CPLT fka CPNE). CommercePlanet was not a paragon of virtue, either. The FTC had plenty to say about CommercePlanet.
By October 2007 James must have had a burst of energy, because although he resigned his seat at PNLK, he became the CFO of MyStarU (MYST), once a shell called Telecom Communications (TCOM how novel!) and known today as Subaye (SBAY). The 10K filing dated January 13, 2009 provided a biography for Mr. Crane that is truly impressive:
Mr. Crane is a licensed CPA, and was formerly an auditor at Ernst & Young, an international professional services firm. Currently, Mr. Crane serves as an accounting and auditing consultant to 22 public companies, and over 20% of his business during both 2008 and 2007 involved direct SEC representation of his clients.
Your author is not going to run down all 22, at least not today, but I would if I had his energy, stamina and determination. I am sure not a single one is a company whose shares I would be buying!
In 2008 our industrious Mr. Crane even started up what appears to be his very own shell, Peerless Capital Corp.
Early in 2009, while serving as a director of CPLT, the CEO of Peerless (and really, could this guy ever have a peer?), the head of his very own P.C., the CFO of SBAY, he takes on the additional role of CFO of Newark, NJ based reverse merger dreadful BioNeutral (BONU).
BONU started life as Moonshine Creations, Inc. (MNSS) and after a January 2009 reverse merger became BioNeutral Group, Inc. BioNeutral is its own interesting story, and there is ample reason to believe there are bucket shop veterans looming in the shadows. The stock zoomed to $3.50 in early September, but closed that 2009 right at 50c.
While Crane was busy in NJ overseeing the vast finances of BONU, and in MA presiding over Peerless, he was also moving J. Crane & Co to China. In October, 2009, the firm took up residence at 9/F Beijing Business World 56 East Xinglong St Chongwen Beijing. Remember that address, you’ll see it again.
Certainly exhausted after the move, Crane left his job at BONU in December 2009.
Don’t feel bad for him, though, Mr. Crane still has his SBAY gig. Plus, he has been busy working at CAVR and FEEL as well as Chinese reverse-merger stinkers FEWP and LPH. On top of all of this, he has a blog too! And he tweets!
Sadly, unlike Jimmy, the author needs to rest. Let’s spend more time on SBAY later in the week. With his busy schedule I sure hope James will be focused on SBAY, since they just filed with the SEC that their December period 10-Q will be late. But with so much to do, can you blame him?
James Crane.
Interesting info on the very busy Mr. Crane.
May I say however that Mr. Crane left LPH well over a year ago and has no affiiiation with LongWei Petroleum at all.
Please update that inof.
Thank you.
JT
[Thanks JT – Consider that noted. Of course, that didn’t stop the idiots at LPH from hiring him to begin with, their judgement is clearly poor, LPH is certainly not something I would invest in on that basis alone – Editor]
SEC Charges China-based Company and Former Chief Financial Officer in Fraudulent Scheme involving Non-Existent Computing Business
U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 22698 / May 8, 2013
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Subaye, Inc. and James T. Crane, Civil Action No. 13 CIV 3114 (S.D.N.Y.)
SEC Charges China-based Company and Former Chief Financial Officer in Fraudulent Scheme involving Non-Existent Computing Business
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that it filed an enforcement action on May 8, 2013, in federal court in New York City charging Subaye, Inc., a company based in China whose stock trades in the U.S., and James T. Crane, its former Chief Financial Officer and a U.S. citizen believed to be recently living in southern California, with engaging in a fraudulent scheme during 2010-2011. The Commission alleges that Subaye and Crane misrepresented the company’s business and operations, deceived the company’s auditors, and misled investors about the company’s true status and revenues. According to the complaint, Subaye claimed to be operating a cloud computing business but investigations found no evidence of such a business. Subaye has offered to settle the case, while the action against Crane is unsettled.
The Commission’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleges that Subaye began promoting itself during 2010 as a provider of cloud computing services to Chinese businesses. According to the complaint, Subaye claimed to have over 1,400 sales and marketing employees in 2010, with reported revenues of $39 million that fiscal year and projected revenues of more than $71 million for 2011. However, by May 2011, according to the complaint, and Subaye was revealed to be a company with no verifiable revenues, few, if any, real customers, and no infrastructure to support its claimed cloud computing business. The complaint alleges that the business that Subaye had presented to investors and described in filings with the Commission was imaginary and non-existent.
The complaint further alleges that Crane signed Subaye’s materially misleading filings with the Commission that contained false statements about Subaye’s revenues, business, number of employees, and number of paying customers. According to the complaint, Crane also falsified the books, records, and accounts of Subaye and provided false information to Subaye’s outside auditors. The Commission’s complaint also charges Crane with violating a bar from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). According to the complaint, in January 2011, Crane and his Cambridge, Massachusetts-based accounting firm were sanctioned by the PCAOB, which permanently revoked his firm’s registration and barred him from being associated with a registered accounting firm or being associated with any public company in an accounting or financial management capacity. The complaint alleges that, in violation of the January 2011 PCAOB order, Crane remained as the CFO of Subaye until March 2011, even after the PCAOB denied his request to remain as Subaye’s CFO for those two months.
The complaint alleges that Crane violated Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) and Rules 10b-5, 13a-14, 13b2-1 and 13b2-2 thereunder, and Section 105(c)(7)(B) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002; and that Crane aided and abetted Subaye’s violations of Sections 10(b), 13(a), 13(b)(2)(A) and 13(b)(2)(B) of the Exchange Act and Rules 10b-5, 12b-20, 13a-1, 13a-11, thereunder. The Commission is seeking a permanent injunction, disgorgement plus prejudgment interest, and civil penalties. It also seeks an order prohibiting Crane from serving as an officer or director of a public company.
The complaint alleges that Subaye violated Sections 10(b), 13(a), 13(b)(2)(A) and 13(b)(2)(B) of the Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 10b-5, 12b-20, 13a-1 and 13a-11 thereunder. Subaye has agreed to settle this matter, subject to Court approval, without admitting or denying the allegations in the Commission’s complaint, by consenting to the entry of a final judgment that would permanently enjoin it from future violations of the above law sections.
The Commission acknowledges the assistance of the Ontario Securities Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.
The Commission’s investigation was conducted by John Kaleba, Matthew Jacques and Rachel Hershfang of the Boston Regional Office. The Commission’s litigation will be conducted by Ms. Hershfang and Mr. Kaleba.
SEC Complaint
sec.gov