Indian-origin former CEO charged with fraud, ordered to pay $294,000

The SEC's complaint had alleged that Tyagi made false claims in press releases

An Indian-origin former CEO of a penny stock company, charged with making false claims in press releases and engaging in manipulative trading, has been ordered to pay a hefty fine of $294,000.

Adesh Kumar Tyagi was the former CEO, sole director, and majority shareholder of Systems America, subsequently renamed Cloudeeva.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) obtained a final judgment against Tyagi who had been charged with making false claims in press releases and engaging in manipulative trading in company stock.

The final judgment, entered by consent on August 17 in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, permanently enjoins Tyagi from violating federal securities regulations and imposes a conduct based injunction.

In addition, the final judgment orders Tyagi to pay approximately $294,000 in disgorgement and interest. The court's entry of judgment against Tyagi resolves this litigation in its entirety.

The SEC's complaint had alleged that Tyagi falsely claimed in press releases he issued between July, 2010 and September, 2011 that the company had hundreds of customers and supported customer operations in nearly 20 countries when, in fact, the company had only two main clients in 2010 and did not support operations in any foreign countries in 2010 and 2011.

Tyagi also allegedly falsely claimed in an initial disclosure he published on behalf of Systems American in 2010 that he was not a party to any material litigation. He further claimed that no officer or director of the company had been named as a defendant in a criminal proceeding, when he had been named as a defendant in two pending criminal proceedings.

Tyagi had pleaded guilty in November last year to certain aspects of the misconduct at issue in the SEC's complaint.