U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 20171 / June 29, 2007
SEC v. Cyberkey Solutions, Inc. and James E. Plant, Civ.
Action No. 07 1084 (CMR) (E.D. Pa, filed March 20, 2007); Crim no.
07-375
Grand Jury Criminally Indicts Cyberkey CEO for Stock Fraud and
Cover-Up
The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") today announced
that a Pennsylvania federal grand jury criminally indicted James E.
Plant, the CEO of CyberKey Solutions, Inc. ("CyberKey"), on charges
of securities fraud and lying to the SEC during its probe of a
scheme Plant orchestrated to pump up the price of Cyberkey's shares.
Plant is alleged to have given false testimony to the Commission
about Cyberkey's purported business dealings with the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security ("DHS"), the receipt of payments
under a DHS contract, and a purported business relationship with an
intermediary company.
The two-count indictment charges Plant with orchestrating a fraud
scheme in which he personally made in excess of one million dollars
selling Cyberkey shares at inflated prices while lying to the public
about Cyberkey's business prospects and management.
According to the indictment, Plant was responsible for
disseminating, in an effort artificially to inflate the price of
Cyberkey's shares, numerous false and misleading press releases
between December 8, 2005 and March 15, 2007. These press releases
contained materially false and misleading statements concerning 1) a
fictitious $24.5 million purchase order that CyberKey supposedly
received from DHS, when as Plant knew, that DHS purchase order did
not exist; 2) revenues and profits that CyberKey had supposedly
realized from the fictitious DHS purchase order, when as Plant knew,
CyberKey did not receive, and did not expect to receive, any
revenues or profits from the fictitious DHS purchase order; 3)
Plant's false representations that Cyberkey's financial statements
were in the process of being audited and would be released in the
near future, when as Plant knew, CyberKey did not expect to release
audited financial statements in that time period; and/or 4) Plant's
false representations that the failure of the company to realize
revenues from the DHS contract was the result of both improper
accounting practices used by a company officer, and a third-party's
actions to circumvent CyberKey as the middleman of the DHS purchase
order, when as Plant knew, the lack of revenues from the DHS
purchase order resulted because there was no such purchase order
with DHS.
The Commission's civil fraud complaint against Cyberkey and Plant
covering the scheme, filed on March 20, 2007, further alleged that
CyberKey had no business relationship at all, either directly or
indirectly, with DHS, and generated no revenues whatsoever from any
such relationship.
Today's criminal indictment charges Plant with securities fraud,
in violation of 15 U.S.C. §§ 78j(b), 78ff; and making a false
statement to the Commission, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001.
Plant was arrested on March 13, 2007, in St. George, Utah, by
agents of the FBI's Philadelphia Economic Crimes Squad and the
United States Postal Inspection Service on charges of securities
fraud and aiding and abetting securities fraud. One week later, the
Commission filed its civil case against Cyberkey and Plant for
engaging in an ongoing unregistered offering of Cyberkey shares
while promoting the bogus DHS purchase order.