U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 20192 / July 11, 2007
SEC v. Roderic Lee Boling III, Anna August Boling,
Jeffrey Scott Mills and Direct Results of Sweetwater, LLC,
Civ. No. 06-1329 (RMC) (D.D.C., filed July 27, 2006); U.S.
v. Boling, et al., Crim. No. 06-228 (ESH) (D.D.C., filed
July 27, 2006).
Florida Promoters and the Voice Behind "VICEMAIL" Pump
and Dump Scheme Plead Guilty
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced
that former husband-and-wife Roderic L. and Anna A. Boling
of Altamonte Springs, Florida and stock promoter Jeffrey S.
Mills of Longwood, Florida pled guilty on July 3, 2007, to
federal charges for their roles in the broadcasting of
hundreds of thousands of fraudulent "vicemail" stock tip
messages. The messages, which were left on telephone
voicemail recording machines throughout the country, were
designed to deceive a recipient into believing he had
inadvertently received a "hot" stock tip meant for a close
friend of the caller.
Roderic Boling and Jeffrey Mills each pled guilty before
District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle of the U.S. District
Court for the District of Columbia to one count of
securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit
securities fraud in connection with the fraudulent "vicemail"
scheme. Anna Boling pled guilty to misprision of a felony
for her role in concealing from a grand jury and law
enforcement officials her own activities, as well as those
of her then-husband.
According to the statement of offenses, Mills was hired
in July and August 2004 to promote five microcap stocks.
Mills recruited Roderic Boling to record and distribute the
fraudulent voicemails and together they designed and created
the scripts for the messages with the intent of fraudulently
inducing prospective investors into purchasing the
securities touted in the voicemails at inflated prices.
Roderic Boling asked his then-wife Anna Boling to record the
fraudulent messages, which she knew would be distributed to
hundreds of thousands of persons across the country. After
Anna Boling learned that her mother and sister had been
subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury, she
falsely told them that she had not recorded the messages,
and caused her relatives to convey that false information to
the grand jury.
At sentencing, Roderic Boling and Jeffrey Mills each face
a maximum term of imprisonment of 25 years, and a fine of
$5,000,000. Anna Boling faces a maximum term of imprisonment
of 3 years and a fine of $250,000. Sentencing dates have not
yet been set by the court.
The Commission first cautioned the public about these and
similar messages touting microcap stocks in an August 2004
Investor Alert. On May 3, 2005, the Commission filed a
settled civil action against the telemarketer and associated
companies for its role in broadcasting the "vicemail" stock
tips. The Commission's civil action against Roderic Boling,
Anna Boling and Jeffrey Mills is pending.
For additional information, see Litigation Release No.
19213 (May 3, 2005) and Litigation Release No. 19779 (July
27, 2006) at:
http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/lr19213.htm
http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2006/lr19779.htm
The SEC's investor alert is at:
http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/wrongnumberscam.htm.
