U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 19020 / January 4, 2005

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. GEORGE BADGER, ET AL., (2:97 CV 0963K (D. Utah))

SEC OBTAINS FINAL JUDGMENT AGAINST GEORGE BADGER

WASHINGTON - The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission) announced that, on December 23, 2004, the Honorable Dale A. Kimball, United States District Judge for the District Court of Utah, entered a final consent judgment against George Badger (Badger), the last remaining defendant in SEC v. Badger, et al., Civil Action No. 2:97 CV 0963K (D. Utah). The judgment permanently enjoins Badger from future violations of the antifraud and reporting provisions of the federal securities laws, permanently bars him from acting as an officer or director of a public company, permanently bars him from participating in any penny stock offerings and orders him to pay disgorgement of $5,786,162, plus prejudgment of $7,650,788.54, for a total of $13,436,950.54 and a civil monetary penalty of $5,786,162. Badger consented to the entry of the judgment without admitting or denying the allegations in the Commission's complaint.

On December 18, 1997, the Commission brought this action against Badger and thirteen other defendants, alleging that the defendants participated in a multifaceted scheme orchestrated by Badger to defraud purchasers of securities issued by Golf Ventures, Inc. (GVI), a Utah corporation whose common stock was publicly traded. The Commission's complaint alleges that from 1993 through September 1996, Badger (the undisclosed control person of GVI and a recidivist violator of the federal securities laws) routinely engaged in fraudulent schemes to create the false appearance of market demand for GVI stock by paying undisclosed bribes to brokerage firms and individual brokers to induce them to tout and sell GVI stock to retail customers. See LR-15595 (December 18, 1997).

As a result of the conduct described in the complaint, the Commission charged Badger with violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Sections 10(b) and 13(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 10b-5, 12b-20, 13a-1 and 13a-13 thereunder. The Commission previously settled the claims against the other defendants in this action.

http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/lr19020.htm