On November 20, 2013, the Commission settled administrative and cease-and-desist proceedings (the “Order”) as to Gregg C. Lorenzo (“Lorenzo”) and Charles Vista, LLC (“Charles Vista”) (collectively, the “Respondents”) that was instituted on February 15, 2013 against Lorenzo, Francis V. Lorenzo, and Charles Vista, a broker-dealer controlled by Lorenzo. In the Order, the Commission found that, beginning in or about September 2009, the Respondents violated the federal securities laws when they made fraudulent misrepresentations to several customers of Charles Vista to induce them to invest in convertible debentures issued by a start-up waste management company called Waste2Energy Holdings, Inc. Lorenzo and Charles Vista were jointly ordered to pay disgorgement of $130,000 and prejudgment interest of $20,000. In addition, Lorenzo was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $375,000 and Charles Vista was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $4,350,000. The Commission also created a Fair Fund, pursuant to Section 308(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended, so the penalties, along with the disgorgement and prejudgment interest, collected could be distributed to those harmed by the Respondents’ conduct described in the Order (the “Fair Fund”). See the Commission’s Order: Release No. 33-9480.

The Fair Fund consists of the $525,000.00 in disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties paid by Lorenzo, and any future funds paid by Charles Vista pursuant to the Order will be added to the Fair Fund.

On August 15, 2014, the Commission issued an order appointing Damasco & Associates LLP (“Damasco”) as the Tax Administrator of the Fair Fund. Damasco was acquired by Miller Kaplan Arase LLP and on June 30, 2017, the Commission issued a notice of name change for the Tax Administrator.

On March 30, 2015, the Commission published a notice of the proposed plan of distribution and opportunity for comment, along with the proposed plan of distribution (“Proposed Plan”). The Proposed Plan proposed Nichola L. Timmons, a Commission employee, serve as the Fund Administrator to over see the administration and distribution of the Fair Fund. The notice provided the public with 30 days to submit their comments on the Proposed Plan. See the Commission’s Notice: Release No. 34-74607and the Proposed Plan.

Comments were received on the Proposed Plan during the comment period. On January 5, 2016, the Commission published a notice of amended proposed plan of distribution and opportunity to comment, along with an amended proposed plan of distribution (“Amended Proposed Plan”). The notice provided the public with 30 days to submit their comments on the Amended Proposed Plan. See the Commission’s Notice: Release No. 34-76837 and the Amended Proposed Plan. 

Additional comments were received on the Amended Proposed Plan. On February 9, 2018, the Commission issued an Order Approving Amended Plan of Distribution (“Amended Plan”). See the Commission’s Order: Release No. 34-82677 and the Amended Plan.

On June 25, 2018, the Commission issued an order directing disbursement of $509,949.00 from the Fair Fund for distribution to the eligible customers in accordance with the Plan. See the Commission’s Order: Release No. 34-83502. 

For more information, please contact the Commission:

Office of Distributions
Email: ENFOfficeofDistributions@sec.gov