Ongkaruck Sripetch, et al.

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 26332 / June 20, 2025

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Ongkaruck Sripetch, Amanda Flores, Brehnen Knight, Andrew McAlpine, Ashmit Patel, Michael Wexler, Dominic Williams, Adtron Inc. aka Stockpalooza.com, ATG Inc., DOIT, Ltd., DOJI Capital, Inc., King Mutual Solutions Inc., Optimus Prime Financial Inc., Orca Bridge, Redline International, and UAIM Corporation, No. 3:20-cv-01864-H-BLM (S.D. Cal. filed Sept. 21, 2020)

SEC Obtains Final Judgments Against Participants in Illegal Microcap Fraud Schemes

On May 27, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a final judgment from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California against defendant Brehnen Knight, who had previously been charged for his role in several fraudulent stock manipulation schemes.

The SEC’s complaint, as amended on August 14, 2023, alleged that from at least August 2013 through at least December 2017, defendant Ongkaruck Sripetch, working variously with the other defendants, including Knight, engaged in unlawful manipulative trading and orchestrated pump-and-dump schemes involving the stock of at least 20 issuers.

With this entry of judgment against Knight, the SEC has obtained final judgments as to all seven individual defendants and one of their related entities as follows:

  • On January 8, 2024, the court entered a final judgment against Amanda Flores that permanently enjoined her from future violations of Sections 5(a), 5(c), 17(a)(1), and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act and Sections 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, imposed a permanent officer-and-director bar and a permanent penny stock bar, and ordered her to pay a civil penalty of $185,000.
  • On January 31, 2024, the court entered a final judgment against Dominic Williams that permanently enjoined him from future violations of Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act, imposed a permanent penny stock bar, and ordered him to pay a civil penalty of $18,750.
  • On April 17, 2024, the court entered a final judgment against Sripetch that permanently enjoined him from future violations of Sections 5 and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Sections 9(a)(1) and 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, imposed a permanent penny stock bar, and ordered him to pay $2,251,923.16 in disgorgement and $1,051,353.77 in prejudgment interest thereon.  Sripetch has appealed the disgorgement ordered in his final judgment.
  • On April 29, 2024, the court entered a final judgment against Ashmit Patel that permanently enjoined him from future violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act and Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rules 10b-5(a) and 10b-5(c) thereunder, imposed a permanent penny stock bar, and ordered him to pay $918,827.41 in disgorgement and $399,841 in prejudgment interest thereon.
  • On May 1, 2024, the court entered a final judgment against Andrew McAlpine that permanently enjoined him from future violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act and Sections 9(a)(1), 9(a)(2), and 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, imposed a permanent penny stock bar, and ordered him to pay $12,317.69 in disgorgement and $3,409.07 in prejudgment interest thereon.
  • On August 19, 2024, the court entered a final judgment against ATG, Inc. that permanently enjoined it from future violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act and Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and imposed a permanent penny stock bar.
  • On March 10, 2025, the court entered a final judgment against Michael Wexler that permanently enjoined him from future violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act and Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rules 10b-5(a) and 10b-5(c) thereunder, imposed a permanent officer-and-director bar and a permanent penny stock bar, and ordered him to pay $190,269.25 in disgorgement and $74,797.80 in prejudgment interest thereon.
  • On May 27, 2025, the court entered a final judgment against Knight that permanently enjoined him from future violations of Sections 5(a), 5(c), 17(a)(1), and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act and Sections 9(a)(1) and 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rules 10b-5(a) and (c) thereunder, imposed a permanent officer-and-director bar and a permanent penny stock bar, and ordered him to pay disgorgement of $385,890.02 and prejudgment interest thereon of $59,693.55.

The SEC voluntarily dismissed its claims against corporate defendants DOIT, Ltd., DOJI Capital, Ltd., King Mutual Solutions Inc., Optimus Prime Financial Inc., Orca Bridge, Redline International, and UAIM Corporation on October 5, 2023, and against corporate defendant Adtron Inc. aka Stockpalooza.com on July 24, 2024.

The SEC’s litigation was led by Christopher J. Dunnigan and Kristine Zaleskas, with the assistance of Ricky Tong, and was supervised by Daniel Loss, Michael Paley, and Thomas P. Smith, Jr., all of the SEC’s New York Regional Office.

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