The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it has filed an action against Alexander Kon, a penny stock promoter and resident of Overland Park, Kansas, seeking an order directing him to comply with investigative subpoenas for documents and testimony.

According to the SEC's filing in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the SEC is investigating whether Kon violated the federal securities laws by participating in an offering of penny stock in contravention of an SEC order. The filing states that, based on its ongoing investigation, the SEC has reason to believe that Kon promoted microcap stocks and hired others to promote microcap stocks while subject to a penny stock bar the SEC had imposed against him. As stated in the filing, SEC staff served Kon with investigative subpoenas requiring the production of certain documents and compelling his testimony. According to the filing, however, despite multiple accommodations by the SEC, Kon has failed and refused to comply with either the document production or the testimonial obligations of the subpoenas.

The SEC's application seeks an order from the court directing Kon to show cause why the court should not compel him to appear for testimony and to produce documents as required by the subpoenas. The application further seeks an order from the court, following its ruling on the order to show cause, directing Kon to comply fully with the subpoenas. The SEC is continuing its fact-finding investigation and, to date, has not concluded that any individual or entity has violated the federal securities laws.