Colin already got to this L&L Energy LOLery in ANR but in case you missed it, here's just a teaser from the SEC:
The SEC’s Enforcement Division alleges that L&L Energy Inc., which has all of its operations in China and Taiwan, created the false appearance that the company had a professional management team in place when in reality Dickson Lee was single-handedly controlling the company’s operations. An L&L Energy annual report falsely listed Lee’s brother as the CEO and a woman as the acting CFO in spite of the fact that she had rejected Lee’s offer to serve in the position the month before. L&L Energy and Lee continued to misrepresent that they had an acting CFO in the next three quarterly reports. Certifications required under the Sarbanes Oxley Act ostensibly bore the purported acting CFO’s electronic signature. Lee and L&L Energy also allegedly misled NASDAQ to become listed on the exchange by falsely maintaining they had accurately made all of their required Sarbanes-Oxley certifications.
TL;DR: L&L was short a CFO and clearly a tad lax in their SOX compliance.
That's weird on its own but if you dig a little deeper, you find the man of many hats behind L&L — one Dickson V. Lee — is a CPA who got his start at KPMG according to this proxy statement filed with the SEC last year:
Mr. Dickson V. Lee, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer – Mr. Lee founded the company in 1995 and is an active participant in the China coal industry, particularly in M&A, wholesale, and logistics. He was trained by KPMG and other U.S. companies in New York. Mr. Lee obtained his New York CPA in 1983. Mr. Lee is an energetic leader who is fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. He served as a judicial member of the Hong Kong SEC Insider Dealing Tribunal (a trial court) for six years. Mr. Lee earned his MBA from Dalhousie University and received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Chung Yuan Christian University. He travels frequently between the US and China. Among other qualifications, Mr. Lee brings to the Board extensive business expertise and leadership experience. Mr. Lee has been in a leadership position with the Company since 1995. During this time, Mr. Lee has developed an intimate knowledge of the internal workings of the Company.
The "he was trained by" makes the schadenfraud all that much more funny.
The SEC is looking to keep ole Dickson far far away from any boards in the future, natch.
