ConnectAJet.com is illegal pump and dump scheme

SARASOTA – A Sarasota man is named among those charged with offering unregistered shares of a company called ConnectAJet.com Inc. in what the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission called a “pump and dump scheme.”

The SEC has sued Stephen Fayette, 43, identified as a former registered representative of Fagenson & Co. Inc., with its headquarters in New York.

Also named in the suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas is Martin T. Cantu., ConnectAJet’s president and chief executive; his father, Martin M. Cantu; and Timothy Page, a stock promoter from Malibu, Calif.

The suit says ConnectAJet.com launched a marketing campaign in July 2007, claiming to have revolutionized the air travel industry through online booking system for private jet travel. But the system never existed, the SEC claims, though shares were sold to the public without being registered.

The SEC says ConnectAJet issued 30 million shares of stock to certain penny stock promoters, including Testre LP and Verona Funds LLC, companies owned and controlled by Page.

To pump up demand for the stock, Cantu and ConnectAJet launched a nationwide advertising campaign, issued false press releases and published misleading Web content, the SEC says.

The agency claims that Fayette helped the scheme by liquidating ConnectAJet shares on behalf of multiple clients.

The stock distributions did not adhere to the registration and public disclosures requirements in federal securities laws, the suit said.

The SEC is seeking permanent injunctions, civil penalties, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and penny stock bars against the defendants for violations of federal securities laws. The suit also names four relief defendants.