The Securities and Exchange Commission announced October 8, 2026 that it has obtained final judgments against five defendants in an alleged microcap fraud. The case is SEC v. Francis Biller, et al., filed March 14, 2022.
According to the SEC’s complaint, Francis Biller, Chester Alvarez, Troy Gran-Brooks, Justin Plaizier and Raymond Dove ran a call center from at least January 2016 through at least July 2018. The SEC says the “boiler room” used high-pressure sales tactics to sell the stocks of small U.S. public companies to U.S. investors, including false or misleading statements about the callers’ own roles and about the companies. The SEC says the group promoted the stock of at least 18 issuers and generated more than $58 million in trading proceeds.
Judgments entered in early 2025 against Alvarez, Gran-Brooks, Plaizier and Biller permanently bar each from penny stock offerings. They were ordered to pay disgorgement plus prejudgment interest of $8,392,982 (Biller), $131,347 (Alvarez), $838,101 (Gran-Brooks) and $134,652 (Plaizier). The SEC says Alvarez, Gran-Brooks and Plaizier pleaded guilty and were sentenced in a parallel criminal case, and Biller has pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing.
On September 30, 2026 the court entered a default judgment against Dove. It ordered him to pay $2,923,446 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest and a civil penalty of $1,655,157, and barred him from participating in any penny stock offering. The court denied the SEC’s motion for default against relief defendant Shredderz International Corp. for lack of personal jurisdiction. The SEC says the litigation is now concluded.