Securities Frauds and Initial Offerings - SEC Shuts Down Great American Technologies

Part of the American dream is to be wealthy and have financial freedom. For many, the stock market is the best place to make those dreams come true. Unfortunately, the market also attracks criminals and fraudsters. According to the SEC, over 100 people were defrauded by a new stock offering from Great American Technologies.

GAT was the brainchild of Vincent Setteducate (a/k/a Vincent Sette). According to a complaint filed in a Manhattan federal court, Sette defrauded over 100 investors. In his offering materials, he claimed that GAT had developed proprietary software called "Mail Call" that allowed users to hear readouts of emails and web pages over the telephone. Pretty impressive and apparently he did have a working prototype.

The fraud comes from some of the claims he made to potential investors. False claims made to investors in a new company are called offering frauds. They are one of many types of securities fraud.

Sette told investors that the company would earn $4.3 million in revenues during its first year based on 100,000 customers. The government says the product was so crude that it could handle maybe 48 users at most.

Sette also claimed that the company had signed contracts with the Colorado Bar Association, National Federation of the Blind, Value Inn Hotels and many others. All false says Uncle Sam.

GAT's website and offering materials even claimed its CFO was a prominent former official with the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Also false says the government.

Where did the investor's money go? Did it go to develop the Mail Call program? The SEC says that much of the money went into Sette's pocket. Prosecutors claim he pocketed far more than his agreed upon $100,000 salary. Regulators also say that Sette never told investors that he was already a convicted fraudster - he had been previously convicted of wire fraud.

The SEC case ended with a judgment against Sette in November of this year. Unforunately, no one knows if investors will ever get all their money back.

While we can applaud the SEC for shutting down GAT and Sette, fraudsters who have already been convicted of criminal fraud should not be given a second chance. The SEC's recourse is civil. Those fines are certainly welcome. A couple million dollars of fines to an experienced fraudster may not be enough of an incentive to stop a life of crime. In my opinion, Sette needs to go to prison, before he starts another scam to hurt more innocent people.


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Brian Mahany and the asset recovery lawyers at Mahany & Ertl help people and businesses who are victims of fraud including investment and securities fraud. From their offices in Wisconsin, they help take cases anywhere in the U.S. Their fraud attorneys uncover fraud, collect judgments, find hidden assests, pursue offshore bank accounts and unwind fraudulent conveyances. Contact Brian through his website, http://www.mahanyertl.com