People leave the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) headquarters in Washington, D.C. on May 12, 2021. Reuters/Andrew Kelly A lawyer for a Minnesota man charged with criminally hijacking multiple dormant shell firms in a pump-and-dump stock scheme abruptly dropped out of a civil case seeking control of another inactive company situated in Florida on Wednesday. Attorney David Rothstein took the action two days after CNBC reported that his client, Mark Miller, had recently made moves to take control of the company, New World Gold Corp, that resembled Miller’s allegedly illegal tactics used to seize up to seven other inactive shell companies between 2017 and 2019. New World Gold is ostensibly a mining company. Miller was named a director of the firm during a shareholder meeting in May, after filing a lawsuit asking a judge to order the meeting to take place. During a Zoom hearing on a motion related to New World Gold, Rothstein told Palm Beach County Court Judge G. Joseph Curley, “Here’s a curveball, your Honor.” as a result “”In light of recent events,” Rothstein explained, “my firm is seeking to withdraw.” It all came to a head just a few days ago.” “Irreconcilable conflicts that have nothing to do with money” prompted Rothstein’s withdrawal request, he claimed. “To say anything more than that,” the lawyer warned Curley, “would put me in a compromising situation.” “For myself and my law practice, a more important priority is to seek to withdraw from this matter.” The lawyer’s motion to withdraw was granted by Curley. Miller, who owns a building contracting business and lives in Breezy Point, Minnesota, was not present during the Zoom-conducted court session. When a CNBC reporter contacted Miller’s cell phone on Wednesday morning, the individual who answered said he wasn’t Miller and then hung up. His Minnesota criminal defense attorney declined to comment. Miller was charged in federal court in Minnesota with two other men last week. The Securities and Exchange Commission also sued him in the same court. Miller and two co-defendants allegedly utilized bogus resignation letters from company managers to grab control of four inactive shell firms with publicly listed stock shares, according to the indictment. They then reportedly used press releases and social media, as well as the SEC’s own EDGAR public filing system, to make false or misleading assertions about the companies’ enticing new business opportunities, according to the accusations. Miller and his suspected accomplices are accused of buying millions of shares in these companies for pennies on the dollar, then selling them after inflating the stock price with false statements. The SEC named three more penny-stock firms in its civil case as being targeted by Miller: Bebida Beverage Company, Simulated Environment Concepts, and Strategic Asset Leasing. Rothstein appeared in court on Wednesday for a legal petition filed by Miller just a day after CNBC reported that he had been charged criminally in the shell company hijacking scheme. Miller sued New World Gold, a Boca Raton-based firm that has been inactive for years, in February, employing Rothstein as his counsel. According to the Division of Corporations database, the corporation has not filed annual reports with the Florida Secretary of State since 2015. According to the database, the corporation was just reestablished on June 4th. Miller’s lawsuit stated that as a stakeholder in New World Gold, he “seeks this Court’s order mandating the conduct of an annual shareholder meeting so that Mr. Miller may address the status of the Company’s business.” According to Rothstein, the shareholder meeting was held on May 27 after the judge granted the request, and roughly 100 stockholders unanimously voted their 450 million shares to elect Miller as director. At Wednesday’s hearing, Rothstein told the judge that New World Gold’s previous director is “physically disabled and has been in a coma on life support for some time,” and that no one representing the firm has ever responded to the case. Miller was seeking Curley, the judge, to find that the shareholder meeting had a legal quorum, making Miller’s election as a director legitimate. Miller didn’t realize there were more than 2 billion shares of New World Gold outstanding until after that meeting, according to Rothstein. According to a Florida statute, the appearance of 450 million shares at a shareholder meeting would ordinarily be significantly less than the quorum for a voting group. According to Miller’s proposal, Curley has the authority to grant a quorum for the voting group present at the meeting retrospectively. Miller was given time to choose a new lawyer after the judge did not rule on the motion on Wednesday. New World Gold, whose stock is traded on the over-the-counter Pink market with a “No Information” warning, noticed a dramatic increase in its share price in the weeks after Miller applied for and was appointed to the board of directors. However, his stock price plummeted after news of his indictment in connection with other dormant, OTC-traded shell businesses broke in a CNBC piece about two weeks ago. New World Gold shares were trading at less than a penny on Wednesday morning, down about 9%, but the company is still more than 6,000% higher than its 52-week low from December. In a series of press announcements this month, New World Gold announced the acquisition of a Wyoming mining company with access to gold and lithium, as well as the identification of potential mining locations in Nevada and South Dakota. Lithium is a substance that is utilized in personal electronics batteries as well as electric cars. In a recent press release, the company also announced the appointment of Bob Honigford, an Ohio lawyer, as CEO and director. Honingford has not responded to CNBC’s requests for comment, and no SEC filing has reflected the change. “Miller has no control over Corporate activities or news releases, and he is NOT connected with the future expansion of Operations,” a Twitter account allegedly managed by New World Gold declared in a post on June 19 after CNBC reported on Miller’s indictment. New World Gold was not represented at the court hearing on Wednesday. When CNBC attempted to contact the company for comment using the email address mentioned on its press releases, the email address returned an error message. In recent days, online discussion boards for stock buyers and sellers who follow New World Gold have contained posts praising the company’s ostensibly bright future and dismissing claims of Miller’s involvement. Other posts, on the other hand, have mentioned the criminal claims against him and his ties to New World Gold./n
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