Chris G. Gunderson, Esq., Exchange Act Rel. 61234, December 23, 2009
Time since appeal – 1 year 11 months 5 days
Time since last brief – 1 year 3 months 21 days
Gunderson appealed from an ALJ decision permanently disqualifying him from practicing before the Commission under its Rule 102(e). The disqualification was based on an injunction entered against him for registration and antifraud violations involving Universal Express, Inc. See, SEC v. Universal Express, Inc., 475 F.Supp. 2d 412 (SDNY 2007), aff'd sub nom. SEC v. Altomare, 300 Fed. Appx. 70 (2d Cir. 2008 (per curium) (unpublished), cert. denied, 129 S. Ct. 2745 (2009). The Commission affirmed the sanction.
The district court found that pursuant to agreements drafted by Gunderson the company distributed more than 500 million shares of unregistered stock. The district court also found that Gunderson drafted fraudulent press releases for the company. It also found that Gunderson violated its injunctive order but declined to hold him in contempt due to the appointment of a receiver for Universal Express.
Given the egregious violations found by the district court one can only wonder why the Commission lingered over this matter for so long.
