SEC Suspends Trading in 61 Shell Companies

The SEC suspended trading in the securities of 61 empty shell companies that are delinquent in their public filings and seemingly no longer in business, the SEC's second-largest trading suspension. Thinly-traded dormant microcap companies are frequently used by fraudsters in "pump-and-dump" schemes.

Through its Operation Shell Expel initiative, the SEC suspended trading in a record 379 companies in a single day last year.