The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Quanta, Inc., a Burbank, California-based biopharmaceutical company that develops and sells a scorpion venom product called Escozine, its CEO, Arthur Mikaelian, and his son and Quanta’s executive vice president in charge of operations, Grant Mikaelian, have agreed to settle fraud charges without admitting or denying the allegations in the SEC’s complaint. As part of the settlement, the Mikaelians consented to officer and director bars and to pay civil penalties.
According to the SEC’s complaint, in a July 23, 2021 press release, Quanta and Arthur Mikaelian misrepresented the FDA staff’s response to the company’s proposed clinical trial of Escozine as a Covid-19 treatment. As the complaint alleges, the press release misrepresented that the FDA staff’s response validated the clinical study conducted in the Dominican Republic and that the FDA’s staff had recognized the potential therapeutic benefits of Escozine….
Source: SEC Charges Microcap Company and Its Executives with Fraud
