股价飙涨20倍，揭密史上增长最快社交媒体Cynk的幕后推手

    上周，一桩业内奇闻令华尔街的观察家们百思不得其解：一家名叫Cynk的默默无闻的社交媒体公司，既没什么资产，又没有营收和利润，市值何以陡增至60亿美元【大约相当于财富500强公司，药品连锁巨头美国来爱德公司（Rite Aid ）的市值】？

    就在六月中旬的时候，该公司股价还不到1块钱，但上周四涨到21美元，之后回落到14美元。

    股市上的成功似乎和这家公司的领导层没什么关系。自2008年以来，Cynk已经换过四任CEO，其中没有任何一位是华尔街或硅谷名人。现任CEO哈维尔•罗梅罗住在拉美小国伯利兹首都伯利兹城。据该公司的一份文件称，自从2009年以来，罗梅罗一直是伯利兹政府的一名“渔业官员”。据文件称，罗梅罗于今年二月斥资2.1亿美元购买了该公司大量股票，现在这批股票已然价值35亿美元。

    Cynk公司拥有一家社交媒体网站，从理论上讲，用户可以在这家网站上花钱买到与名人做朋友的权利。在罗梅罗之前，Cynk的上一个CEO马龙•路易斯•桑切斯曾经担任墨西哥提华纳市医疗旅游行业的发言人，也是一位在圣地亚哥地区执业的医生。

    不过至少还有一个人曾经与这家公司有很久的渊源。这人便是拉斯维加斯的律师哈罗德•吉沃特，他在过去几年创立过几家收入少得可怜，业务目标也有问题的小公司。另外他也曾替股票推销员打过官司，另外在1995年他还卷入了FBI（联邦调查局）的一宗调查，只是这些指控最终都被撤销。

    上周五，美国监管机构以“可能存在操纵交易”为由，下令停止Cynk股票的交易。目前还没有证据显示吉沃特与近来Cynk股票的异常飙升有关系。

    低价股一直是诈骗犯们行骗的好去处。随着去年以来市场有所好转，股市的可疑行为也再次抬头。《财富》（Fortune）今年年初就曾报道过，像福布斯网站（Forbes.com）、Seeking Alpha、Wall Street Cheat Sheet等知名财经网站都曾受骗刊登过一些收钱为企业宣传造势的写手的文章。这些文章也没有标明作者是收了钱的“美分党”。上周五，美国证监会（SEC）指控五人涉嫌操纵波士顿一家名叫Amogear的公司的股价，这家公司主要生产混合格斗术运动员的运动服，市值极低。

    吉沃特拒纸评论Cynk的股价最近为何快速飙升或股票交易为何被叫停等问题。他在一封电子邮件中向《财富》表示，Cynk已经不再是他的客户了。

    但就在6月11日，也就是Cynk股票开始暴涨的6天前，吉沃特曾致信美国场外交易集团（OTC Markets Group），称他已经被Cynk公司聘请审查其文件。吉沃特在那封信中称，Cynk公司的文件并没有什么异常之处。他还表示他本人已经和罗梅罗见了面，并且确认了该公司在伯利兹城一幢商业中心里的注册地址是正确的。但是据《华尔街日报》（Wall Street Journal）的一篇报道称，在那个地址上并没有一家叫做Cynk的公司。

    吉沃特对Cynk公司非常熟悉。2012年，吉沃特曾经担任Cynk公司的律师和首次公开募股（IPO）的销售代理，而当年的Cynk还叫做Introbuzz。和大多数IPO不同，Cynk的IPO没有一个固定的承销商或代理商。整个募股流程似乎是由吉沃特一手包办的。

    The question of how shares of an unknown social media company named Cynk CYNK —with few assets, no revenue, and no profit—could skyrocket to a $6 billion market cap (roughly the size of Fortune 500 drug store chain Rite Aid RAD ) had Wall Street watchers scratching their heads last week.

    Shares of the company, which traded for pennies as recently as mid-June, reached as high as $21 on Thursday, before dropping to $14.

    The stock market success doesn’t seem to have much to do with the company’s leadership. Cynk has had four CEOs since 2008. None are big names on Wall Street or Silicon Valley. The company’s current CEO, Javier Romero, lives in Belize City, Belize. According to a corporate document, since 2009 Romero has been a “fisheries officer” for the Belize government. According to filings, Romero bought 210 million shares of the company in February. That stake would now be worth $3.5 billion.

    Before Romero, the company—which has a social media website where users can, in theory, buy social friendships with celebrities—was run by Marlon Luis Sanchez, a former spokesperson for the Tijuana medical tourism industry and a San Diego-area medical clinic.

    But at least one person has a long history with the company: Harold Gewerter, a Las Vegas lawyer who has spent the past few years birthing tiny companies with little or no income and questionable business prospects. Gewerter has also defended stock market promoters and in 1995, he was indicted as part of an FBI investigation. Those charges were ultimately dropped.

    On Friday, regulators halted trading of Cynk shares, citing “potentially manipulative transactions” in the stock. There is no evidence that Gewerter has had anything to do with Cynk’s shares recent rise.

    Penny stocks have long been a haven for fraudsters. And as the market has improved over the past year or so, there has been a resurgence of questionable activity. Earlier this year, Fortune reported that Forbes.com, Seeking Alpha, Wall Street Cheat Sheet, and other websites had been duped into publishing articles by authors paid to promote the companies they were writing about. The articles in question did not include disclosure that these authors were paid promoters. On Friday, the SEC charged five individuals for attempting to manipulated the shares of a Boston-based microcap company Amogear AMOG , which makes clothing aimed at mixed martial arts fighters.

    Gewerter declined to comment on Cynk’s shares’ rapid ascent or why trading was put to a halt. In an e-mail Gewerter told Fortune that Cynk is no longer a client of his.

    But as recently as June 11, six days before Cynk’s stock began to take off, Gewerter wrote a letter to the OTC Markets Group, an exchange for small companies, saying that he had been hired by Cynk to do a review of its documents. Gewerter wrote that nothing appeared to be out of order. He said he had personally met with Romero and verified that the company’s listed address in a business center in Belize was correct. There is no company named Cynk located at that address, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

    Gewerter knows Cynk well. In 2012, Gewerter was listed as the lawyer and placement agent for the company’s initial public offering, back when Cynk was called Introbuzz. Unlike most IPOs, it had no underwriter or brokerage tied to the offering. Gewerter appears to have handled it all on his own.