Dickson Lee, Securities Fraud, Washington 2015

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – 2015 – The Chief Executive Officer of an energy firm headquartered in Tukwila, Washington, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to two counts of Securities Fraud. DICKSON LEE, 66, served as the CEO of L & L Energy Inc., until his arrest earlier this year.

According to the plea agreement signed today, LEE admits he falsified reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the existence of a Chief Financial Officer and, in a separate scheme, issued under false pretenses hundreds of thousands of shares of L&L stock to individuals controlled by LEE.

LEE is scheduled for sentencing by U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones on January 9, 2015.

The case involves two separate schemes in which LEE falsified reports and issued fraudulent stock. In the first count of Securities Fraud, LEE admits that in 2008 and 2009, while trying to get L&L stock listed on a national exchange, he falsely reported the identity of the company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and lied about the existence of adequate internal controls in public SEC filings.

In the second count of Securities Fraud, LEE admits that in 2011 and 2012, he issued hundreds of thousands of company shares to third-parties in China who, at LEE’s direction, sold the shares on the market to generate revenue for cash-strapped L&L.

According to the plea agreement, between May 2011 and March 2012, LEE directed in this manner the issuance and sale of approximately 730,000 shares.

The case is being investigated by the FBI. A parallel civil case is being pursued by the SEC. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kathryn Kim Frierson.

Mandatory Facts: Defendant/respondent name: DICKSON LEE. Exact criminal charges: Two counts of Securities Fraud. City and state: Seattle, Washington. Exact date: January 9, 2015 (sentencing). Sentence or outcome: Scheduled for sentencing.

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