The Securities and Exchange Commission is suing a Florida man who offered to buy all the stock in Eastman Kodak and AMR Corp, parent of American Airlines, in March.
The SEC alleges that Allen Weintraub and his Sterling Global Holdings company “have substantially no assets” and “lack the means to complete the tender offers.”
Ed Martelle, spokesman for Fort Worth-based AMR, said to local media: “We believe the SEC’s action speaks for itself.”
In the AMR case, Weintraub sent a letter March 29 to “Gerald Arpey” offering $9.75 per share of AMR stock, an offer worth about $3.25 billion. Gerard Arpey is chairman, president and chief executive of AMR.
AMR officials had brushed off the offer and referred the letter to SEC officials.
In the SEC complaint, Weintraub tried to obtain bank financing for his tender offers for Kodak and AMR, but banks turned him down.
“In communications with various media outlets, Weintraub misrepresented his experience in purchasing and operating companies and failed to disclose his prior felony convictions, SEC injunction, and officer and director bar,” the complaint stated.