Carmen Electra gained fame as a Playboy centerfold and scantily-clad star of Baywatch, but her latest business ventures may not be so innocent. Take a look at a few examples of her involvement with shady penny stock promotions:
I don't know the extent of Ms. Electra's involvement with these companies/stock promotions. But the fact is she has gotten herself involved with some pretty shady characters, and it's something her handlers may want to keep an eye on: Associating with the targets of SEC investigations can be a career-killer.
- Back in June of 2006, MarketWatch's Chuck Jaffe wrote up a company Electra was involved with as his Stupid Investment of the Week. Jaffe received a phone call featuring the prerecorded voice of Carmen Electra, touting a company called Luvoo.com (OTC PK: LUVT). Shares of that company have since collapsed to 8 cents per share.
- Electra also signed on as a spokesman for a company called eFoodSafety.com (OTC BB: EFSF), and the company put out a press release hyping her involvement.
- The most interesting one: Payment Data Systems Inc. (OTC BB: PYDS) is a tiny microcap that announced its Carmen Electara prepaid Mastercard last year. Here's where it gets potentially shady. The company paid penny stock shill Jonathan Lebed $25,000 for a one-month investor relations contract that mainly consisted of sending out emails to his subscribers touting the stock with messages like "Combined with PYDS's new Carmen Electra debit cards and many more celebrities coming soon, it doesn't get much bigger than this!!!"
- For those of you who don't remember, Lebed made headlines in 2000 when he settled SEC charges of stock manipulation -- at the age of 15. Ever the self-promoter, Mr. Lebed posted a YouTube video of himself rubbing elbows with Ms. Electra.
I don't know the extent of Ms. Electra's involvement with these companies/stock promotions. But the fact is she has gotten herself involved with some pretty shady characters, and it's something her handlers may want to keep an eye on: Associating with the targets of SEC investigations can be a career-killer.
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