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Custodianship

Custodianship is a state-court process for appointing someone to revive an abandoned corporation. It has been abused to seize dormant public shells and issue stock in them, which is why the SEC scrutinises custodianship-derived listings closely.

manipulation techniques · updated 2026-09-08

Where does custodianship come up?

This term is used in the following manipulation techniques, each explained in full on its own page.

Enforcement actions involving these techniques

Action Agency Filed Technique Penalty Status
SEC v. Minerco, Inc., Bobby Shumake Japhia, and Julius Makiri Jenge (custodianship shell hijacking, 2024) SEC 2024-10-09 Custodianship Shell Hijacking , Pump And Dump filed
SEC v. Ulrik Debo (custodianship shell hijacking, 2020) SEC 2020-01-03 Custodianship Shell Hijacking , Pump And Dump +1 filed
SEC v. Jeffrey D. Martin, et al. (custodianship shell hijacking, 2017) SEC 2017-08-01 Custodianship Shell Hijacking , Paid Stock Promotion +1 judgment
CFTC v. John D. Briner (custodianship shell hijacking, 2016) CFTC 2016-08-03 Custodianship Shell Hijacking $280k judgment
CFTC v. Defendants Matthew J. Marcus (custodianship shell hijacking, 2016) CFTC 2016-07-08 Custodianship Shell Hijacking $250k judgment

See also

Terms that refer here

Shell company

Back to the full glossary — 261 defined terms.