????上周，一樁業(yè)內(nèi)奇聞令華爾街的觀察家們百思不得其解：一家名叫Cynk的默默無聞的社交媒體公司，既沒什么資產(chǎn)，又沒有營收和利潤，市值何以陡增至60億美元【大約相當于財富500強公司，藥品連鎖巨頭美國來愛德公司（Rite Aid ）的市值】？

????就在六月中旬的時候，該公司股價還不到1塊錢，但上周四漲到21美元，之后回落到14美元。

????股市上的成功似乎和這家公司的領導層沒什么關系。自2008年以來，Cynk已經(jīng)換過四任CEO，其中沒有任何一位是華爾街或硅谷名人。現(xiàn)任CEO哈維爾?羅梅羅住在拉美小國伯利茲首都伯利茲城。據(jù)該公司的一份文件稱，自從2009年以來，羅梅羅一直是伯利茲政府的一名“漁業(yè)官員”。據(jù)文件稱，羅梅羅于今年二月斥資2.1億美元購買了該公司大量股票，現(xiàn)在這批股票已然價值35億美元。

????Cynk公司擁有一家社交媒體網(wǎng)站，從理論上講，用戶可以在這家網(wǎng)站上花錢買到與名人做朋友的權(quán)利。在羅梅羅之前，Cynk的上一個CEO馬龍?路易斯?桑切斯曾經(jīng)擔任墨西哥提華納市醫(yī)療旅游行業(yè)的發(fā)言人，也是一位在圣地亞哥地區(qū)執(zhí)業(yè)的醫(yī)生。

????不過至少還有一個人曾經(jīng)與這家公司有很久的淵源。這人便是拉斯維加斯的律師哈羅德?吉沃特，他在過去幾年創(chuàng)立過幾家收入少得可憐，業(yè)務目標也有問題的小公司。另外他也曾替股票推銷員打過官司，另外在1995年他還卷入了FBI（聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局）的一宗調(diào)查，只是這些指控最終都被撤銷。

????上周五，美國監(jiān)管機構(gòu)以“可能存在操縱交易”為由，下令停止Cynk股票的交易。目前還沒有證據(jù)顯示吉沃特與近來Cynk股票的異常飆升有關系。

????低價股一直是詐騙犯們行騙的好去處。隨著去年以來市場有所好轉(zhuǎn)，股市的可疑行為也再次抬頭。《財富》（Fortune）今年年初就曾報道過，像福布斯網(wǎng)站（Forbes.com）、Seeking Alpha、Wall Street Cheat Sheet等知名財經(jīng)網(wǎng)站都曾受騙刊登過一些收錢為企業(yè)宣傳造勢的寫手的文章。這些文章也沒有標明作者是收了錢的“美分黨”。上周五，美國證監(jiān)會（SEC）指控五人涉嫌操縱波士頓一家名叫Amogear的公司的股價，這家公司主要生產(chǎn)混合格斗術(shù)運動員的運動服，市值極低。

????吉沃特拒紙評論Cynk的股價最近為何快速飆升或股票交易為何被叫停等問題。他在一封電子郵件中向《財富》表示，Cynk已經(jīng)不再是他的客戶了。

????但就在6月11日，也就是Cynk股票開始暴漲的6天前，吉沃特曾致信美國場外交易集團（OTC Markets Group），稱他已經(jīng)被Cynk公司聘請審查其文件。吉沃特在那封信中稱，Cynk公司的文件并沒有什么異常之處。他還表示他本人已經(jīng)和羅梅羅見了面，并且確認了該公司在伯利茲城一幢商業(yè)中心里的注冊地址是正確的。但是據(jù)《華爾街日報》（Wall Street Journal）的一篇報道稱，在那個地址上并沒有一家叫做Cynk的公司。

????吉沃特對Cynk公司非常熟悉。2012年，吉沃特曾經(jīng)擔任Cynk公司的律師和首次公開募股（IPO）的銷售代理，而當年的Cynk還叫做Introbuzz。和大多數(shù)IPO不同，Cynk的IPO沒有一個固定的承銷商或代理商。整個募股流程似乎是由吉沃特一手包辦的。

????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.