Business

SpongeTech sent through wringer by SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission has suspended trading of shares in New York company SpongeTech Delivery Systems, a sponsor of major sporting events and several National Football League teams.

The SEC said “questions have been raised about the accuracy and adequacy of publicly disseminated information” concerning the penny-stock company’s sales, revenues and investment agreements.

Meanwhile, SpongeTech announced that it had filed a lawsuit in federal court against another company also called SpongeTech.

In a press release, SpongeTech Delivery Systems said that a California-based firm, SpongeTech Inc., has ruined its good name. SpongeTech Inc., the release says, is guilty of trademark infringements and exposed SpongeTech Delivery Systems “to public hatred, contempt, ridicule, and/or degradation.”

The CEO of SpongeTech Inc. “defamed the company” to The Post, the release said.

The court filing, however, appears to refer to comments by Michael Popovsky, CEO of a competitor called Spongeables. Neither he nor his company were named in the suit.

State corporation documents show that a Los Angeles-based Spongetech Inc. is no longer active. Spongeables was incorporated in 2007 at the same address, but has since moved to Inglewood, Calif.

“I am the CEO of Spongeables, which has nothing to do with SpongeTech,” Popovsky said. He declined to comment further.

Over the weekend, word spread among SpongeTech Delivery Systems’ investors and watchers that a lawsuit was on the horizon, prompting critics to charge that SpongeTech officials hoped to rally shareholders and increase the stock price.

But the SEC halted trading early yesterday, citing questions about “among other things, the amount of sales and customer orders received by SpongeTech, investment agreements entered into by SpongeTech, and SpongeTech’s revenues as reported in its financial statements.”

Efforts by The Post to locate some of SpongeTech Delivery Systems’ biggest customers fell flat last month; it could not confirm the phone numbers and addresses for those customers, which the company provided.

The suspension is set to be lifted on Oct. 16. The SEC is also investigating the company for possible securities violations.