VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 22, 2018 / Paul Mann former COO of High Hampton Holdings Corp, responded to the company's October 16th, press release announcing the resignation of its Chief Executive Officer David E. Argudo and the termination of COO, by stating, "I am issuing this press release to clarify what I know to be the real reasons that High Hampton fired the majority of its US operations team".
On August 11th 2018, the Senior Human Resources Manager Tom Sykes, Chairman of the Board of Directors Richard Polanco, and CEO of High Hampton David Argudo, received a complaint under whistleblower policy from Paul Mann the COO of the company. The complaint identified, amongst other things, financial irregularities, large payments to entities that had no contracts with the company, co-mingling of funds between High Hampton and other public companies, non-compliant issuance of securities to unaccredited US investors, and a complete lack of oversight and governance within the accounting and corporate finance departments. The complaint also stated that the company's Audit Committee Chairman and Director, Robert (Bob) Allen, had verbally been made aware of these issues previously, but had chosen not act on the allegations.
"High Hampton's CFO, Fiona Fitzmaurice, Vice President of Corporate Finance, Christian Scovenna, and an undisclosed principal were identified among those involved in the multiple alleged wrongdoings.
Supporting documentation which included, but was not limited to, contractual impersonation of the CEO, large payments to companies based out of mailboxes at UPS stores and instructions on how to submit false invoices for private placements of company shares, warranting further investigation were submitted to the Chairman of the Board and the executive management of the company resulting in the CEO calling for a forensic audit of the company's books and records. A demand that was refused by the head of the Audit Committee, Robert (Bob) Allen. Previous requests from the CEO to the CFO and VP of Corporate Finance for access to company documents and banking records had been repeatedly denied, a move which was also fully supported by board members, Mr. Allen and Mr. Scovenna. However on September 27th at 9:58 a.m., with sufficient documentation to support the allegations of impropriety and deceptive practices, Vice President of Corporate Finance, Christian Scovenna, was fired by CEO David E. Argudo. On September 28th at 6:05 a.m., Director and Audit Committee Chairman, Robert (Bob) Allen acknowledged Scovenna's firing by suggesting in an e-mail, that Fiona Fitzmaurice, the company's CFO, assume Scovenna's duties. No press release was issued by the board or the company to disclose this material event.
Subsequently, Mann and several members of the High Hampton team were all terminated and Mr. Argudo resigned from his position as CEO and Director.
All inquiries related to this press release should be directed to:
Mr. Paul Mann
pmann@viaetechnology.com
604 805 9565
About Paul Mann.
Mr. Mann is a 30 year veteran of the tech industry and has been accredited with founding, managing and leading more than 13 companies in both the public and private market sectors.
About High Hampton Holdings Corp.
High Hampton Holdings Corp. is a CSE listed Canadian cannabis sector investment company focused on opportunities in the California cannabis space.
SOURCE: Paul Mann
View source version on accesswire.com:
https://www.accesswire.com/525923/Former-COO-Comments-on-High-Hampton-Holdings-Press-Release-Dated-October-16-2018
