50 Cent Penny Stock Scrutiny

Rapper 50 Cent’s recent rah-rah tweets to his millions of followers about investing in H & H Imports Inc., may have put him under the scrutiny of the Securities and Exchange Commission, although the agency isn’t saying so.

The problem? 50 Cent neglected to disclose up front that he has a financial interest in the company until after the fact, which could be considered stock manipulation.

On Jan. 7 the Clearwater, Fla., based company, which the rapper’s G-Unit Inc. is listed as owning 30 million shares (roughly 12 percent stake) closed around 10 cents per share and was up to 36 cents within a few days. The rapper’s stake would have jumped by about $8.5 million from the stock surge.

H & H is the parent company of TV Goods, a marketing company started by entrepreneur Kevin Harrington, which sells the rapper’s line of headphones called Sleek By 50.

The volatile penny stock, however, dropped down to about 25 cents per share by press time, after the rapper’s tweets took an opposite tone.

“I own HNHI stock thoughts on it are my opinion. Talk to financial advisor about it, HNHI is the right investment for me it may or may not be right for u! Do u homework,” the tweet read.

His other tweets appear to have been taken down but said things like “You can double your money right now. Just get what you can afford,” the New York Post reported. “They are no joke get in now.”

H & H Imports lost $1.3 million last quarter and has $3.3 million worth of debt. Its auditor raised issues in September over whether the company could continue operations.