The numbers a CEO puts in a press release are supposed to reflect reality. When Brent David Willis told investors in early 2018 that NewAge, Inc. had struck a deal to place its beverages in 3,340 military commissaries and exchanges around the world, the actual number of commissaries that carried NewAge products was zero. When he announced a 1,500-store distribution agreement with 7-Eleven, the real figure was 250. When he said Marley beverages were selling across all Walmart stores nationwide, they appeared in less than 7 percent of locations. When he claimed on Fox Business in early 2019 that NewAge’s CBD-infused drinks were already being sold in Japan and that the company had $40 million in preorders, there was no CBD product. None had been developed.
Not a single retailer had placed an order. For two years, from July 2017 through April 2019, Willis fabricated or grossly inflated the company’s distribution reach, its retail penetration, and an entire product line that did not exist, to drive NewAge’s stock from a cash-strapped penny stock to a $500 million market cap from which he then sold more than $2 million of his own shares. On March 25, 2026, he settled with the SEC for $175,000 and a five-year officer-and-director bar, without admitting a single allegation. He now works as COO and co-founder of ProHawk AI in Cocoa Beach, Florida.
A Company Bleeding Cash and a CEO Who Needed the Stock to Move
NewAge, then known as New Age Beverages Corporation, was in serious financial difficulty when Brent Willis arrived as CEO in 2016. The company reported a net loss of approximately $3.5 million for 2017 and entered 2018 with only $285,000 in cash on hand. By the first half of 2018, losses had grown further and NewAge was forced to take out high-interest loans to meet basic operating expenses. Willis, according to the SEC’s complaint, was simultaneously lobbying the board for a pay rise and expressing frustration that his compensation was insufficient to cover personal tax liabilities. The board told him the question would be revisited once the company was on better financial footing.
Willis grew fixated on the share price. He pressured sales staff to generate positive news and began issuing a series of press releases and public statements that described a company with rapidly expanding distribution, blue-chip retail relationships, and a pipeline of emerging CBD products. None of it matched what the company’s internal records showed.
The Military Deal That Covered Zero Commissaries and Two Strip Malls
The most specific lie Willis told investors concerned the U.S. military. Between January and August 2018, he authorized a series of press releases and made statements in earnings calls and investor conferences announcing that NewAge had secured a distribution agreement with the U.S. military to place its beverages in commissaries and exchanges worldwide. He cited figures of 240 commissaries and 3,100 strip mall locations globally. The SEC’s complaint found that NewAge had never entered into a distribution agreement with the military at all. The company never had plans to sell products at commissaries worldwide. It did not even have the inventory to do so. The actual number of military commissaries carrying NewAge products when Willis made these claims was zero. The number of strip mall locations was two.
When the announcement hit, NewAge’s stock rose 24 percent. That price movement, built entirely on a fictional deal, was the mechanism Willis needed. The company’s improving stock price enabled it to conduct equity offerings and raise the capital that gave it financial breathing room. The fraud served its immediate purpose.
CBD Products That Were Never Made and $40 Million in Orders That Were Never Placed
Willis doubled down on the deception in late 2018 by manufacturing a second narrative: that NewAge was a pioneer in the emerging CBD beverage market and already moving product through major retailers. At the October 2018 NACS trade show in Las Vegas, the company distributed sell sheets describing CBD beverages with a “proprietary production process,” a “proprietary in-house formula,” third-party testing, and “full spectrum nano technology-amplified entourage effect.” NewAge had no CBD products in development. Not a single retailer had agreed to stock a CBD product from NewAge. Not a single preorder had been placed.
On Fox Business in early 2019, Willis told viewers the beverages were already being sold in Japan. He claimed $40 million in preorders. That same month, he announced Marley beverages were selling in all Walmart stores nationwide, when the distribution agreement covered less than 7 percent of locations. The April 2019 Walmart announcement moved NewAge stock 38 percent. By mid-2019, the company’s market cap had reached $500 million. Willis used that window to sell more than $2 million of his own NewAge shares over a six-month period.
NewAge’s Collapse, the 2022 SEC Charges, and a Settlement That Dropped the Hardest Accusations
The stock price that Willis manufactured could not be sustained once the fabrications began to unravel. NewAge filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August 2022. Its direct-sales business was sold for $4.5 million in September of that year. Willis had left as CEO in January 2022 under a resignation agreement with the board. The SEC filed its complaint on October 18, 2022 in the District of Colorado, charging Willis with violating the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act and Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act, and aiding and abetting violations of Regulation FD. Willis’s attorney pushed back immediately, arguing that no regulator had ever questioned Willis about the distribution arrangements cited in the complaint.
The case ran for three and a half years before reaching a settlement on March 25, 2026. The outcome was notably softer than the original charges. The SEC dropped its intentional fraud allegations entirely, pursuing only the negligence-based antifraud provisions of Sections 17(a)(2) and (a)(3). Willis’s attorney called that outcome significant. Willis paid a civil monetary penalty of $175,000, a fraction of the $2 million he collected selling shares during the inflated stock period, and accepted a five-year officer-and-director bar. He did not admit or deny any of the allegations. The SEC sought no disgorgement of the stock sale proceeds.
Conclusion
Willis’s two years of false statements pushed NewAge from near-insolvency to a $500 million market cap, enabled $80 million in stock offerings that saved the company’s finances, and gave him the window to sell $2 million of his own shares at artificially inflated prices. NewAge is now bankrupt. The CBD products never existed. The military deal covered zero commissaries. The final settlement, entered March 25, 2026, cost Willis $175,000 and five years as a public company executive. He is currently building an AI computer vision company in Florida under a five-year bar that prohibits him from running another public company until 2031.
Editor’s Note: The headline of this article has been updated from its original version published on April 23, 2026. The article relies on the public record of Mr. Willis’s SEC settlement, which resolved claims under negligence-based antifraud provisions. Language in the original headline has been revised to more precisely reflect the terms of that settlement.
