The SEC filed a complaint on December 20, 2011. In the complaint, the SEC alleged that ""[b]etween December 2005 and December 2008, defendant Mitchell J. Stein ('Stein'), the purported outside counsel of defendant Heart Tronics, Inc., ... and husband of its majority shareholder, orchestrated a brazen series of frauds designed to inflate the price of Heart Tronics stock so that he could profit from selling its securities to investors."

On December 20, 2011, the SEC announced that it charged purported heart monitoring device company Heart Tronics, Inc. ("Heart Tronics") and six individuals involved in a series of fraudulent schemes to artificially inflate the company's stock. According to the SEC's complaint filed in federal court in Los Angeles, Heart Tronics--known as "Signalife" during most of the scheme's time period from December 2005 to December 2008--fraudulently and repeatedly announced millions of dollars in sales orders for its product between 2006 and 2008 when, in fact, the company never had viable sales orders from actual customers. The SEC charges the defendants with various violations of the federal securities laws and seeks disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest financial penalties and permanent injunctive relief.

On October 1, 2014, the Court issued a final judgment as to Defendant Heart Tronics, Inc. stating: "Defendant Heart Tronics, Inc. consented to entry of this Judgment without admitting or denying the allegations of the Complaint (except as to jurisdiction); waived findings of fact and conclusions of law; and waived any right to appeal from this Judgment."