The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said a fraudster claimed be managing partner of a firm seeking to take over Eastman Kodak and American Airlines.

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The SEC filed a lawsuit this week against Allen Weintraub, who has fraud and grand larceny convictions in Florida from 1992, 1998 and 2008, and his Florida-based company, Sterling Global Holdings, alleging he violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by posing as a serious bidder when he had no assets or access to the required amounts of money, USA Today reported Wednesday.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida lawsuit said Weintraub contacted Kodak and American Airlines parent company AMR with separate purchase offers and Kodak, which was offered $1.3 billion, was suspicious of the offer.

"We thoroughly investigated the letter from Sterling Global, believed it to be a hoax and turned the matter over to the SEC," Kodak spokesman David Lanzillo said.

The lawsuit seeks to ban Weintraub from presenting himself as a serious bidder for the companies and unspecified civil penalties.