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Robert M. Arnoni has been a director of the Company since June 1998 and had been a director of American Waste Services, Inc. from April 1997 to June 1998. He is currently President of the Arnoni Development Company, Inc. From 1985 to August 1996, Mr. Arnoni was President and Chief Executive Officer of The Arnoni Group, a management company for various solid waste collection, transportation and disposal operations. Mr. Arnoni has over 20 years experience in the solid waste industry.
AVALON HOLDINGS CORP filed this DEF 14A on 03/27/2003.
ROBERT M. ARNONI - same Arnoni?
HISTORICAL BUSINESS INFORMATION: The Company on January 19, 2001 acquired the net assets of Lo Castro and Associates, Inc. a Pennsylvania "S" corporation ("Lo Castro"). The Company also acquired the net assets of Arnoni, Lo Castro and Associates, a Pennsylvania general partnership ("Arnoni"). Lo Castro and Arnoni are related entities under common ownership.
AVALON HOLDINGS CORP filed this 10-K/A on 06/04/2003.
SIGNATURES
ROBERT M. ARNONI
RONALD E. KLINGLE
TED WESOLOWSKI
SANFORD B. FERGUSON
STEPHEN L. GORDON
AVALON HOLDINGS CORP filed this 10-K/A on 06/04/2003.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized, on the 2nd day of June, 2003.
AVALON HOLDINGS CORPORATION
(Registrant)
By
/s/ TIMOTHY C. COXSON
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Timothy C. Coxson - Treasurer and
Chief Financial Officer
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the Registrant and in the capacities indicated, on the 2nd day of June, 2003.
Signatures
Title
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/s/ RONALD E. KLINGLE
Chairman of the Board and Director
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ronald E. Klingle
/s/ TED WESOLOWSKI
Chief Executive Officer, President and Director
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ted Wesolowski
/s/ SANFORD B. FERGUSON
Director
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sanford B. Ferguson
/s/ ROBERT M. ARNONI
Director
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert M. Arnoni
/s/ STEPHEN L. GORDON
Director
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen L. Gordon
http://www.10kwizard.com/filing.php?param=repo%3Dtenk-exp%3DArnoni-sdate%3D20030108-edate%3D20040108...
You are what you eat: now serving number -----
Bovine-CJD: might you already have it? ...
(Early warnings: insomnia, memory loss, depression, anxiety, withdrawal, fearfulness)
http://www.mad-cow.org/
PCBM - Prions Can Be Managed...
If those people who decided that vegetarian cows needed protein from the leftovers of sheep slaughter were made to eat exclusively at Jack In The Box or McDonalds there might some second thoughts about doing that..
Here's a link that covers all that's currently known of the subject-
7,651+ articles on mad cow and new variantCreutzfeldt-Jakob disease, prions,
bovine spongiform encephalopathy, scrapie, BSE, CJD, CWD, TME, and TSE.
http://www.mad-cow.org/
and more on the subject here:
http://organicconsumers.org/madcow.htm
CURRENT BUSINESS INFORMATION: Pinnacle Business Management, Inc. (formerly Mas Acquisition XIX Corp.) is a holding company for subsidiaries that provide consumer lending and deferred deposit services. The Company's Fast Paycheck Advance of Florida, Inc. makes one or two-week advances to individuals who need small amounts of cash until their next payday. The company also operates the All Pro Group of Companies, a collection of interrelated business in Western Pennsylvania that includes several automobile and telecommunications entities.
The Company is not a check-cashing service. The transaction uses certain documents to verify the client's income and makes a loan to the client until their next pay period. Loan Amounts may be $100, to a maximum of $400. The client writes a check to Fast Paycheck Advance, Inc. in the amount of their Advance, plus an administrative or advance fee. The check advance redemption date is the client's next pay period, which can be one week or two weeks at the maximum. At the end of the one week or the two week pay period, the customer returns and redeems his personal check for the amount of the advance plus company fees. If the customer doesn't redeem their check on the day that it is due, the company will deposit the client’s personal check that was written for the advance.
HISTORICAL BUSINESS INFORMATION: The Company on January 19, 2001 acquired the net assets of Lo Castro and Associates, Inc. a Pennsylvania "S" corporation ("Lo Castro"). The Company also acquired the net assets of Arnoni, Lo Castro and Associates, a Pennsylvania general partnership ("Arnoni"). Lo Castro and Arnoni are related entities under common ownership. The price paid for these acquisitions was 83,300,000 shares of the Company's common stock plus a promissory note in the amount of $6,693,465 due in quarterly installments commencing April 1, 2002 through and including January 1, 2007. The purchase price approximated $7,942,965.
In the first quarter 2001 the Company spun off an inactive wholly owned subsidiary, Summit Property Group, Inc. and Pinnacle Business Management Inc's shareholders received a non cash dividend of 1 share of Summit Property Group, Inc. for each 100 shares of Pinnacle Business Management, Inc. Summit Property Group, Inc. subsequently changed its name to Corbel Holdings, Inc.
On November 2, 2001 the Company announced the closing of the Kings Automotive Group acquisition. Purchase terms were $100,000 in cash and a secured note for $119,000.
On April 2, 2002 the Company that its Board of Directors has approved the spin off of its Lo Castro & Associates d.b.a. The All Pro Group, (All Pro). The Company and All Pro have entered into an agreement with Roy Lerman and R.I.P. Consultants. Mr. Lerman is a full Partner and Director with SDO Securities, senior floor broker and member in good standing for over 36 years with the American Stock Exchange. As part of the transaction, the Company's Board of Directors has approved the spin off of All Pro by issuing a non-cash dividend to eligible the Company's stockholders of record as of the close of market May 31, 2002.
On May 23, 2002 the Company announced that in response to the May 7, 2002 Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") trading suspension in its securities for the ten-day period which started at 9:30 a.m. on May 8, 2002 and the SEC injunctive action against the Company and two of its associates, the Company has retained legal counsel to defend the SEC action. The company intends to vigorously defend the SEC's injunctive action. As a result of the SEC's actions, the Company has elected to postpone the planned "spin off" of its subsidiary Lo Castro & Associates, Inc. d/b/a The All pro Group until the SEC's actions can be fully analyzed and clarified.
He should immediately turn himself in to Homeland Security - misuse of a computer should cover it...
* Q2. What is the intended use of these product(s)?
Home
Commercial
Please confirm Business Name:
Government / Civilian
Please confirm in what capacity your computer will be used:
Government / Military
Please confirm in what capacity your computer will be used:
* Q3. Will these product(s) be exported to other countries?
Yes No
If YES, please specify country or countries.
AFGHANISTANALBANIAALGERIAAMERICAN SAMOAANDORRAANGOLAANGUILLAANTARCTICAANTIGUA AND BARBUDAARGENTINAARMENIAARUBAAUSTRALIAAUSTRIAAZERBAIJANBAHAMASBAHRAINBANGLADESHBARBADOSBELARUSBELGIUMBELIZEBENINBERMUDABHUTANBOLIVIABOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINABOTSWANABOUVET ISLANDBRAZILBRITISH INDIAN OCEAN TERRITORYBRUNEI DARUSSALAMBULGARIABURKINA FASOBURUNDICAMBODIACAMEROONCANADACAPE VERDECAYMAN ISLANDSCENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLICCHADCHILECHINACHRISTMAS ISLANDCOCOS (KEELING) ISLANDSCOLOMBIACOMOROSCONGOCONGO, THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THECOOK ISLANDSCOSTA RICACÔTE D'IVOIRECROATIACYPRUSCZECH REPUBLICDENMARKDJIBOUTIDOMINICADOMINICAN REPUBLICEAST TIMORECUADOREGYPTEL SALVADOREQUATORIAL GUINEAERITREAESTONIAETHIOPIAFALKLAND ISLANDS (MALVINAS)FAROE ISLANDSFIJIFINLANDFRANCEFRENCH GUIANAFRENCH POLYNESIAFRENCH SOUTHERN TERRITORIESGABONGAMBIAGEORGIAGERMANYGHANAGIBRALTARGREECEGREENLANDGRENADAGUADELOUPEGUAMGUATEMALAGUINEAGUINEA-BISSAUGUYANAHAITIHEARD ISLAND AND MCDONALD ISLANDSHOLY SEE (VATICAN CITY STATE)HONDURASHONG KONGHUNGARYICELANDINDIAINDONESIAIRELANDISRAELITALYJAMAICAJAPANJORDANKAZAKSTANKENYAKIRIBATIKOREA, REPUBLIC OFKUWAITKYRGYZSTANLAO PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICLATVIALEBANONLESOTHOLIBERIALIECHTENSTEINLITHUANIALUXEMBOURGMACAUMACEDONIA, THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OFMADAGASCARMALAWIMALAYSIAMALDIVESMALIMALTAMARSHALL ISLANDSMARTINIQUEMAURITANIAMAURITIUSMAYOTTEMEXICOMICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATES OFMOLDOVA, REPUBLIC OFMONACOMONGOLIAMONTSERRATMOROCCOMOZAMBIQUEMYANMARNAMIBIANAURUNEPALNETHERLANDSNETHERLANDS ANTILLESNEW CALEDONIANEW ZEALANDNICARAGUANIGERNIGERIANIUENORFOLK ISLANDNORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDSNORWAYOMANPAKISTANPALAUPALESTINIAN TERRITORY, OCCUPIEDPANAMAPAPUA NEW GUINEAPARAGUAYPERUPHILIPPINESPITCAIRNPOLANDPORTUGALPUERTO RICOQATARRÉUNIONROMANIARUSSIAN FEDERATIONRWANDASAINT HELENASAINT KITTS AND NEVISSAINT LUCIASAINT PIERRE AND MIQUELONSAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINESSAMOASAN MARINOSAO TOME AND PRINCIPESAUDI ARABIASENEGALSEYCHELLESSIERRA LEONESINGAPORESLOVAKIASLOVENIASOLOMON ISLANDSSOMALIASOUTH AFRICASOUTH GEORGIA AND THE SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDSSPAINSRI LANKASURINAMESVALBARD AND JAN MAYENSWAZILANDSWEDENSWITZERLANDTAIWAN, PROVINCE OF CHINATAJIKISTANTANZANIA, UNITED REPUBLIC OFTHAILANDTOGOTOKELAUTONGATRINIDAD AND TOBAGOTUNISIATURKEYTURKMENISTANTURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDSTUVALUUGANDAUKRAINEUNITED ARAB EMIRATESUNITED KINGDOMUNITED STATESUNITED STATES MINOR OUTLYING ISLANDSURUGUAYUZBEKISTANVANUATUVatican City State (see HOLY SEE)VENEZUELAVIET NAMVIRGIN ISLANDS, BRITISHVIRGIN ISLANDS, U.S.WALLIS AND FUTUNAWESTERN SAHARAYEMENYUGOSLAVIAZaire see CONGO, THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OFZAMBIAZIMBABWE
If your intended export destination is not available in the selection above, the country may be subject to export regulatory restrictions. Please contact your Dell sales office for further information before proceeding to export.
* Q4. Will the product(s) be used in connection with weapons of mass destruction, i.e. nuclear applications, missile technology, or chemical or biological weapons purposes?
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It's believed that the bovine spongiform encephalitis was originally caused by feeding the cows protein products made from sheep by-products, and scrapie became 'mad cow disease"...
Indeed there is - it's known as scrapie, named after the tendency of infected sheep to scrape themselves against fences etc..
The PCBM Scrapies - sound right.
Vein Check
A scanning device checks vein patterns. (Image courtesy of Identica)
By Corie Lok
Innovation News
December 2003/January 2004
Fingerprint scanners may seem the ultimate in identification technology, but tricking them is actually not all that hard. Now, scanning the pattern of veins on the back of the hand promises a more reliable system.
Vein recognition is already used in South Korea and Japan to control access to secure rooms in hospitals, factories, and office buildings. System manufacturers say each person has a unique vein pattern, which can be captured by infrared cameras. The technology has been more widely accepted than fingerprinting in Asia mainly for cultural reasons, says Michelle Shen of ePolymath Consulting in Toronto. “In Japan, they are very concerned about hygiene. They’re reluctant with fingerprinting because they have to touch the sensor.” With vein recognition, users merely hold their hands up to a scanner.
A second generation of the technology is coming to North America. In 2003, Seoul, South Korea-based Techsphere, one of the first and largest vein recognition companies, signed a deal authorizing Toronto-based Identica to distribute its products in North America. Identica recently sold seven units to the Toronto and Ottawa airports to control ground crew admittance through doors. “Their hands aren’t always clean, and that would give false readings all the time with fingerprinting,” says Edward Foster, president and chief operating officer of Opus Canada, a flight services provider to the Toronto airport.
Vein recognition is so new to North America that there hasn’t yet been much independent testing of the technology, leading to skepticism from some experts. The adequacy of the approach has yet to be established through third-party testing, says Larry Hornak, director of the Center for Identification Technology Research at West Virginia University. But with more testing, perhaps more people will be checking their veins at the door.
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/innovation31203.asp
LOL...a rabid bunch with mad cow disease led by slurp.
UPDATE 3-Glaxo says to contest $5.2 billion U.S. tax claim
Reuters, 01.07.04, 6:26 AM ET
By Santosh Menon and Ben Hirschler
LONDON, Jan 7 (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline Plc <GSK.L>, Europe's largest drugmaker, said on Wednesday that U.S. authorities wanted it to pay up to $5.2 billion in additional taxes and interest and the company would contest the claim.
The firm, formed from the merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham three years ago, has received a tax bill for $2.7 billion, which the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) says is owed by Glaxo Wellcome for the years 1989 to 1996.
The company said it estimated the interest on the full claim to be around $2.5 billion, net of federal tax relief.
The claim follows a long-running dispute between GSK and the IRS over taxes owing on six top-selling drugs, including former blockbuster ulcer pill Zantac, which had been flagged previously by GSK in its annual report.
"GSK considers that the additional tax claim... is inconsistent with the treatment of other pharmaceutical companies, including GSK legacy company SmithKline Beecham," the group said in a statement.
"GSK plans to contest this claim for additional taxes by filing a petition in the U.S. Tax Court, where a trial is not expected until sometime in 2005-2006," it added.
Glaxo said it expected to receive an additional assessment from U.S. authorities for the 1997-2000 period, as similar tax issues remained open.
Its shares were 1.3 percent lower at 12.44 pounds in a weaker London market by 1100 GMT, after reaching 12.38.
The firm made a pre-tax profit of 6.52 billion pounds ($11.9 billion) in 2002 on sales of 21.21 billion
PROVISIONS
Industry analysts said the muted stock market reaction to news of the huge tax claim reflected the fact that the dispute -- if not the sum -- was already well known.
A GSK spokesman said the firm was not required to pay the amount immediately and pointed out that the company had been making provisions for tax liabilities during the past few years.
"We do not expect to make any additional provision for the liabilities related to this period. We believe our existing provision is sufficient," he said.
GSK's 2002 annual report revealed total provisions of 1.45 billion pounds for worldwide tax liabilities and charges but did not specify how much of this was to cover U.S. claims.
Deutsche Bank analysts played down the threat, arguing that any potential payout was unlikely before 2007 and pointing out that in the last dozen similar cases the company involved had settled at a sum less than the disputed amount.
Six companies settled owing nothing, four paid 25 percent and two paid 50 percent, the investment bank said.
"If they have to pay out a substantial chunk, my guess is it might slow down the share buyback programme," added Paul Diggle of Code Securities.
TRANSFER PRICING
The dispute with the IRS centres around allegations that GSK's U.S. subsidiary overpaid GSK in Europe for drugs, thereby reducing taxable profits in the United States. The practice is known as "transfer pricing" and is widely used in the drug industry, according to analysts.
Before receiving this latest notice from the IRS, GSK said it had attempted to resolve the dispute by referring it to negotiations between the U.S. and UK tax authorities.
"The company believes these discussions collapsed when the UK supported the GSK position that no additional taxes were due to the IRS," it said.
GSK has sought protection from the U.S. claims under a double-taxation agreement between London and Washington, arguing that the tax had already been paid in Britain.
http://www.forbes.com/newswire/2004/01/07/rtr1200923.html
UPDATE 3-U.S. lifts ban barring MCI from gov't contracts
Reuters, 01.07.04, 7:46 PM ET
By Jeremy Pelofsky
WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Wednesday lifted a ban that prevented telephone and data company MCI <WCOEQ.PK> from receiving lucrative federal contracts in the wake of its huge accounting scandal.
The General Services Administration, which handles federal procurement, lifted the suspension after the company agreed to several conditions to monitor its business ethics and internal controls, conditions that will last three years.
MCI "really isn't out of the woods yet, they still are tied very closely to us and our ability to monitor their business ethics and their internal controls," said David Drabkin, deputy associate administrator for acquisition policy at GSA.
If the company steps over the line, the agency could move quickly to suspend the company from government contracts again, Drabkin said.
GSA in July suspended MCI, which offers telecommunications services to agencies like the U.S. Defense Department, from receiving new contracts and extensions of existing ones while the agency reviewed whether a longer suspension was needed because of its lapses in ethics and internal controls.
The Ashburn, Virginia-based company filed for bankruptcy in 2002 after revealing accounting irregularities that have now amounted to about $11 billion. MCI, whose legal name is WorldCom, hopes to emerge from bankruptcy soon.
The timing of the decision was excellent for MCI. The federal government will likely extend a lucrative contract with MCI in which the company provides telecommunications services to various federal agencies.
"We indicated in November, as required by the current contract, that we anticipated exercising the option if at the time of option exercise they were presently responsible," Drabkin said.
The contract with the government is set to expire Jan. 10 unless the GSA exercised the option to extend it. MCI earned about $396.5 million in the year ended Sept. 30 under the contract and about $331 million the year before.
The company, which receives roughly $1 billion in revenue from government contracts, implemented numerous reforms to get back in the good graces of the government, including appointing an ethics officer, putting its entire work force through ethics training and adding various internal checks and balances.
"We have worked diligently to fulfill all of the ethics and internal controls criteria necessary to being a good federal government contractor," MCI Chairman and Chief Executive Michael Capellas said in a statement.
To satisfy the GSA, the company will have to regularly report progress of its ethics programs, internal control issues, pending federal investigations, and summaries of contacts to MCI's ethics hotline, among other things, according to the agreement.
The conditions would transfer to any successor company should MCI be sold or transfer ownership.
MCI has been roundly criticized by lawmakers in Congress who question whether a company that suffered such massive ethics lapses and bilked investors out of billions of dollars should be allowed to receive taxpayer money.
"I am pleased that MCI will be monitored closely under the terms of the agreement with the GSA," said Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who heads the Senate Government Affairs Committee.
"I question, however, whether GSA made the right decision in reinstating MCI when allegations involving the company remain under investigation by federal authorities," she said. (Additional reporting by Andy Sullivan in Washington)
http://www.forbes.com/newswire/2004/01/07/rtr1202219.html
Lawyers say have traced $7.7 bln Parmalat funds
Reuters, 01.08.04, 7:59 AM ET
ROME, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Lawyers representing a group of Parmalat PRFI.MI creditors said on Thursday they had traced about $7.7 billion of the food group's funds but they had no documented proof.
A legal filing, obtained by Reuters, said the lawyers representing the Parmalat Creditors Committee had "succeeded in following the 'electronic' trail of about $7.7 billion (which was) well invested and guaranteed".
The three lawyers -- Carlo Zauli, Giuseppe Lozupone and Anna Campilii -- said in the five-page filing to be presented to the bankruptcy court in the northern city of Parma they had traced the funds using a group of investigators and "press talk".
But Zauli told Reuters by telephone that it would be an "illusion" to believe one could find documented proof of electronic transfers of the funds.
Parmalat was declared insolvent last month after revealing a hole in its accounts which prosecutors investigating for fraud believe could exceed 10 billion euros.
http://www.forbes.com/home/newswire/2004/01/08/rtr1202741.html
With great delicacy...
How do we do a search and seizure for that?
Bomb Buster
Prototype
December 2003/January 2004
Up to 40 percent of checked luggage falsely sets off airport bomb detectors, wasting time and money, and because the detectors look for suspicious objects rather than explosive chemicals, clever terrorists could still evade them. But HiEnergy Technologies in Irvine, CA, has dusted off a technology abandoned as impractical in the 1980s to create new sensors that can chemically identify explosives, even through steel. HiEnergy’s founder and CEO, Bogdan Maglich, says the device sends a harmless amount of neutrons toward an object. It then analyzes radiation induced by the particles to reveal the chemical makeup of the target. HiEnergy’s revival of the technology pivoted on its ability to control noise from neutrons hitting objects other than the ones being scanned. The Spanish government has asked the company to develop the technology into a car-bomb detector for use in parking garages; tests of the detector are scheduled for early December, and those of a baggage- and cargo-scanning system could follow in January.
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/prototype51203.asp
http://www.hienergyinc.com/
Blue Light, Red Light
A new method for detecting deadly pathogens within seconds could become a front-line defense against bioterrorism.
Todd Rider’s new method for detecting deadly pathogens yields results in a matter of seconds. (Photo by Rick Friedman)
By Jeffrey Klineman
December 2003/January 2004
It’s a Frankenstein-monster-type conceit, but biologist Todd H. Rider ’91, SM ’91, SM ’94, PhD ’95, has never shied away from the idea that he might be a mad scientist. In fact, he embraces it. His role models have been the wild-haired scientists of the movies, the ones with renegade aspirations and a reluctance to stand on methodological ceremony. He even borrows their lines. Before one experiment that required him to flip a switch, he shouted, “Give my creation life!”
“I think I startled a lot of people,” he says now.
The 35-year-old Arkansas native specializes in hunting down something that many people find more terrifying than Frankenstein’s monster: deadly germs and viruses.
Rider and his team from Lincoln Laboratory received national attention in July for their work on a novel system for detecting potentially deadly pathogens, such as anthrax or Legionnaire’s disease, that have long been feared in their own right but have become even more frightening for their possible use in biological weapons. Known as “cellular analysis and notification of antigen risks and yields,” or Canary for short, the detector Rider developed uses white blood cells—the body’s first line of defense against disease—to test substances for the presence of certain pathogens.
Unlike current detection systems that use DNA-amplifying reactions that can take an hour or more, Rider’s technique provides information in seconds. With the public rubbed raw over the threat of biological warfare and bioterrorism, and cities quarantined due to fast-spreading viruses like SARS, the detector’s potential to provide on-the-spot readings could lead to a variety of “first-response” uses, from reading mucus supplied by a mysteriously ill emergency-room visitor to testing white powder shortly after it flies out of an envelope. Rider also believes the detector can be adapted to pull particles from the air, to determine if biological weapons have been released on the field of battle.
Tweaking a Natural Reaction
Nature, Rider says, already demonstrates that white blood cells detect pathogens. When the antibodies on such a cell bind to a virus or bacterium, they trigger a calcium signal. That causes the cell to go “on the warpath” and combat the invaders. Rider believed that if he could find a simple way to detect the calcium signal, he could develop a pathogen sensor.
“It’s clever,” says Dr. David Relman, a Stanford University professor who studies pathogen detection. “I love the idea of coopting a biological system that’s already hard-wired for rapid response.”
But when Rider first started working on the idea, soon after coming to Lincoln Lab in 1997, people were not so receptive. “A lot of people at Lincoln Lab hadn’t taken it very seriously,” he says. On top of that, Lincoln Lab had no biology laboratory. So the youthful scientist—28 at the time, with just a year in the “real world” after nine years at MIT—was forced to find bench space on campus until he could engineer a white blood cell that would reveal the calcium reaction.
Rider found that space in the lab of biology professor Jianzhu Chen. Chen, who researches immunology, also helped Rider secure early funding from the cloak-and-dagger crowd that has gone on to bankroll much of Canary’s development. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a U.S.-military-affiliated source of funding for scientific projects, was interested in pathogen detection, and Rider’s team went down to Washington to make what was ultimately a successful presentation.
With adequate resources behind him, Rider could begin investigating a protein that he had long considered promising: aequorin, which is derived from the glowing jellyfish Aequaria victoria and has a well-documented ability to produce light in response to calcium. Rider used electricity to blow holes in white blood cells that had been extracted from a mouse, then infused those cells with the jellyfish’s genetic instructions for the manufacture of aequorin. The theory was that when antibodies on the cells’ surfaces locked onto their pathogens, they would trigger a calcium signal, which would activate the aequorin and make the cells glow blue. That blue light, while not visible to the naked eye, could be measured by a luminometer, which would send the results to a computer, which would generate a readout.
By mid-1998, Rider had programmed the cells to emit light in response to phosphorylcholine-ovalbumin, a safe chemical stand-in for viruses and bacteria. But the principle was the same, and this initial success lent the concept the credibility Rider needed to continue.
He and his team then moved back into Lincoln Lab and began “shopping” for pathogen antibodies, drawing on the panoply of disease-causing bacteria and viruses studied in other labs. After much trial and error, biologist Martha Petrovick developed a new version of a genetic-engineering tool known as a “DNA vector” that allowed Rider and his team to produce white blood cells with antibodies on their surfaces that responded to specific pathogens. These included anthrax, bubonic plague, the pathogenic strain of E. coli, chlamydia, smallpox, and a half-dozen other viruses and bacteria feared for their potentially negative effects on public health or use in bioterror weapons.
But the team still faced one crucial problem: the white blood cells and pathogens had trouble locating each other during the testing. The reaction was taking too long and the signal from the luminometer was too low. “We had to come up with some way to make the reaction faster and more apparent,” says James Harper, PhD ’98, the Lincoln Lab staffer who headed hardware engineering for Canary.
The solution was to use a centrifuge to spin a sample’s cellular material toward the bottom of its container, add the white blood cells, and spin them down on top of the sample, forcing the two into close contact with each other. What had taken minutes now took seconds.
“In a lot of these systems, the limitation is ‘mass transport,’” says Duane Lindner ’72, deputy director for chemistry and biology programs at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, CA, which is developing its own pathogen detection systems. “It takes a lot of time for these big things to get on top of each other. Their work has highlighted just how fast the systems can be.”
Fast and Simple…Maybe?
It’s that speed that has both the military and private companies interested in the potential of the new detector. Even before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the military had been interested in something that could analyze the air for biological weapons. Public-health agencies were also eager for something that could quickly check a shipment of food for E. coli. Recent concerns about mysterious, possibly anthrax-laden “white powders” sent through the U.S. mail and the fear of fast-spreading viruses, like SARS, have made emergency responders and clinicians as interested in pathogen detection as the military.
The technology used in Canary is close to being adaptable to many of those uses already, say its developers, who believe that the current prototype of a centrifuge, luminometer, and computer could be included in a field testing kit about the size of a suitcase, at a hardware cost of somewhere between $7,000 and $10,000.
“We’re intentionally designing it so it will be very easy to use,” Rider says. “Some of the current systems use quite a lot of training. We want it usable for army soldiers, medical personnel, emergency responders. You’ll simply add the sample to the cell and see if it glows.”
Rider is also developing what he playfully terms a “giant snorfler-thingy” to suck particles from the air in sensitive locations and test them. Detector cells used in the device can now survive for up to two weeks before they need to be exchanged. Although Rider calls the cells “surprisingly hardy,” others say that they aren’t rugged enough, particularly for one major civil-defense goal, a system that will autonomously collect samples from the air and test them for pathogens.
Still others believe his process is overmatched by the competition. DNA-based detection technologies, while not as fast as Canary, will eventually be able to test for a broad array of pathogens simultaneously, and even reveal the genetic characteristics of those organisms that cannot be readily identified. Canary has “too much focus on specific organisms,” says Calvin Chue, a researcher with the Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies at Johns Hopkins. “If I gave you an unknown pathogen, you would have to run all of your specific ‘rapid’ tests. Since this could encompass a dozen or more runs, the analysis is no longer so rapid. Even at the completion of your run…you might still have an unknown on your hands, and you cannot assume it is benign.”
However, Rider hopes that in the future Canary will be capable of doing any sort of analysis that competing DNA-based technologies can do. In the meantime, Harper, for one, believes that the benefits of being able to take a quick reading are apparent.
“DNA is good for looking for the needle in the haystack when you don’t know what the needle is,” Harper says. “But in terms of sensitivity and speed, it doesn’t appear that there’s anything that can match Canary. It has the potential to, at bedside, determine whether someone has a bacterial or viral infection, before they even get up to leave [for] the hospital. It’s not good for looking at what’s happening in a thousand different genes, but it’s good at giving you the fastest and most sensitive answer.”
Indeed, while much of DARPA’s early motivation for funding the project came from its interest in using the reactive properties of different cells to determine the characteristics of unknown pathogens, rather than testing samples for those that are already known, the agency remains pleased with the technology. “DARPA is one of those places where you’re not confined by one theme,” says Alan Rudolph, the scientist overseeing the project for the agency.
That’s a good thing for Rider, who has had difficulty remaining confined to a single theme in academic or research settings. His doctoral work, in fact, involved fusion reactors, but he migrated through several minors—including biomedicine—while completing it. He turned to microbiology after his dissertation demonstrated problems with various fusion reactors—making him, he admits, a bit unpopular in the reactor business.
“I upset some people, so I decided to move into a different field,” Rider says. “I was lucky to have a degree in biomedicine.”
Dr. Frankenstein might agree.
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/klineman1203.asp
THE TOP 100 FALSE CLAIMS ACT SETTLEMENTS: THE CASE HISTORIES
http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/
1) HCA ($731,400,000) *
In December 2000, HCA The Healthcare Company (formerly known as Columbia HCA),the largest for profit hospital chain in the United States, agreed to plead guilty to criminal conduct and pay more than $840 million in criminal fines, civil penalties and damages for alleged unlawful billing practices.
Under the agreement, HCA will pay a total of $745 million to resolve five allegations regarding the manner in which it bills the U.S. government and the states for health care costs. The agreement does not resolve allegations that HCA unlawfully charged for the costs of running its hospitals on cost reports submitted to the government, and that it paid kickbacks to physicians to get Medicare and Medicaid patients referred to its facilities.
Of the $745 million, the settlement requires HCA to pay:
* more than $95 million to resolve civil claims arising from the company's outpatient laboratory billing practices, which included billing to Medicare, Medicaid, the Defense Department's TRICARE health care program, and the Federal Employees' Health Benefits Program, for lab tests that were not medically necessary, not ordered by physicians, as well as
other billing violations;
* more than $403 million to resolve civil claims arising from "upcoding," where false diagnosis codes were assigned to patient records in order to increase reimbursement to the
hospitals by Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE and the Federal Employees' Health Benefits Program. The guilty plea includes one count relating to this upcoding practice;
* $50 million to resolve civil claims that the company illegally claimed non reimbursable marketing and advertising costs it disguised as community education. Medicare reimburses providers for "community education" - costs to educate the community at large about public health issues - but not for advertising and marketing a hospital's services;
* $90 million to resolve civil claims that HCA illegally charged Medicare for non reimbursable costs incurred in the purchase of home health agencies owned by the Olsten
Corporation, as well as other agencies in Florida, Georgia and Alabama.
According to the government, HCA devised an elaborate scheme to hide these costs in reimbursable "management fees" paid to third parties. In 1999, a subsidiary of Olsten Corporation, Kimberly Quality Care, entered into criminal plea agreements in three districts and paid more than $10 million in criminal fines. Olsten paid nearly $41 million as part of a civil settlement arising from its collusion with HCA for that conduct. HCA has now agreed to pay $90 million to settle this issue, and $106 million to resolve civil claims for billing Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE for home health visits for patients who did not qualify to receive them or were not performed and for committing other billing violations.
Many of the civil issues resolved as part of the agreement arose from lawsuits filed by relators, commonly known as "whistleblowers," under the False Claims Act. This law allows whistleblowers who qualify under the statute to receive up to 25 percent of the settlement recovery in cases the government pursues.
In addition to the civil settlement, two subsidiaries of Tennessee based HCA, Columbia Homecare Group Inc. and Columbia Management Companies Inc. entered into a criminal plea
agreement in which they agreed to pay $95,336,432 in criminal fines and plead guilty toseveral charges involving a wide range of criminal conduct which occurred at HCA's hospitals
nationwide.
(“HCA To Pay $840 Million,” 15 Corporate Crime Reporter 1(5), January 1, 2001)
2) HCA ($631,000,000) *
In June 2003, HCA Inc. (formerly known as Columbia/HCA and HCA – The Healthcare Company) will pay the United States $631 million in civil penalties and damages arising from false claims the government alleged it submitted to Medicare and other federal health programs.
The settlement resolves HCA's civil liability for false claims resulting from a variety of allegedly unlawful practices, including cost report fraud and the payment of kickbacks to
physicians. Previously, on December 14, 2000, HCA subsidiaries pled guilty to substantial criminal conduct and paid more than $840 million in criminal fines, civil restitution and penalties.
Combined with a separate administrative settlement with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), under which HCA will pay an additional $250 million to resolve overpayment claims arising from certain of its cost reporting practices, the government will have recovered $1.7 billion from HCA, by far the largest recovery ever reached by the government in a health care fraud investigation.
"Health care providers and professionals hold a public trust, and when that trust is violated by fraud and abuse of program funds, and by the payment of kickbacks to the physicians on whom patients and the programs rely for uncompromised medical judgment,health care for all Americans suffers," Robert D. McCallum, Jr., Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division said. "This settlement brings to a close the largest multi-agency investigation of a health care provider that the United States government has ever undertaken and demonstrates the Department of Justice's ongoing resolve and commitment to pursue all types of fraud on American taxpayers, and health care program beneficiaries."
This latest settlement resolves fraud allegations against HCA and HCA hospitals in nine False Claims Act qui tam or whistleblower lawsuits pending in federal court in the
District of Columbia. Under the federal False Claims Act, private individuals may file suit on behalf of the United States and, if the case is successful, may recover a share of the proceeds for their efforts. Under the settlement, the whistleblowers will receive a combined share of $151,591,500, the highest combined qui tam award ever paid out by the government.
(“HCA Investigation Nets Record $1.7 Billion,” 17 Corporate Crime Reporter 26(4), June
30, 2003)
THE TOP 100 FALSE CLAIMS ACT SETTLEMENTS
A REPORT RELEASED BY CORPORATE CRIME REPORTER DECEMBER 30, 2003 NATIONAL PRESS CLUB
WASHINGTON, D.C.
http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/
INTRODUCTION
The federal False Claims Act is a remarkable law.
It says to citizens of the U.S. – if you have information about corporations that are defrauding the federal government, come forward, tell federal prosecutors about it, and if federal prosecutors can verify your claim, they will join with you and sue the corporation to recover the amount of money that the corporation defrauded from the United States.
If you can prove your case, and the government recovers the defrauded money, then you,ordinary citizen, will get a cut of the recovery – anywhere from 15 to 30 percent.
This law grew out of the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln was upset with companies that sold faulty war supplies to the
Union Army during the Civil War. These faulty supplies included broken rifles, rancid food, useless ammunition, and lame horses and mules. In 1863, President Lincoln called on Congress to pass the False Claims Act. They did and he signed it into law.
Lincoln condemned the corporate criminals in his midst. He put it this way: "Worse than traitors in arms are the men who pretend loyalty to the flag, feast and fatten on the misfortunes of the nation while patriotic blood is crimsoning the plains of the south and their countrymen are moldering in the dust."
The 1863 False Claims Act provided both criminal and civil penalties, contained a qui tam provision, and permitted a whistleblower to collect 50 percent of the damages. Under pressure from contractractors, Congress in 1943 amended the False Claims Act to make it virtually impossible for a whistleblower to successfully recover under the law.But in 1986, facing media reports of defense contractor rip-offs of the Pentagon, a coalition of Democrats and Republicans again amended the law, this time to make it easier to bring qui tam lawsuits under the False Claims Act.
Qui tam is a shorthand version of the Latin phrase: "Qui tam pro domino rege quam pro se ipso," which means: "He who sues on behalf of the King, as well as for Himself"
The qui tam provisions of the allow citizens to sue on behalf of the federal government against corporations who defraud the government. The 1986 amendments made a number of important changes to the law, including requiring the government prove a false claim by a preponderance of evidence instead of higher
standards that had been imposed by courts, providing for treble damages, enhancing the qui tam relator's role in the litigation and enlarging his or her share to between 15-25 percent where the
government participates in the litigation or 25-30 percent where the government declines to participate in the litigation, and protectingthe relators from retaliation by their employers.
Ever since the 1986 amendments to the False Claims Act were passed into law, cases and recoveries to the federal Treasury have grown remarkably.
The government has recovered $12 billion since the 1986 amendments were passed.
This report documents the 100 top settlements under the False Claims Act. The top 100 recoveries brought in a total of $8.2 billion – more than 65 percent of the $12 billion recovered in total under the False Claims Act since it was amended in 1986.
Eight of the top ten settlements involved criminal plea agreements by the companies.
The top 100 settlements ranged from a $731 million settlement in December 2000 with the Tennessee-based health care giant HCA to a $13 million settlement with each of three companies tied for the 100th spot – Kerr-McGee, FMC and First Health Services. In each of the top 100 cases, whistleblowers raked in more than $1 million.
Fifty-six of the top 100 false claims settlements were with health care corporations, while 23 were defense contractors.
The top two settlements were with HCA, the Tennessee based health care corporation –
for $731 million in December 2000 and for $631 million in June 2003.
Rounding out the top five settlements were TAP Pharmaceuticals for $559 million in October 2001, Abbott Labs for $400 million in July 2003, and Fresenius Medical Care for $385 million in January 2000.
The federal government has the authority to prohibit corporations convicted of serious crimes from doing business with the federal government. This debarment or exclusion authority is considered the equivalent of the death penalty,
because for major health care corporations and defense corporations which rely on federal contracts, denying them federal contracts would effectively put them out of business.
The federal government rarely exercises this authority – although it should more often to deter an ongoing pattern of criminal fraud.
THE TOP 100 FALSE CLAIMS ACT SETTLEMENTS: IN BRIEF .....
http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/fraudrep.pdf
"But you have confidence in Les?" asked Mr. Pagan.
"Absolute confidence," replied Mr. Purdy.
"Okay. All right," replied Mr. Pagan.
"Absolute confidence. If Les, Les would never hurt a soul, never," stated Mr. Purdy.
"All right," replied Mr. Pagan.
"But if he'd printed a couple million shares cause he needed a couplemillion, say, say he printed five million shares and the stock was five cents, and he needed 25 grand, I wouldn't put it by him to fuck me for 25 grand," stated Mr. Purdy.
"And then tell me the next day, 'Jack I'm sorry, I needed the 25 grand, a guy was gonna take the stock,' whatever," stated Mr. Purdy.
"It would have shocked you, yeah," replied Mr. Pagan.
"Well, it wouldn't shock me, I'd fucking be horrified, and I'd yell and scream at him and then we'd get up the next day and I'd say, 'Okay, now we're gonna but the fucking stock back at three cents," explained Mr. Purdy.
Medinah's Price anxious to keep Purdy tape away from jury
Medinah Minerals Inc U:MDMN
Shares issued 249,475,716 May 5 close $0.006
Tue 6 May 2003 Street Wire
by Brent Mudry
With his Bermuda Short stock bribery trial barely two weeks off, Howe
Street promoter Les Price has launched a heated attempt to exclude
potentially damaging evidence linking him to fellow Vancouver promoter and
long-time friend John (Jack) Purdy, who faces a separate trial in a money
laundering sting. Assistant United States Attorney Richard Hong of Miami
hopes to show the jury at Mr. Price's trial, set to start May 19, an
undercover video in which the chatty Mr. Purdy brags about his close
relationship with Mr. Price.
Defence lawyer, Paul Donnelly, is now crying foul, arguing that this tape
would unfairly smear his fine client Mr. Price. "The tape and transcript
reflect, however, that Mr. Purdy and Mr. Price are friends who have
conducted past business, but they fall short of reflecting anything of an
illegal or fraudulent nature," states Mr. Donnelly in a court filing posted
Friday in United States District Court for the Southern District of
Florida.
"Mr. Price and Mr. Purdy are charged in separate cases, and the Government
has charged neither gentlemen with conspiring with the other to commit a
crime. Mr. Price is charged under the securities fraud 'realm' of Operation
Bermuda Short, and Mr. Purdy under the money laundering end," states Mr.
Donnelly in his filing.
"The Government does not have Mr. Price on tape concerning the laundering
of drug cartel proceeds, because Mr. Price knew nothing about this alleged
activity."
The evidence fight comes up as both sides gear up for Mr. Price's two-week
trial. Mr. Price was arrested on Aug. 13, after he was lured down to
Florida for the arrest operation.
The two-pronged Bermuda Short Operation -- one for bribing fictitious
mutual fund officials, the other for drug money laundering -- was unveiled
Aug. 15, with the unsealing of 23 indictments and arrests of 58 targets,
including 20 Canadians. All parties remain presumed innocent until and
unless proven otherwise. A number of the targets have pled guilty, some
have been acquitted at trial, a few have had their charges dropped or
stayed, and most, including Mr. Price and Mr. Purdy, maintain their
innocence to the charges.
North Vancouver-based Mr. Price, then the head of Medinah Minerals Inc., a
Howe Street penny stock mining play, was arrested in the mutual fund
bribery sting. His sole co-defendant is Joseph R. Huard Jr., a founder and
officer of Shamrock Partners Ltd., a brokerage based in Media, Penn.
Mr. Price faces a total of 14 charges, including one count of conspiracy to
commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, two counts of
securities fraud and one count of money laundering, the latter relating to
the stock scheme. He faces a theoretical maximum of five years imprisonment
on the conspiracy and wire fraud charges, 10 years for securities fraud and
20 years for money laundering.
The indictment claims Mr. Price agreed to arrange for Mr. Huard, the
undercover agent, the co-operating witnesses and the fictitious corrupt
fund manager a total of $1.5-million in undisclosed kickbacks in return for
the fictitious fund buying $5-million worth of overpriced Medinah shares.
Only a small fraction of these large planned amounts ever changed hands, in
what authorities call a "test trade." The indictment claims the fictitious
fund wired $25,000 to purchase 25,000 Medinah shares, and Medinah, on Mr.
Price's instructions, wired back an alleged bribe of $10,000, less a $20
bank fee, to the undercover agent's account in Miami.
Mr. Purdy was arrested in the separate money laundering part of the Bermuda
Short sting, in which he allegedly agreed to participate in a conspiracy to
launder millions of dollars of dirty money for undercover FBI and RCMP
agents, posing as Colombian Cali cocaine cartel members. Mr. Purdy was
acquitted in his first trial in February, with the jury rejecting critical
testimony of co-defendants Kevan Garner and Harold Jolliffe, who pled
guilty and agreed to co-operate with authorities. He faces a second trial
in July on a second indictment, relating to a different time period in the
Bermuda Short operation.
While the two Bermuda Short stings operations, for stock bribery and money
laundering, were separate and unrelated, prosecutors hope to link Mr. Price
to Mr. Purdy at trial. The bid comes through Rule 404(b), or other bad
acts, evidence, in which U.S. prosecutors try to smear defendants, or show
a more complete picture of them, depending on your viewpoint, by
introducing evidence not directly related to what they were charged with in
their indictments. With this tool, unavailable to authorities in Canada,
prosecutors attempt to show a defendant's other behaviour is "inextricably
intertwined" with the conduct alleged in an indictment.
Mr. Hong, a no-nonsense hardball prosecutor, served 404(b) notice on Mr.
Price on Feb. 14. "The United States intends to introduce at trial a
videotape and transcript (tape number 1445) referencing defendant Les Price
in United States v. Purdy," states the prosecutor in a brief court filing.
"In this videotape, Mr. Purdy discusses his relationship with the defendant
Les Price and defendant Price's involvement with Mr. Purdy's activities
with NP Energy and Medina Mining/Medinah Minerals. The evidence shows the
context and background, as well as the intent, motive, plan, knowledge,
identity (modus operandi), and absence of mistake or accident."
After mulling over this potentially distressing bombshell for 2-1/2 months,
Mr. Price and his defence attorney Mr. Donnelly fired back a detailed
response this past week, seeking to exclude the proposed 404(b) evidence.
Mr. Donnelly notes that while Mr. Purdy is alleged to have agreed to
launder millions of dollars of Colombian drug money through one of his
companies, he was acquitted in February after a trial in which Mr. Hong
played excerpts of the tape in question. The undercover tape was made Feb.
21, 2002, when Mr. Purdy met on a yacht in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with Bill
McDonald, the codename for the undercover agent, Ricardo Pagan, the
undercover FBI agent, and Michael Pizzio, an undercover operative.
Mr. Price's defence lawyer asserts that while the yacht participants
allegedly discussed the laundering of drug proceeds, at no time during the
meeting did Mr. Purdy discuss a securities deal or the transfer or sale of
any securities.
"At no point during said meeting, as reflected by tape and transcript, did
Mr. Purdy state or indicate that defendant Price knew Mr. Purdy was in
Florida negotiating any deals, knew anything about Mr. Purdy's proposed
transaction(s), or that his name would event (sic) be mentioned by Mr.
Purdy," states the lawyer in his filing. "In fact, the tape and transcript
underscore the fact that Mr. Price knew nothing of Mr. Purdy's business
venture with the agents and co-operating witness and did nothing in
furtherance thereof."
Mr. Donnelly also points out that Mr. Price has not been accused or
indicted as a co-conspirator of Mr. Purdy or alleged to be an unindicted
co-conspirator. Instead, Mr. Price is just charged with securities fraud
and related counts. Count 14 of Mr. Price's indictment relates to money
laundering, but this stems solely from the allegedly illegal transfer of
$9,980 in the Medinah deal, and not from any drug money.
"Mr. Price has never been alleged to have any dealings with drug cartels or
drug money -- only defendant Purdy."
In his filing, Mr. Donnelly argues that the yacht tape shows not a single
overt act committed by Mr. Price. "The Government proffers a videotape and
transcript which refute that Mr. Price did anything with regard to Mr.
Purdy's negotiations and/or even knew anything about Mr. Purdy's
association with the agents and co-operating witness. In sum, Mr. Price did
nothing and knew nothing -- all of which is buttressed by the proferred
evidence."
The defence attorney suggests that playing this yacht tape for the jury
would be nothing more than an unfair and improper bid to taint his client
Mr. Price.
"The defendant asserts that the only reason the government seeks to use
said proferred evidence is to show that Mr. Price is friends with and has
had past business deals with Jack Purdy, an indicted money launderer,"
states Mr. Donnelly in his filing.
"Its attempt to tie defendant Price to defendant Purdy through NP Energy
and Medinah Minerals (mentioned on tape by only Mr. Purdy) is a pretext for
its true intent of proffering said evidence; that is, to show that Les
Price associates with a reputed money launderer. It is the clearest form of
'character' evidence specifically prohibited by Rule 404(b)."
In his motion, the defence attorney seeks to throw out the yacht tape and
have it ruled inadmissible at the trial of Mr. Price.
The transcript of the Fort Lauderdale yacht meeting shows the undercover
agents trying to engage Mr. Purdy on numerous issues, including Mr. Price,
Medinah and NP Energy, and the talkative Mr. Purdy rarely at a loss for
words.
At one point, Mr. Purdy told the undercover operatives that he had been
involved with Medinah first.
"It was my company, I sold it to Les," states Mr. Purdy
"Les who?" asks the RCMP undercover officer Mr McDonald.
"Price. He's just a Vancouver guy, he's been in the markets forever, he had
a company called Cuomo trading on oil and gas," replied Mr. Purdy.
"Is he a partner of yours or ...," asks Mr. Pagan.
"Yeah, oh yeah," replies Mr. Purdy.
"And he still owns it?" asks Mr. Pagan.
"Yeah, it's his company," replies Mr. Purdy.
Mr. Purdy then pumped up Mr. Price with some modest puffery. "He's you
know. Les had a company trading at 40 dollars on the Vancouver Stock
Exchange when the biggest stock out there was two bucks."
"Well, he's just, you know, and he took Medinah and bought all the assets
around Dayton ... Dayton put 250 million dollars," Mr. Purdy told the yacht
attendees.
"What's Dayton?" asked Mr. McDonald.
"Into Chile. Dayton Mining. And then, and then lost 250 million bucks on
their, on their mines, Les went and sat down with the local guys and had
the property all around it, and stuck it out in Dayton's eye, bought all
these little key pieces all around, and he's winning now, he's making it
work. He went through a real rough time," replied Mr. Purdy.
"And he's a partner of yours, though?" asked Mr. Pagan.
"Yeah," replied Mr. Purdy.
"Well, that was something, how long has he been a partner of yours?" asked
Mr. Pagan.
"Oh, ten years," replied Mr. Purdy.
"So he's, he's somebody that can be trusted then too," asked Mr. Pagan.
"Absolutely trust him," replied Mr. Purdy.
Mr. McDonald then piped in, saying, "Cause that was, that was something."
"Same with Jolliffe and ...," added Mr. Pagan.
"The only thing you can't trust Les in, is he's not, he's not, there's one
thing that it's called trust, which means you can trust a guy he's not
gonna screw you," offered Mr. Purdy.
"Yeah," responded Mr. Pagan.
"But don't, don't, don't always go on trust. Go on brilliance. Really nice
trustworthy guys can take fucking piles of money and make them steaming
shit," Mr. Purdy told the undercover men.
"Les is too nice. I mean he's, he's too nice to people all the time. Gives
people fucking stock and you know believes that they're gonna, you know,
you know hands a guy a million shares and prays that the guy's gonna help
him get his market going. First thing the guy's gonna do is sell the
million shares," stated Mr. Purdy.
"So you're telling Les is not brilliant," replied Mr. Pagan.
"I, I, I, I said Les, I love you to death, you are one dumb shit. But I,
you know I've known him for years," stated Mr. Purdy.
"But you know, I'm just going back...," replied Mr. Pagan.
"You can do business with him, you got to do it in your terms," explained
Mr. Purdy.
"Can he, can he handle, like one of the things we talked about when I was
looking before is, is an ability to get money into the system, now you,
we're talking about using Medinah as, as getting some shares," stated Mr.
Pagan.
"Yep, and that's...," replied Mr. Purdy.
"Can that still be done?" asked Mr. Pagan.
"Yep. Yep," replied Mr. Purdy.
"Okay, what's, what's, what's Les looking for, like what's that gonna cost
me to, how much can he take?" asked Mr. McDonald. "Mmmm, and you know what,
I, I don't want to just rely on Medinah, cause one of the things I know
about it, it hasn't traded worth shit, and it's got about 80 million shares
outstanding."
Mr. Purdy was upbeat, despite the skepticism of the undercover RCMP
officer.
"It's starting to trade now. Like...," replied Mr. Purdy.
"Is it a (unintelligible)?" asked the officer.
"It, it used to be. It used to be, and now that he's getting back on his
feet again, (unintelligible) took over Dayton. She's a well-known Vancouver
mining figure, okay?" said Mr. Purdy.
"Yeah," replied Mr. Pagan.
"She took over Dayton at Christmas time. He was, he was hammer locked with
Dayton. Now he's out of that. Dayton will start moving. Medinah will start
moving. He's got a big resorts. He's got a good go resorts, it's worth
money," explained Mr. Purdy.
"Can you, can you control that (unintelligible), if we start putting money
into it?" asked Mr. McDonald.
"Yeah. Yep. Yeah, if you put money into it, I can control it, yeah,"
replied Mr. Purdy.
"Okay," said Mr. McDonald.
"What I would do is I'd put someone on the board, Les would stand down,
we'd put a good mining guy on the board, we'd throw around nickels like
they were golf... like they were manhole covers, cause you don't need to
spend a whole lot of money there, that... resort's basically developed, and
we'd go a good... on a big awareness campaign. I'd do London, Zurich...,"
said Mr. Purdy.
"And how long is that, how long is that gonna take?" asked Mr. McDonald.
"90 days," replied Mr. Purdy.
"Wow, that... okay. Cause what we're looking at, what we're looking at here
Jack, understand everything is, think of it in two streams. We're looking
at two-fold here," explained Mr. McDonald.
"Yeah," replied Mr. Purdy.
"Quick turnaround so we can use it, and then the money that we can use we
want to use it, we want to start investing it wisely, so it's... these are
our two prongs. Can Med... can Medinah do both of those for us?" asked Mr.
McDonald.
"Maybe. I know he's got, he's got some Brits that are giving him five
million bucks now. I don't know what that deal is. It's his deal. I sold
him the shell, sold him all my stock to him at two bucks," replied Mr.
Purdy.
"You're no longer part of it?" asked Mr. McDonald.
"No. Well, I've got a little bit of, I mean I see Les every day. We're
friends. You know we're partners in the NP (NP Energy)," replied Mr. Purdy.
"What'd you get out of it?" asked Mr. McDonald.
"200 grand. I sold him the shell, ah, and he went and built it. You know he
took a guy named Ian Vall (phonetic) and went and bought all these assets
in Chile, I (unintelligible)... I think 300,000 shares or something, I, I
think he paid me a hundred grand for the shell, and then I sold 300,000
shares between 50 cents and two bucks, sold the stock. And I help him all
the time, you know, and I, I, I take bits and pieces of his Medinah stock
and financing back and forth," replied Mr. Purdy. "What Les is is he's an
old time promoter."
Mr. Purdy then offered a brief fuzzy history of Howe Street regarding Mr.
Price.
"Okay? He's old school. Good old guy, you know knows everybody. He started
out with Continental Carlisle, which was before Canaccord, which was before
Yorkton. He knows when the Vancouver brokerage, he brought Peter Brown out
from Toronto, who runs Canaccord," stated Mr. Purdy.
The undercover operatives then tried to establish how much, if any, power
Mr. Purdy held with Mr. Price and Medinah, and whether he could deliver
Medinah as a laundering vehicle.
"If I said to Les, Les I want to be a part of it, I'd be part of it like
that (Mr. Purdy snaps his fingers), he trusts me, he loves me," stated Mr.
Purdy.
"We you recommend being part of it?" asked Mr. Pagan.
"I would only recommend being part of it if you had very tight control.
I've said that twice," replied Mr. Purdy.
"But how do we get that?" asked Mr. McDonald.
"Well you get it through me. I dictate policy," replied Mr. Purdy.
"How do we cont... how do, okay, but what's that gonna cost us for that
control?" asked Mr. McDonald.
"I, I don't know, I've got to sit down with him. If you want, he's got a
great conduit and he's got a great liquid stock, I don't know the status. I
know the status of his two properties, and they're good gold properties, I
don't know if he's debentured into someone else, and we ain't going there
if we don't have a good debenture on the asset. That way if something fucks
up we can pull you out," replied Mr. Purdy.
After the conversation drifted to other topics, a short while later Mr.
McDonald, the RCMP officer, brought up another of Mr. Price's companies, NP
Energy, and Mr. Purdy explained how NP could fit into the undercover
agents' plans.
The agents were quite interested in NP Energy, as it had a major stake in
Mr. Jolliffe's Bolivian Hardwood, the only company noted in the money
laundering indictments. NP Energy also named Bolivian Hardwood principal
Mr. Jolliffe to its board. There is no suggestion that Mr. Price had any
involvement or any knowledge whatsoever of any drug money laundering
operations.
In September, 2000, NP Energy acquired a 10-per-cent stake in Bolivian,
with an option to acquire an additional 39-per-cent stake. "NP Energy
Corporation plans to raise several million dollars in order to expand
operations of Bolivian Hardwood to further develop markets for the lumber
produced and to substantially increase the company's timber acreage
position in Bolivia," stated NP Energy in a press release.
"Management of NP Energy Corporation firmly believes that the acquisition
of this interest in Bolivian Hardwood Corporation and the addition of Mr.
Harold Jolliffe to the board of directors, will quickly move the company
forward following its recent reorganization that was approved at the
Special Stockholder's Meeting May 22, 2000."
With this context in the background, the undercover agents chatted up Mr.
Purdy about using NP Energy and Bolivian as potential money laundering
vehicles.
"You're gonna buy out... here's the way you do NP Energy, Les and his guys
are, are gonna want a half million bucks, and they no... negotiate them
down to 250 grand," suggested Mr. Purdy.
"He's my partner at NP," stated Mr. Purdy.
"Les is?" asked Mr. McDonald.
"Yeah," replied Mr. Purdy.
The undercover men then quizzed Mr. Purdy on his position in NP Energy.
"So you control most of it anyway?" asked Mr. McDonald.
"Oh yeah," replied Mr. Purdy.
"So we have that... what percentage do you control, so we know we're
protected?" asked Mr. McDonald.
"Oh you're really protected, but here's what we're gonna do with Les. Les
has got other things, he wants to build (unintelligible)," replied Mr.
Purdy.
"I don't mean to be, but you didn't answer his question. How much do you
own of that?" asked Mr. Pagan.
"Of NP? Ah... Good question, there was... there was, it was rolled back ten
to one, so I think there's nine million shares in the float. Okay? At the
ten to one, there's nine million out, rolled back ten to one. So there's
about, there's about nine million shares in the hands of what we call the
great unwashed. It's in the float. There's 6,000 registered shareholders,
so it's got a huge float," replied Mr. Purdy, again failing to answer the
question.
"Okay, all right," replied Mr. Pagan.
"The stock's, the stock's seen eight bucks, stock's seen one penny, the
stock's a penny now, and nobody cares," stated Mr. Purdy.
The agents then pressed Mr. Purdy on how strongly he believed in Mr. Price.
"I control a lot of companies in my building," stated Mr. Purdy.
"But you have confidence in Les?" asked Mr. Pagan.
"Absolute confidence," replied Mr. Purdy.
"Okay. All right," replied Mr. Pagan.
"Absolute confidence. If Les, Les would never hurt a soul, never," stated
Mr. Purdy.
"All right," replied Mr. Pagan.
"But if he'd printed a couple million shares cause he needed a couple
million, say, say he printed five million shares and the stock was five
cents, and he needed 25 grand, I wouldn't put it by him to fuck me for 25
grand," stated Mr. Purdy.
"And then tell me the next day, 'Jack I'm sorry, I needed the 25 grand, a
guy was gonna take the stock,' whatever," stated Mr. Purdy.
"It would have shocked you, yeah," replied Mr. Pagan.
"Well, it wouldn't shock me, I'd fucking be horrified, and I'd yell and
scream at him and then we'd get up the next day and I'd say, 'Okay, now
we're gonna but the fucking stock back at three cents," explained Mr.
Purdy.
"Right," replied Mr. Pagan.
"It's gonna cost me 15 fucking grand," stated Mr. Purdy.
"Right," replied Mr. Pagan.
"For your last bonehead move, giving those shitheads stock," stated Mr.
Purdy.
After this theoretical scenario, the agents finally pinned Mr. Purdy down
on his control of NP Energy.
"... All I'm saying is you're asking for market cap, and I can't tell you,
I don't have the book, books and records. To my knowledge there's 15
million shares printed and I've got half of it. You know," stated Mr.
Purdy.
"And how much do you control over, over the other half?" asked Mr.
McDonald.
"Well, all of it, I buy, I buy it all back," replied Mr. Purdy.
"So you basically control this play, that's what we're looking at,"
asserted Mr. McDonald.
"I absolutely... but what we do is with Les, I know he wants a half million
bucks for his due... for his stock, he's had this thing since 1976. But I
can say to him, I'm gonna leave you with a little bit of paper, I'm gonna
give you 250 grand. At that point in time, you guys own 50 per cent of the
deal, period," Mr. Purdy told the undercover agents.
Mr. Purdy then explained how he helped arrange for NP Energy to acquire 10
per cent of Bolivian Hardwood, and how this fit in with further financing
plans for Bolivian.
"The reason I gave 10 per cent is cause I wanted to see if I could use it
(NP Energy) to raise money. I printed a brochure, which laid out the story.
The story's we need to raise 10 million bucks, some guys were... six point
eight million dollars U.S., but it needs a couple million more, but I
thought, I'll put the brochure out there and see if anybody salutes,"
explained Mr. Purdy.
None of this implicates Mr. Price in any way, of course, and he was neither
involved in the yacht conversation nor even aware of it. Mr. Price's
defence lawyer, however, would much rather have this tape ruled
inadmissible than try to explain to the jury how irrelevant it really might
be.
(c) Copyright 2003 Canjex Publishing Ltd. http://www.stockwatch.com
Russell Godwin is at large with the info and he was the WEB MASTER of deceit 1996/2003.
To:Handshake who started this subject
From: bully Sunday, May 25, 2003 10:14 PM
View Replies (1) / Respond to of 163
Me thinks that JORGE..."from R B" might be trying to squeeze the bad ass M F ....
« MDMN Message list / Reply to msg. / Post new msg. « Older / Newer »
By: accountableone
20 May 2003, 09:29 PM EDT Msg. 55975 of 55976
(This msg. is a reply to 55974 by accountableone.)
Jump to msg. #
Russell Godwin is at large with the info and he was the WEB MASTER of deceit 1996/2003.
Russell Godwin - Ian Dow's - Leslie Price's - Sam Ponnayya - Pamel;a Fitzpatrick - John "Jack" Purdy - Larry Regis - Greg Chapin - Dave Di Ricco and COHORTS top MISTAKES:
1. To chaist the person that gave them the mining discoveries at the first place. Jorge Lopehandia & Family.
2. To chaist the SEC.
3. To chaist Tax & Revenue Canada + IRS.
4. To change corporate names so many times... TOO OBVIOUS!!
* Dayton crossdresed only ONCE into PMU... to vanish Andacollo - Churrumata and 5000 jobs 1997-2003. Medinah did other 5000 in and the FEAST of theft was accomplished!
5. To steal Jorge Lopehandia's and Cristobal Lopehandia's AUDITS 1996-1997, and to sue Dayton in Chile, over expenses in Titles Medinah did NOT own, either - paid for - or litigious rights (purchased in 1998 from Julio Tornero by Jorge Lopehandia, with shares of medinah Mining for the Record, after Medinah had sued DAYTON illegally over it in Nevada USA. Jorge Lopehandia alerted Dayton's Bill Myckatyn & Medinah's Leslie Price. Price cahooted with Myckatyn against Tornero and Lopehandia, to extort out the titles by financial suffocation.
6. Not to make shareholders earn profits or dividends. All monies raiesed in exchanges were laundered by Leslie Price via Ian Dow and Juan Jose Quijano - Ricardo de La Maza Boschaner in Chile, and via Jack - John Purdy + Sam Ponnayya Jr. Plus Kenneth Taschuck & wife + pamela Fitzpatrick, solely into:
Pocone Brasil + Island in the South of Chile with Gold Milss 1997-1998, Island of Bamsfeld REICHTAG of Purdy et al, Banf investments, Metroplus telecommunications consolidation and "arms length expansion", Habanos in Dominican Republic, gambling in Vegas, plus a ROSARY STRING of corporations to "keep the flame alive and the multiple trading accounts of insiders Like Price and Dow et al, at full steam - full speed ahead".
7. To have placed "conehead" Quijano, a petty thief and circumventor of his 1996 employers (Lopehandia & Garcia Diaz Family)- while in contract to Price, Ian Dow convinced with top dollars and tickets to the World Cup in Italy to see Chile play soccer. DENY that Medinah, is in Quijano's immigration papers to Italy and your filthy cash transfered against filthy dishonet money laundering of the Lopehandia's and Garcia's 1996 contracts.
The fraud was so huge, that Quijano qualifies for the same medicine that Price had, - "AUTOMATIC DISBARRING" when it hits the fan.
8. So Quijano, this twisted Lawyer and antisocial betrayer of his Legal clients, is covering up for the previous antisocial insider of RGM Communications and Maximum Resources, Russell Godwin, the INSULTER of the USA's DOJ, regarding "DOJ's no knowledge of the brilliancy of Medinah's & Quijano's Lipangue $$$ Laundering Fraud", Russell the INVENTOR of DATA, erroneously, interpreted Lipangue's "status", as the DOJ's case against Price, in case Russell is reading, the DOJ's 1998-1999 & 2000 case will clearly refer to - Mina Claudia Fraud documents.
9. Not paying US$500,000 to Lopehandia's & Garcias's in September 1997, abandoning thus, the Mina Claudia option, September 05 1997.
10. Commencing KMT's Internet thread September 21, 1997 with Mina Claudia as the STARLET ASSET - also optioned to Ian Dow's - Russell Godwin's - Gordon House's Maximum Resources VSE. That is weeks after OPTION was cancelled.
11. Russell Godwin who himself was acting in concert with another antisocial insider of Maximum Resources - Geologist & Director Pumper of the same company Medinah.... a NO NO!!!
Mr. Gordon House.... recently... published falsely during 1997, 1998, 1999 that Mina Claudia was producing 200 tons of Copper per day and was been sold to ENAMI, they showed Mr. Lopehandia's photos of Robert Rosner, Penn Gold's ex president dated 1995!.
These named antisocials, were all covering for the previous antisocial in charge of medinah Minerals, a.k.a., the new Legal Advisor on Chile matters for Medinah, indicted ex CEO, Leslie Phillip Price, suspended until 2004 by the BCSEC.
Medinah has sure reasons to hide this type of record and Mr. Lopehandia has all the right to show the documents and to invite shareholders to listen to lucky 25 & HPOBET, ask questions and demand counter evidence to Mr. Lopehandia's facts.
A signal? Barrick fired Mr. Randall Oliphant a couple of weeks prior to Mr. Oliphant's "trip to face Chile's Judicial for the theft of Pascua mine for US$25".
In accordance to Mr. Lopehandia, Dayton got US$150 Million hypothecating his Churrumata properties later "chaisted by Medinah" in 1995. There are 7 million + Medinah stolen ounces that Mr. Lopehandia's titles cover.
Medinah will never mine a gram in Chile, equal to its infamous 1996/2003 "mining record".
Medinah was "lucky to mine its shareholders, the FBI's and the public's pockets, 1996/2003"<b.
http://www.siliconinvestor.com/stocktalk/msg.gsp?msgid=18973776
The original post on RB is deleted
WHOIS whois.opensrs.net investigatethesec.com:
Registrant:
RGM Communications Inc.
307-475 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC V6C 2B3
CA
Domain name: INVESTIGATETHESEC.COM
Administrative Contact:
Godwin, Russell rgodwin@rgm.com
307-475 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC V6C 2B3
CA
6046871414 Fax: 6046874611
Technical Contact:
Schepannek, Carl info@talou.net
416 - 470 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC V6C 1V5
CA
+1.6046885959 Fax: +1.6046885950
Terror plot to attack US with BA jets
David Leppard
January 04, 2004
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-951276,00.html
AN Al-Qaeda suicide plot to hijack several passenger jets simultaneously — including a British Airways flight — and crash them into high-profile American targets has been uncovered by the security services.
The American capital and nuclear power stations on the country’s East Coast are said to have been among the terrorists’ potential targets.
The September 11-style plot explains the grounding of 10 US-bound flights across the world over the seasonal break.
According to a senior intelligence source, an informant tipped off authorities the weekend before Christmas. He claimed that Islamic extremists intended to hijack flights operated by BA, Air France and AeroMexico, the Mexican national carrier.
The informant said that as well as targeting Washington, New York and Los Angeles, the terrorists were planning to launch a strike on an oil terminal in Alaska. A CIA assessment of his information subsequently identified nuclear plants on the eastern coast of America as possible targets.
Detailed security checks were conducted on all US-bound flights operated by the three carriers after the intelligence emerged about the alleged plot. All passenger lists were cross-checked against an FBI watchlist of known terrorist suspects.
As a result, 10 US-bound flights were grounded: two BA flights to Washington, two AeroMexico flights from Mexico City to LA and six Air France flights from Paris to LA. At least three other flights were escorted into American airports by F-16 fighter jets and one Mexican airliner was even forced to turn back in mid-air.
BA also grounded two flights to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which were due to fly on New Year’s Eve and yesterday afternoon. It is understood that these cancellations related to separate intelligence.
Although flight 223, BA’s service to Washington, was cleared by British officials for take-off yesterday afternoon after being cancelled for two days running, the United States was still not satisfied, leaving it delayed on the runway for 3½ hours while the 225 passengers were subjected to additional questioning on board.
The aircraft eventually took off at 6.30pm and was due to arrive at Washington Dulles airport at 2.10am today.
Intelligence sources yesterday confirmed that the cancellation of the US-bound services was triggered by information provided by an informant “outside the US”. The warning was of an imminent attack on American soil with Washington, Los Angeles and New York identified as targets.
It is thought that another target was the Alaskan port of Valdez, the terminal for an 800-mile pipeline which carries 17% of America’s domestic oil supply. The informant also named specific routes and flight numbers, including BA223, as part of the hijack plot. It is understood that intercepts of communications between known terrorist suspects also suggested the significant risk of an attack.
On the same weekend that the intelligence was received from the informant, Tom Ridge, the US homeland security secretary, raised the security threat for US citizens to “code orange”, the second highest level. He said that the country faced the risk of a terror strike which “could either rival or exceed” September 11.
All passenger lists on the jets believed to be potential targets were checked. Valdez was put on high alert and the transfer of oil to tankers was suspended. Some passengers listed on Air France flights to LA appeared to match suspects on the terror watchlist and six flights were cancelled on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. One passenger who had a similar name to a Tunisian terrorist turned out to be a five-year-old child.
French security officials insisted that the decision to ground the planes was taken on the basis of “significant intelligence”. One of the passengers who failed to turn up was a trained pilot from the Middle East who has since disappeared and cannot be traced, according to US intelligence sources.
Checks on the British passenger lists revealed other apparent matches with names on the terror watchlist, but none is thought to have been confirmed.
Spurious matches are not uncommon because of the similarity of many Arabic names. As well as checks on specific aircraft, new security measures were implemented. The British government said last Sunday that armed air marshals would be deployed on US-bound flights where needed.
David Blunkett, the home secretary, wants to hold an urgent meeting of the British and American “contact group”, which contains security and intelligence officials, police and politicians from the two countries.
There are signs of tension between London and Washington over the extent to which Britain follows every command from the United States after terror alerts. “The notion that the US can bounce the rest of us into cancelling flights all the time needs to be addressed,” said one British minister.
Yesterday passengers checking in for BA flight 223 to Washington Dulles airport said that they were not deterred by the security alert surrounding the service.
Ralph Hodgson, 58, a businessman from Newcastle, said: “I’ve absolutely no worries at all about getting on this flight. I think if anything’s going to happen, if your number’s called, then your number’s going to be called.”
In a separate security alert BA’s flight to Riyadh was cancelled for the second time in four days after intelligence reports relating to a potential surface-to-air missile attack on a British carrier.
This weekend government officials were believed to be advising the Saudi authorities on measures to improve ground security at Riyadh airport.
Bank of America talked up Parmalat's bonds
By Edward Simpkins (Filed: 04/01/2004)
Bank of America, one of the world's largest banks, said that "patient" holders of more than $1bn (£559m) of Parmalat bonds would be "well rewarded", just two months before the disgraced Italian milk conglomerate was on the brink of bankruptcy.
On October 6, Bank of America Securities - a subsidiary of Bank of America - wrote that Parmalat's "credit statistics, consistent growth and strong cash flow generation . . . clearly warrant a better rating and lower risk premium in the credit markets".
By December 8, Parmalat's shares were suspended due to fears that it would default on part of its debt. It filed for bankruptcy on Christmas Eve and the bonds are now trading at about 20 per cent of their face value.
In the Bank of America Securities' research note, which has been seen by the Telegraph, the firm writes that it was initiating coverage on Parmalat's bonds with a "composite" neutral recommendation.
The note says it has a "buy rating on Parmalat's products, brands and operations, a neutral rating on corporate governance and a sell rating on its capital structure and financing policies".
Bank of America's role in the months leading up to Parmalat's collapse is under intense scrutiny by regulators in the US and Italy. It has been involved in privately placing debt for Parmalat with a face value of $800m (£447m) since 1997.
It was an important protagonist in Parmalat's ultimate demise when it disclosed last month that a letter claiming to show details of accounts containing €3.7bn (£2.6bn) in the name of a Parmalat subsidiary was a forgery.
Meanwhile, America's Securities and Exchange Commission has told the Telegraph that it is planning to widen its prosecution relating to Parmalat to cover about $1.5bn (£838m) of debt raised in a series of placings in the US.
Lawrence West, an SEC investigator who last week visited Italy to liaise with prosecutors in Milan and Parma, said that the amended prosecution may name banks and company officials.
"It appears that there was an enormous fraud going on and there were offerings with US banks involved, so it would be reasonable to assume that would be part of our investigation," said West in an exclusive interview.
Referring to the $1.5bn of US placings, he said: "I think they were issued by Parmalat fraudulently . . . There is a good possibility that there will be an amended complaint filed at some point and we will get into more detail about that."
Along with Bank of America, banks involved in Parmalat debt placements include Morgan Stanley, which executed a €300m (£167m) placement in June last year, and JP Morgan Chase, which issued Parmalat debt in the 1990s. There is no suggestion that they or Bank of America were involved in any wrong-doing. Bank of America was not returning calls yesterday.
Yesterday, Calisto Tanzi, the founder of Parmalat who is being held in custody, agreed to hand over his family's 50 per cent holding in the Italian food firm to its administrator.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2004/01/04/cnboa04.xml&menuId=242&sSh...
Cleaners are called in to clear court of 'voodoo dust'
By Ian Ball in Miami
(Filed: 04/01/2004)
An American lawyer has been convicted of money laundering after a trial disrupted by allegations that voodoo magic was being used to influence the outcome.
Judge Patricia Seitz was forced to order extraordinary security measures at a Florida court building during the trial of Juan Carlos Elso after the veteran prosecution lawyer, Richard Gregorie, complained that his clothes were being ruined by voodoo powder.
A Santeria offering found outside the court building: a dead chicken
The debonair Mr Gregorie complained to the judge that his dry-cleaning bills had become worryingly onerous as the trial progressed, apparently because someone was scattering a good luck charm on his chair and in his files of evidence.
Famed for his eloquence, Mr Gregorie pleaded for judicial intercession. "It's the Santeria dust, Your Honour," he said, referring to the animist religion popular in Cuba. His prosecuting colleague showed Judge Seitz a large quantity of the grey dust collected from evidence boxes. Judge Seitz ordered that the court be vacuumed to clean up the powder and also locked during each recess.
Outside the court, followers of Santeria played down the ominous overtones of the incident, pointing out that white powder can only be used to bring good luck and speculated that it was being spread around the court to sway the jury and the judge in favour of the accused. If that was the case, it was singularly unsuccessful: the jury found Elso guilty on three counts of laundering hundreds of dollars for cocaine-running clients.
Miami styles itself "Magic City", such is the prevalence of outlandish beliefs in its suburbs, so the case raised few eyebrows outside the legal profession, which was shocked that the practice had penetrated the venerable halls presided over by Judge Seitz. The federal courthouse is rarely afflicted by black magic whereas the state criminal courthouse nearby is known as a hotbed of such practices.
Housed in a building at the corner where 13th Street meets 13th Avenue, the state court even has a janitorial crew dubbed "the Voodoo Squad" to remove various items of sacrifice including chickens, roosters and goats as well as mysterious candle formations.
Indeed, voodoo was also playing a key role in a case there, even as Mr Gregorie was demanding that all trace of the black arts be expunged from the federal court. Emmanuel Etienne, a 29-year-old Haitian charged with the second-degree murder of his girlfriend, Vayola Hercules, 31, was using the influence of voodoo in his defence.
The police case against him was outlined as a straightforward crime of passion. Furious that his girlfriend was having an affair, Etienne had allegedly shot and killed Vayola after a row. Then he turned the gun on himself but survived.
Three alleged confessions were presented in court but Etienne has attempted to blame Vayola's first husband, a Haitian who allegedly has the ability to turn himself into an armed but headless donkey. This remarkable feat is achieved by, as one of the doctors delicately put it, "expelling three flatulents".
This beast is said to have killed Vayola, then forced Etienne to write a confession in lipstick on the bedroom wall, telephone two Haitian women to confess and then put a bullet into his forehead.
Two doctors brought in by the court have judged Etienne mentally fit to stand trial but two others have advised that he be remanded to a psychiatric institution. A fifth expert is being brought in later this month to cast the deciding vote.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/01/04/wvood04.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/01...
Martha in the dock
(Filed: 04/01/2004)
Martha Stewart, the wholesome home-making guru of middle America, goes on trial next week for obstructing justice. Her expensive legal team is primed for the fight, but can courtroom savvy and her own powerful charm be enough to elude a 10-year sentence? William Langley reports.
It is Trial of the Century time again, and Martha Stewart, America's doyenne of domesticity - perhaps the only woman in the world who decants her washing-up liquid - is in big trouble. The preliminary skirmishes are over, the media circus is assembled, and on January 12 at the Manhattan Federal Courthouse, a jury will be asked to decide if Martha is a crook.
Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum, 72, will preside. A veteran of the New York Circuit she is a political conservative and best known for the landmark ruling that drove the porn industry out of Times Square. She and Martha have some common ground: they are old girls of the same New York college - Barnard.
According to the indictment, Martha Stewart obstructed justice by covering up her part in an insider share-trading scandal, but Martha knows what the real charge is. "In China," she told the New Yorker recently, "they say the thinner the chopsticks, the higher the social status. Of course, I have got the thinnest I could find. That's why people hate me."
We shouldn't be surprised. It takes a tough woman to make a tender meatloaf, and the former Martha Kostyra, the daughter of a hard-drinking Polish shoe salesman, had few breaks in her early life.
In the course of a long, remarkable ascent to the pine-scented summits of modern home-making, Martha, 62, has been variously described as an "egomaniac", "a pain in the ass", and a "dominatrix with a Magimix". Millions of Americans, however, love her.
Some legal observers have suggested that finding a jury of 12 men and women with no strong opinion on Martha may be impossible. The trial will begin with jury selection, and as trials involving controversial public figures are notoriously prone to jury-selection difficulties, the process could not only take weeks, but, possibly, scupper the whole proceedings.
Martha's power has made her immensely rich - in 1999, when Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia was floated on the New York Stock Exchange, her worth was estimated at $1 billion. But has it also made her greedy? In the run-up to the trial, Martha has been cast as a deluded believer in her own candidacy for sainthood, and even those of her fans who thought hubris was a Greek starter are now having to wonder if her fall from grace is not deserved.
To add to her troubles, the normally immaculate Martha has not been looking her best. Her last public appearance was on The Larry King Show in late December. "This is not my best Christmas," she admitted.
The charges against Martha are relatively simple. In early 1999 she bought $80,000 (£50,000) worth of shares in a bio-medical company, ImClone, run by Sam Waksal, an ex-lover of Martha's 38-year-old daughter, Alexis. Although the romance ended in the early 1990s, Waksal and Martha remained friends.
For a woman of Martha's wealth, the amount of money involved in the ImClone deal was tiny. "It represented," reveals one of her lawyers, "less than .003 per cent of her wealth at that time." Even so, Martha is likely to have known exactly what she was doing when she bought the shares. Behind the mother-hen persona is a fiercely focused businesswoman and former Wall Street stockbroker.
Waksal, a debonair New York businessman for whom the corporate excesses of the 1980s never really went out of fashion, had bet his company's future on a new anti-cancer drug, Erbitux. If the treatment won approval from America's Food and Drug Administration the shares, he knew, were certain to fly. But on Boxing Day, 2001, Waksal learned that the FDA was going to reject Erbitux in fairly emphatic terms, rendering ImClone effectively worthless.
He immediately - and illegally - arranged to sell as much of his own holding as he could. Securities laws categorically forbid company directors from benefiting from any information which is not available to other shareholders. In June last year, Waksal, 55, pleaded guilty to insider trading and was jailed for seven years.
Waksal, however, was not the only one anxious to be rid of ImClone shares. On December 27, just one day after Waksal disposed of his holding, Martha unloaded hers. Why?
Investigators believe that she was tipped off about the company's problems by Waksal. Any other explanation, says James Comey, the Manhattan federal prosecutor, strains credulity.
In the three years that Mr Comey has been US Attorney for the South District of New York, the 42-year-old has gained a formidable reputation. His determination to go after the wealthy and powerful - most notably Frank Quattrone, the superstar Wall Street broker - have brought him a following among ordinary New Yorkers.
Six-foot-seven and married with five children, Mr Comey says he chose law enforcement as a career at 16 after discovering an armed intruder in his family home. "I thought I was going to die," he says. "It made me think seriously about the rights of victims."
To support his arguments against Martha, Mr Comey's department - represented in court by Karen Seymour, the head of the South District's criminal division - is likely to present telephone records showing that, on the morning of the sale, a number of calls were made between Waksal's offices, Martha, and her stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic, who also acted as broker for Waksal.
All perfectly innocent, argues Martha. She claims that Bacanovic had a long-standing instruction to sell the shares if they fell below $60. As "proof", she has produced a set of scribbled notes taken during a meeting between herself and the broker in which "@ 60" is written in blue ballpoint pen alongside the details of the ImClone investment. (The stock was sold at $58.43, fetching $228,000.)
The authorities, unconvinced, ordered a forensic analysis of the notes and found that "@ 60" was written with a different pen and at a different time to all the other entries. They also claim that Martha tampered with her office phone log to remove or amend incriminating details of calls. Having nevertheless concluded that insider trading would be difficult to prove, the prosecution has opted for a charge of obstructing justice - sufficient, if proven, to secure a 10-year sentence.
The man with the job of saving Martha from such a fate is Robert Morvillo, a habitually dishevelled, 64-year-old New York lawyer with a stellar reputation for contesting difficult corporate cases. The $650-an-hour lawyer defended Merrill Lynch in 2002 against Eliot Spitzer, the New York State Attorney General, over the notorious "pieces of shit" stock offerings.
"I am by far the nastiest person in my firm," says Mr Morvillo, of Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason & Silberberg. "To win you have to have your client's total co-operation. I guarantee to be tougher on Martha than any prosecutor could be."
The start of the trial is being breathlessly awaited in a country where the line between justice and entertainment has become increasingly blurred. Even the Federal Courthouse in Foley Square, a greystone, late 19th-century edifice, is the star of countless movies.
Not since the O.J. Simpson pantomime nine years ago has so much media attention been focused on a big-name defendant. Despite confident predictions that she would settle the case by offering a guilty plea and accepting a nominal sentence, Martha and her expensively recruited defence team are digging in.
She has nothing to lose by defending the case; her business has been decimated, the damage to her reputation is probably irreparable and the late-night comedians are killing her: "One of Martha Stewart's assistants has come forward with damaging testimony," deadpanned NBC's Jay Leno last week, "to the effect that Martha uses instant gravy." "Phew, the weather's been so warm in New York," countered David Letterman of CBS, "Martha Stewart's doing her insider trading outside." Conan O'Brien, in a sketch on his Late Night with Conan O'Brien on NBC, has had Martha making origami place mats out of federal subpoenas.
Stirring the sense of anticipation is the view - long held, but seldom voiced outside New York media circles - that the real Martha is a far less likeable woman than the one the public thinks it knows. Stories abound of her vicious temper, colossal ego, outrageous demands and humiliating treatment of underlings.
Unflattering profiles, published since her indictment, have dwelt on her bruising divorce from her college sweetheart husband, her strained relationship with her only daughter, and her failure - despite dating a number of apparently eligible men - to build a new relationship.
To everything that is thrown at her, Martha has a core answer. "Her tactic," says Christopher Byron, author of the best-selling and highly critical biography Martha Inc, "is to present the whole case against her as a war against women. It's a tactic of defendants when the facts are not on their side."
Which is where the chopsticks come in. Martha's are not only unusually slender, but fashioned from fine silver, and they reside in a large early 19th-century farmhouse called Turkey Hill in Westport, Connecticut - a town of discreet wealth and low-key celebrity, where her neighbours include the actor Paul Newman and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones.
The Stewart residence, with its pampered cats, wuffling chow chows, herb gardens and burlap-wrapped shrubbery, is more than a desirable dwelling. It is, to her fans, a state of being - the holy shrine of Marthadom, where fountain pens match notepads, and every curtain is ruched to a precise number of folds.
Here Martha devises her recipes, writes books, chooses her fabrics, mixes her colour ranges, and refines, to ever greater degrees of perfection, her concept of the ideal home. It has been a long journey from a down-on-its-luck immigrant suburb of New Jersey to Westport, and some people can't forgive her for making it.
The quarters she occupies next could be less comfortable, but no one should count Martha out. Her team hints that the trial will be full of surprises. O.J. Simpson played the race card. Will Martha have to use the decor defence?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/01/04/wmarth04.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/0....
I asked:
Which "lab" is that?
I quoted this:
"So if the results are positive from the lab regarding Human Cancer Cells...."
You replied:
"When it gets to that point in testing!"
What "POINT in testing"?
Which "lab" is that?
So if the results are positive from the lab regarding Human Cancer Cells....
And your "opinions" and all the other vague reassurances are facts?
In case you missed the point - this is a public message board - and not a pumping station.
Every time I read this type of tripe -
..what your motivation is. I will never know. If you are a stockholder and you feel so negatively about the company, sell your shares and shut up. If you are not a stockholder just go away and leave the stockholders alone. Everyone involved with penny stocks knows the risks involved. You are not educating anyone or being constructive at all.
- I know that neither you nor your happy band of BS artists have anything factual to support your egregious claims.
SO..are you an insider?
Your vague reassurances are of little value, as I am sure you know well. It also appears that the "current HTDS management" has no expertise in this or any other FDA or GRAS related matters.
It is most likely, in my opinion, that the company will be purchased by a large pharmaceutical company if the human cell test and mouse test results are good. Therefore, the current HTDS management requires no expertise in this field, in my opinion.
And what experience is that?
Based on my experience, I don't see a problem for them to find an FDA approved subcontractor, which I assume is their intent. I don't think that this is an issue to be concerned with.
I understand FDA-related manufacturing standards and requirements very well, and I think it is an issue to be very "concerned with".
I'm well aware of custom packaging etc...but the packaging facility must be approved, in-house or contracted out.
"Spin-off" doesn't mean a thing to the FDA..
Currently we are operating without a full management team.
Lamar Sinkfield has acted as our chief Executive officer and
sole director since March 18, 2003.
http://www.secinfo.com/d16grn.2a.htm#1stPage
NOTE 1. OPERATING FACILITIES
During the first quarter of 2003 the Group Management Corp.
located its offices in the premises of its law firm,
Rosenfeld, Goldman & Ware, Inc., ("RGW") located at 101
Marietta St., Suite 1070, Atlanta, GA 30303. RGW has not
charged the company any rental expenses since the move, and
the Company anticipates locating to its own premises during
the first quarter 2004. As of the date of this report the
terms for use of the space had not been agreed upon by both
parties. ...
Item 2. Management's Discussion and Analysis
Forward-Looking Statements; Market Data
Forward-Looking Statements: This report and other statements
issued or made from time to time by Silver Screen Studios,
Inc. contain statements which may constitute "Forward-
Looking Statements" within the meaning of the Securities Act
of 1933, as amended and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, 15
U.S.C.A. Sections 77Z-2 and 78U-5 (SUPP. 1996). Those
statements include statements regarding the intent, belief
or current expectations of the Company, its officers and
directors and the officers and directors of the Company's
subsidiaries as well as the assumptions on which such
statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned
that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees
of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties,
and that actual results may differ materially from those
contemplated by such forward-looking statements.
We make forward-looking statements in this management
discussion and analysis. These forward-looking statements
include, but are not limited to, statements about our plans,
objectives, expectations, intentions and assumptions and
other statements that are not historical facts. We generally
intend the, words "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "plan",
"believe", "seek", "estimate" and similar expressions to
identify forward-looking statements.
This discussion contains certain estimates and plans related
to the industry in which we operate. The estimates and plans
assume that certain events, trends and activities will
occur, of which there can be no assurance. In particular, we
do not know the future level of growth of the industry we
operate in, and particularly the level of growth of the
entertainment industry and our ability to implement our plan
of operations for selling entertainment products and
services on-line and through direct marketing, based upon
our business model. Following the end of the quarter ended
September 30, 2003, we commenced implementation of our plan
to increase our operating cash flows by the production of
entertainment related products. If our assumptions are wrong
about any events, trends and activities, then our estimates
for future growth from our business operations may also be
wrong. There can be no assurance that any of our estimates
as to our business growth will be achieved.
Currently we have funded our operations by the payment of
legal services with our common stock. To date we have not
generated any revenue since beginning operation after the
merger on August 22, 2003. We have several projects in
various stages of development and we anticipate the
completion of a project during the early 2004. If our
assumptions are wrong about any events, trends and
activities, then our estimates for future growth from our
business operations may also be wrong. There can be no
assurance that any of our estimates as to our business
growth will be achieved. Our principal business operations
are in the entertainment content creation industry.
Currently we are operating without a full management team.
Lamar Sinkfield has acted as our chief Executive officer and
sole director since March 18, 2003.
Our business operations are very cash intensive, and
currently we do not have the capital resources to fund our
production operations. However, our legal counsel is
currently in the process of registering an offering to raise
funds to fund our production slate of projects. However,
we can offer no assurances that we will raise any funds from
the sale of our financial instruments.
NOTE 6. EQUITY TRANSACTIONS
During the quarter the Company registered on Form S-8 shares
of its common stock used to pay its legal counsel for fees
and expenses relating to its operations. In August of 2003
the Company increased the total number of shares of
authorized common stock to 300,000,000 with a par of $.001,
and authorized 100,000,000 shares of preferred stock with a
par value of $.001 through it merger with SSSQ Acquisition
Corp.
Silver Screen Studios, Inc.
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
Organization
Silver Screen Studios, Inc. ("the Company") was organized to
engage in the business of, development, production,
financing and distribution of entertainment related
products. The Company was incorporated in the State of
Georgia in May of 2003. The company is the result of a
reverse holding company merger formed by Group Management
and SSSG Acquisition Corp. on August 23, 2003. Silver
Screen Studios, Inc. trades on the Over the Counter Bulletin
Board under the symbol SSSU. Silver Screen Studios, Inc.
began operations on August 23, 2003 in Atlanta, GA. Group
Management Corp. was undergoing a restructuring of its
operations and management concluded due to the business
conditions of Group Management Corp. a merger was in the
best interest of the shareholders of Group Management Corp.
Cash and cash equivalents
http://www.secinfo.com/d16grn.2a.htm
Web Game Reveals Market Sense
Technology Research News October 30, 2003
It is clear that the collective decisions of many traders affect financial markets, but it is less clear how traders make those decisions.
Researchers from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland have found that people tend to employ one of two distinct strategies depending on the complexity of a financial market.
In addition to ferreting out information about markets and human behavior, the method could eventually be used to train financial traders, according to the researchers.
The researchers used a Web-based financial market game to gain results from several hundred people playing several tens of thousands of game turns against computer-controlled agents.
The game provides a market price history, and players predict if the next price movement will be a rise or fall. For each person playing there are 94 computer-controlled agents that act as controls, making decisions using simple, well-defined strategies.
The researchers found that when market complexity is below a certain level most human players use a logical, deductive approach to get the better of the market, but as complexity increases beyond humans' ability to cope logically, people repeat the same prediction many times in succession.
Surprisingly, the repetitive strategy performed better than random decision-making, according to the researchers. The open questions are what triggers the behavior change and why the repetitive strategy works.
The work is slated for publication in Physica A.
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/rnb_103003.asp
Give Treffry another year or so, and he'll be preaching his own version of Scientology based on quarter-truths and his "own readings"...
He has already begun Stage 1 - the metamorphosis from foul-mouthed addict to born-again real estate attorney.
After a short boat journey to add "naval navel-gazer" to his CV, he will establish a tax-free, non-profit Church of the Slurp.
His economic studies and conclusions need some serious revisons before he can add "financial guru" to the CV though...
I understand that 3-4 TRILLION is stolen from our economy each year by those who basically counterfeit shares of stock, in the hopes of companies they short being driven out of busines and then making the unjust windfall profit.
His "understanding" is typical PCBM voodoo economics - probably based on the average cost of a six-pack of Coors Light.
Based upon my own reading, I understand that 3-4 TRILLION dollars is stolen from our economy each year by those who basically counterfeit shares of stock, in the hopes of companies they short being driven out of busines and then making the unjust windfall profit. If any person were to counterfeit money, the FBI would have them in shackles immediately upon discovery of this nefarious act. Yet similar conduct, regarding selling shares that are not in existence, is a plague upon our economy, robbing good, honest Americans of those dreams ordinary available that have made our nation the envy of the world.
Our entire GNP is between 9-10 TRILLION dollars, meaning that these thieves are leaching out of the country between 33%- 40% of the nations GNP every year. I have read that these stolen funds, via illegal naked shorting, ends up funding everything form organized criminal activity to terrorists who use the money to attack our troops and our citizens, both abroad and domestically. What could we do with an extra 3-4 TRILLION dollars in the economy each year? Congress just approved 87 billion dollars to fund the war effort and this allocation was painful. Just imagine what a multiple of 50 of those funds remaining in our economy each year could do for America? What would such funds do for small businesses? For people who need jobs? For government to reduce the deficit? To aid the poor and sick? The possibilities are almost unlimited.
THE FRAUDULENT SCHEME
Marketing the False Inside Information
15. Agora's newsletters, including PirateInvestor.com, claim to be "a service featuring independent, original and thoughtful research into the process of wealth creation."
16. Instead, the newsletters contain nothing more than baseless speculation and outright lies, fabricated to induce investors to pay Agora (or its subsidiaries) for subscriptions or purported inside information.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND
BALTIMORE DIVISION
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Securities and Exchange Commission,
Plaintiff,
v.
AGORA, INC., PIRATE INVESTOR, LLC and FRANK PORTER STANSBERRY
Defendants.
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: Civil Action No. MJG 03 CV 1042
AMENDED COMPLAINT
Plaintiff Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission"), for its Complaint against Agora, Inc. ("Agora"), Pirate Investor LLC ("Pirate") and Frank Porter Stansberry ("Stansberry") (collectivley referred to as "defendants"), hereby alleges as follows:
INTRODUCTION
1. Defendants engaged in an ongoing scheme to defraud public investors by disseminating false information in several Internet newsletters published by Agora or its wholly owned subsidiaries such as Pirate. Through various publications, defendants claimed to have inside information about certain public companies. Defendants suggested that its readers could cash in on the inside information and make quick profits. The defendants offered to sell the inside information to newsletter subscribers for a fee of $1,000.
2. Numerous subscribers purchased the defendants "inside tips" and made investment decisions based on that information. The purported inside information was false and, as a result, the subscribers did not realize the profits the defendants promised.
3. The defendants, however, profited handsomely. On information and belief, Agora received in excess of $1 million from the sale of false information to its newsletter subscribers.
STATUTES AND RULES ALLEGED TO HAVE BEEN VIOLATED
4. Defendants Agora, Pirate, and Stansberry have engaged and, unless enjoined, will continue to engage, directly or indirectly, in transactions, acts, practices, and courses of business which constitute violations of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange Act") [15 U.S.C. §§ 78j(b)] and Rule 10b-5 thereunder [17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5].
5. Defendants' conduct occurred in connection with the purchase and sale of securities of public companies, including but not limited to, USEC, Inc. ("USEC").
JURISDICTION AND VENUE
6. The Court has jurisdiction over this action pursuant to Section 22(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act") [15 U.S.C. § 77u(a)] and Section 21(d) of the Exchange Act, [15 U.S.C. § 78u(d)].
7. The defendants, directly or indirectly, have made use of the mails, means or instruments of transportation or communication in interstate commerce, or means or instrumentalities of interstate commerce in connection with the transactions, acts, practices and courses of business described in this Complaint.
8. Venue over this action is proper pursuant to Section 22(a) of the Securities Act [15 U.S.C. § 77v(a)] and Section 27 of the Exchange Act [15 U.S.C. §§ 77v(a) and 78aa].
9. Venue lies in the District of Maryland because certain of the transactions, acts, practices and courses of business constituting violations alleged herein occurred within the state of Maryland. In addition, Agora is a Maryland corporation with its principal place of business in Baltimore, Maryland. Pirate Investor LLC is a Maryland limited liability company with its principal place of business in Baltimore, Maryland. Defendant Frank Porter Stansberry is a Maryland resident.
AUTHORITY FOR PROMULGATED RULES CITED HEREIN
10. Plaintiff Commission brings this action pursuant to Sections 20(b) and 20(d) of the Securities Act [15 U.S.C. §§ 77t(b) and 77t(d)] and Sections 21(d) and 21(e) of the Exchange Act [15 U.S.C. §§ 78u(d)(3) and 78u(e)], to restrain and enjoin the defendants from engaging in the transactions, acts, practices and courses of business described herein which violate the federal securities laws, and transactions, acts, practices and courses of business of similar purport and object, to order defendants to disgorge all ill-gotten gains received during the period of violative conduct, and to impose civil money penalties pursuant to Section 20(d) of the Securities Act and Section 21(d)(3) of the Exchange Act against defendants.
11. Pursuant to authority conferred upon the Commission by Sections 10(b) and 23(a) of the Exchange Act [15 U.S.C. §§ 78j(b) and 78w(a)], the Commission promulgated Rule 10b-5 [17 C.F.R. §§ 240.10b-5]. Rule 10b-5 was in effect at the time of the transactions and events alleged in the Complaint and remains in effect.
DEFENDANTS
12. Agora, Inc. is a Maryland corporation based in Baltimore. Agora publishes books, magazines, newsletters and operates at least 15 financial web sites in the United States and Europe. Agora's publications include The Cutting Edge, Penny Stock Advisory, The Red Zone, Taipan, Rogue Trader, The Flying V Lockup Trader, CSX Trader, Fleet Street Letter, Options Hotline, Outstanding Investments, Richebacher Letter, Daily Reckoning Investment Advisory, Carpathia Letter, Strategic Opportunities, Jim Davidson's Vantage Point Investing, and the Contrarian Speculator. Agora publications have well over 21,500 paid subscribers.
13. Pirate Investor, LLC, is a Maryland Limited Liability Company that runs a financial advisory web site and newsletter, PirateInvestor.com. Pirate is wholly owned by Agora. Defendant Frank Porter Stansberry is the editor of PriateInvestor.com.
14. Frank Porter Stansberry, resides in Baltimore, Maryland. He is the editor of two of Agora's Internet financial newsletters: Porter Stansberry's Investment Advisory and PirateInvestor.com. Stansberry's compensation is based in part, on a percentage of the revenues realized by those on-line publications.
THE FRAUDULENT SCHEME
Marketing the False Inside Information
15. Agora's newsletters, including PirateInvestor.com, claim to be "a service featuring independent, original and thoughtful research into the process of wealth creation."
16. Instead, the newsletters contain nothing more than baseless speculation and outright lies, fabricated to induce investors to pay Agora (or its subsidiaries) for subscriptions or purported inside information.
17. The subscribers paid Agora for the alleged insider information only to later discover that the inside information was false.
18. On or about May 14, 2002, at least 15 of Agora's Internet newsletters disseminated an e-mail, written by Stansberry promising quick profits based on inside information. The heading on the e-mail stated: "DOUBLE YOUR MONEY ON MAY 22ND ON THIS SUPER INSIDER TIP." A true and correct copy of the May 14, 2002, e-mail is attached hereto as Exhibit A.
19. The e-mail claimed analysts at PirateInvestor.com had come into possession of certain details about the pending approval of a major international agreement that "will create more than $2.5 billion in profits for one small company." The e-mail identified the issuer as a company that was involved in the nuclear energy field and would benefit from the arms reduction treaty between the U.S. and Russia.
20. Stansberry's May 14, 2002, e-mail maintained investors would "make a fortune" because PirateInvestor.com had a "senior executive inside the company" as a source for its inside information. PirateInvestor.com claimed this executive was "definitely in a position to know the intimate deals of this agreement" and when it would be approved. Therefore, the e-mail announced that PirateInvestor.com was in a position to "tell you EXACTLY WHEN the deal will be finalized and announced to the public."
21. The e-mail encouraged recipients to stake their entire investment portfolios on this unnamed company and suggested investors would be able to double their "investment dollar in a single day." Finally, the e-mail stated PirateInvestor.com "can even tell you exactly which day to buy (May 21st) and which day to sell (May 23rd). There is nothing else you have to do."
22. The e-mail did not give the name of the company but indicated it was listed on the NYSE and offered to sell a full report including the name of the company to subscribers for $1,000.
The USEC Report Contains False Information.
23. Once the reader purchased the tip for $1,000, the reader received a report that identified USEC as the company with the impending contract approval ("USEC report"). A true and correct copy of the USEC Report is attached hereto as Exhibit B.
24. Agora's web site attributed the May 14, 2002 e-mail and the USEC report to Jay McDaniels. Jay McDaniels is a pseudonym for Stansberry.
25. The USEC report claimed USEC and Tenex, a Russian governmental agent corporation, had reached an agreement for Tenex to sell dismantled nuclear warheads to USEC at a reduced rate under a pricing agreement.
26. The USEC report indicated that both the U.S. and Russian governments were required to approve the pricing agreement before it became effective. The USEC report claims that, based on information from a company insider, the pricing "agreement will be approved just prior to the upcoming Bush-Putin Summit." Referring again to the pricing agreement, the USEC report states that "[a]ll it needs are the politicians to sign off on the deal" and "according to my source, that will happen-finally-on May 22nd."
27. Stansberry eventually identified Steven A. Wingfield as the insider who purportedly provided the inside information regarding the May 22nd signing date of the arms reduction treaty between U.S. and Russia. Steven A. Wingfield is USEC's Director of Investor Relations.
28. Stansberry claimed Wingfield told him the U.S. and Russian governments would approve the agreement between USEC and Tenex on May 22, 2002, the day before the start of the Bush-Putin Summit. Wingfield made no such statement to Stansberry.
29. Wingfield told Stansberry the same thing he told all analysts who called the investor relations department at USEC. Stansberry asked Wingfield about the pending approval of the USEC-Tenex contract by the U.S. and Russian governments. Wingfield responded to Stansberry, as he did to all analysts, by saying USEC "expected it would be approved in the near future."
30. Wingfield did not tell Stansberry, directly or indirectly, that the pricing agreement with Tenex would be approved by any governmental entity on May 22, 2002. No one at USEC knew when or if the pricing agreement would be approved.
31. Stansberry had no basis whatsoever for the claim in the USEC Report that the approval of the USEC-Tennex contract would occur on May 22, 2002.
32. The pricing agreement between USEC and Tennex was approved on June 19, 2002. On that date the Department of State and USEC separately announced approval of the pricing agreement by both the U.S. and Russian governments.
Market Activity in Response to Agora's False Information
33. From January 2, 2002, through May 13, 2002, trading volume in USEC common stock averaged approximately 189,000 shares a day at prices ranging from $5.78 to $7.37 a share.
34. From May 14 through May 23 volume averaged 3,340,138 shares a day with closing prices ranging from $7.85 a share on May 14 to a high of $9.98 a share on May 20. There was also a significant increase in the volume of options trading in USEC stock during this period.
35. On May 22, USEC failed to make the announcement promised by the Agora e-mails and the USEC report and that day the price of USEC stock fell from $9.54 to $8.20 a share, a drop of nearly 15%.
Agora's On-going Efforts to Disseminate False Information to the Investing Public
36. Agora promoted other securities in its newsletters. Even after Agora became aware of the Commission's investigation, its newsletters have continued to publish e-mails promoting numerous securities accompanied by fantastic claims of quick profits or inside information.
37. For example, Agora publications have touted stocks that it claims will double or triple in value over the next year. Other Agora publications claim to provide information that allows an investor to "turn $10,000 into $114,280 by April 18, 2003."
38. Agora continues to promise its subscribers, "Almost Unbelievable Profits - 4.5 Times Your Money in 48 Hours."
39. As recently as the first week in April 2003, Agora published articles making similar claims of exorbitant profits. In each instance, recipients of the e-mails are offered "free" copies of the headlined reports if they subscribe to one of the various Agora newsletters at a cost of from $69 to $1250 a year. The money-making investments featured in the reports are typically microcap issuers with cures for cancer or AIDS or a technological breakthrough. Some of the tips are characterized as being based on "secret" or "inside" information.
FIRST CLAIM FOR RELIEF
FRAUD IN CONNECTION WITH THE PURCHASE
OR SALE OF SECURITIES
Violations of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act, 15 U.S.C. §78j(b),
And Rule 10b-5 thereunder, 17 C.F.R. § 10b-5
40. The Commission repeats and realleges each and every allegation contained in paragraphs 1 through 42, as if fully set forth herein.
41. Defendants, by engaging in the conduct described above, directly or indirectly, in connection with the purchase or sale of securities, by the use of means or instrumentalities of interstate commerce, or of the mails, or of a facility of a national securities exchange, with scienter:
employed devices, schemes or artifices to defraud;
made untrue statements of material fact or omitted to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading; or
engaged in acts, practices or courses of business which operated or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon other persons;
in violation of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder.
42. By reason of the foregoing, defendants violated, and unless restrained and enjoined will continue to violate, Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act, 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b), and Rule 10b-5, 17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5.
PRAYER FOR RELIEF
WHEREFORE, plaintiff Commission respectfully requests that this Court:
I.
Issue findings of fact and conclusions of law that Defendants committed the violations alleged herein.
II.
Issue an Order Issue in a form consistent with Rule 65(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, permanently enjoining defendants Agora, Pirate and Stansberry, and their officers, agents, servants, employees, attorneys, and accountants, and those persons in active concert or participation with any of them, who receive actual notice of the order by personal service or otherwise, and each of them, from engaging in the transactions, acts, practices and courses of business described herein, and from engaging in conduct of similar purport and object in violation of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder.
III.
Enter an order that defendants Agora, Stansberry and Pirate, provide an accounting and disgorge their ill-gotten gains from the illegal conduct alleged in this Complaint and to pay prejudgment interest thereon.
IV.
Enter an Order that Defendants Agora, Stansberry and Pirate pay civil penalties pursuant to Section 20(d) of the Securities Act, 15 U.S.C. § 77t(d), and Section 21(d) of the Exchange Act, 15 U.S.C. § 78u(d), for the violations alleged herein.
V.
Retain jurisdiction of this action in accordance with the principles of equity and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in order to implement and carry out the terms of all orders and decrees that may be entered, or to entertain any suitable application or motion for additional relief within the jurisdiction of this Court.
DATED: November 14, 2003
Respectfully submitted
_______________________
KAREN L. MARTINEZ
THOMAS M. MELTON
BRENT R. BAKER
Securities and Exchange Commission
50 South Main Street, Suite 500
Salt Lake City, Utah 84144
(801) 524-5796
(801) 524-3558 (fax)
Attorneys for the Plaintiff
Securities and Exhange Commission
http://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/comp18090.htm
This site is devoted to identifying undervalued stocks through the combination of large-sample stock screens and careful financial analysis of individual companies. It is based on the work of faculty, PhD students and MBA students at the University of Michigan Business School, all of whom will deny all knowledge of this site.
http://webuser.bus.umich.edu/Lundholm/mywebs/valuedog/index.htm
This site is the natural companion to valuedog. While valuedog looks for undervalued stocks, this site is devoted to identifying stocks that are overpriced and are likely to miss an earnings target, causing the stock price to sink. It too is based on work at the University of Michigan Business School.
http://webuser.bus.umich.edu/tradingfloor/earningstorpedo/default.htm
Cultic Studies: Information about Cults and Psychological Manipulation
http://www.culticstudies.org/
AFF studies psychological manipulation, cult groups, sects, and new religious movements.
AFF, the leading professional organization concerned about cults and psychological manipulation, was founded in 1979. AFF is known for its professionalism. It practical resources and services for families, former group members, mental health professionals, clergy, attorneys, educators, and young people are based on scholarly study, research, and clinical experience.
We at AFF are confident that through our unique combination of publications, services, workshops and conferences, and Web resources we can be of assistance to those who have been adversely affected by a cult experience or who seek to help others. For more information choose "How We Can Help" at the top of this page.
What you'll find at our Web site
Announcements
Assistance
Resources
Periodicals
Bookstore Specials
Announcements
Memorial - David Halperin, M.D.
Dr. David Halperin, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Mt. Sinai Medical School, died peacefully on December 3, 2003 at the age of 69.
A graduate of Harvard University and the University of Virginia Medical School, Dr. Halperin, in addition to being a published poet, was the editor of Psychodynamic Perspectives on Religion, Sect, and Cult, as well as many articles on cults.
A long-time board member of AFF, Dr. Halperin contributed a number of articles to Cultic Studies Journal, including "The Dark Underside: Cultic Misappropriation of Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis" and "Cults and Children: the Abuse of the Young" (with Arnold Markowitz, M.S.W.).
We will miss him.
Memorial - Margaret Thaler Singer, Ph.D.
Dr. Margaret Singer died on November 23rd in Berkley, California. She was 82.
Dr. Singer was born in Denver and received her bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Denver. She began to study brainwashing in the 1950s at Walter Reed Institute of Research in Washington, D. C., where she interviewed U.S. soldiers who had been taken prisoner during the Korean War. She moved to Berkeley in 1958.
One of the first advisory board members of AFF, Dr. Singer began studying cults in the late 1960s. She wrote and spoke extensively in the field and attended and spoke at nearly every AFF conference until she became ill. She helped thousands of former group members and families.
We will miss her intellect, her caring, her charming talks, and her sense of humor. She was a pioneer and a giant in this field. Her passing leaves a hole that will never be filled.
Memorial - Herbert L. Rosedale, Esq.
Herb Rosedale, who has been such an important and beloved person to so many of us, died Tuesday morning, November 4th. He had been diagnosed with cancer in the spring and did well until late summer.
A few days before our Connecticut conference (October 17-18, 2003) he had had tests, the results of which came in during the conference. Those of us who attended the conference noticed that he was jaundiced. Nevertheless, with his typical courage and energy, Herb continued to do what he always does at conferences, talking to as many people as possible and welcoming new comers. After the conference it became clear that the cancer had spread to vital organs and his deterioration was rapid.
We will miss him terribly.
Assistance
How We Can Help You
Resources for former members, families, lawyers, clergy, therapists, educators, exit counselors, and researchers.
Cults 101- Getting Started
Do you suspect that you or someone you know may be involved with a cultic group? Several checklists and readings give you a quick overview of the cult phenomenon and how it relates to you and your loved ones.
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AFF’s Cult Information Line
provides information and referral
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reference files on many topics
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research; thought reform; children; women
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pseudoscience; conspiracy; hoaxes; hucksters; magic; improbable research; fraud; urban legend
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navigate AFF's resources by topic e.g. brainwashing
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navigate AFF's resources by group type
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Please, take a minute to review the key periodicals of Cultic Studies that AFF has to offer you.
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free email newsletter provides up to the date information and timely announcements of current cult-related activities and AFF resources, and programs.
Free - subscribe today!
Cultic Studies Review: An Internet Journal of Research, News & Opinion
AFF's New internet journal (with abridged print version) provides information on psychological manipulation and abuse, cults, new religious movements, sects, the New Age movement, other charismatic groups, and how to help people involved in such groups.
Bookstore
Our Electronic Bookstore offers short reviews and ordering information for AFF's own practical and research publications, as well as other key materials.
New Book The New Age: Notes of a Fringe-Watcher
Confronts new trends in pseudoscience and the paranormal, from the much-publicized past-life exploits of Shirley MacLaine to the latest in perpetual-motion machines, from "prime time preachers" to the "channeling mania" Gardner never ceases to inform and entertain. By Martin Gardner
New Book Heaven's Harlots: My Fifteen Years in a Sex Cult
This explosive first-person account of life in a cult that encouraged "sacred prostitution" is a compelling, cautionary tale of a spiritual odyssey gone haywire. By Miriam Williams
New Video: Thought Reform Consultation - Exit Counseling Description -- By Steve K. Dubrow Eichel; David Clark; Carol Giambalvo; Joseph Kelly; Patrick Ryan; Hana Whitfield; Jerry Whitfield.
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THE ATOM
About the embers of a lonely fire
Three men pondered silently,
What problem theirs, do enquire:
The answer all: The ATOM. . . . . .
Once, mused he, the Philosopher. . . .
The ATOM was our servant,
And harnessed, tamed, this monster
Know we all: The ATOM. . . . . . .
Words in Rhyme, the Poet said,
I wrote for all to listen;
But now, all Earth is dead;
And with the ATOM smitten.
No savant I, nor poet yet,
The Third stood cowed and humble;
Just a man who could not get
An answer to: The ATOM!
Epilogue:
Their food is gone. . . . . .
They live not long. . . . . .
And from the Earth,
With no re-birth. . . . . . .
Is stripped the Race of MAN.
Yet remains all that CAN. . . . . . .The ATOM. . . . . . !
http://www.lronhubbard.org/
Bare-Faced Message
The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard
http://www.nots.org/
Welcome to "Bare-Faced Messiah: The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard"
By Russell Miller
Click on the convicted felon above to start reading Bare-Faced Messiah starting from the forward of the book, otherwise use the following links to start reading where you're most interested.
List of illustrations vii
Author's note ix
Introduction 1
Preface 2
1 A Dubious Prodigy 7
2 Whither did he Wander? 26
3 Explorer Manqué 40
4 Blood and Thunder 59
5 Science Fictions 76
6 The Hero Who Never Was 95
7 Black Magic and Betty 112
8 The Mystery of the Missing Research 131
9 The Strange Début of Dianetics 147
10 Commies, Kidnaps and Chaos 163
11 Bankrolling and Bankruptcy 186
12 Phoenix Rising 202
13 Apostle of the Main Chance 220
14 Lord of the Manor 233
15 Visits to Heaven 247
16 Launching the Sea Org 263
17 In Search of Past Lives 279
18 Messengers of God 297
19 Atlantic Crossing 313
20 Running Aground 333
21 Making Movies 348
22 Missing, Presumed Dead 365
Notes 376
Bibliography 382
Main Index 384
FBI Documents Attachments -- Main Index
Photographs from the book
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For L. Ron Hubbard's Navy war records, here is Ron the War Hero.
For further information on the Scientology organization's ideals and for copies of their once-secret documentation, here is Operation Clambake.
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For a TEXT version of Bare-Faced Messiah, you can click here.
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