Man settles charges with SEC over "Skycar" company
WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Securities regulators have filed charges against a California man and his company, alleging they raised $5 million from claims the company was developing a hovering "Skycar" that allowed people to travel above roads at more than 400 miles an hour.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said that Paul Moller and his company, Moller International, had agreed to a settlement that did not admit or deny the charges. Moller is to pay a $50,000 penalty.
"If this car can be developed and makes business sense that's fine," said Harold Degenhardt, head of the SEC's Ft. Worth office. "All the commission asks is that when one is raising money through securities it is done with full disclosure."
"We don't take a position on the technology, we just want the investor to have the full information," he told Reuters.
The SEC alleged the company and Moller, a university professor and inventor, from 1997 until 2001 raised money from more than 500 people across the country by making "false and misleading statements" about the company's prospects, projected share value and imminent listings on the Nasdaq and New York Stock Market Exchanges.
At one point Moller predicted the company would have success similar to that of Microsoft, the SEC said, adding the company's promotional material also contained materially false and misleading information.
The Skycar would allow "any person to travel at speeds of more than 400 miles per hour in the uncluttered airspace above the roadways for about the same price as a luxury automobile," the SEC said in its complaint, and Moller projected 10,000 Skycars would be sold by the end of 2002.
The company hasn't sold a single car, the SEC said, adding the product "was and still is a very early developmental-stage prototype that has no meaningful flight testing, proof of aeronautical feasibility, or proven commercial viability".
Calls to Moller International for comment were not immediately returned.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Sacramento, California, last week and publicly released by the SEC on Wednesday.
02/19/03 17:21 ET |
