Re: 10/29/99 - 2 slain men may have stolen reports
2 slain men may have stolen reports
Friday, October 29, 1999
By LINDA A. JOHNSON
The Associated Press
TRENTON -- Two Internet penny stock promoters found shot to death in a Colts Neck mansion apparently stole copyrighted stock analysts' reports, then distributed them free electronically to lure potential investors to their Web site.
One longtime New Jersey analyst, Stuart Bockler, said Thursday that his reports on at least one company, Global Data Tel, were stolen twice this year and e-mailed to countless investors who had signed up for free monthly research reports from www.stockinvestor.com
Bockler speculated that the outfit was buying inexpensive stocks at low prices, posting recommendations that investors buy them, and selling before the price fell, a common tactic in the growing number of Internet stock frauds. Bockler said Global Data's price jumped briefly after the second e-mail, just two weeks ago. He plans to sue the company.
"They're stealing my work and other people's work and making a business out of it," said Bockler, who sells his research and advice for an annual fee on his own Web site. "They have pirated considerable funds from us."
Authorities say www.stockinvestor.com was operated by two men killed Tuesday in a mansion in affluent Colts Neck: Alain Chalem, 41, who lived there, and Maier Lehmann, 37, of Woodmere on Long Island. Monmouth County authorities said Thursday that they were pursuing several leads, including the theory that the men were killed by a disgruntled investor.
Detectives from the county Prosecutor's Office, FBI agents, and Securities and Exchange Commission investigators were trying to unravel the complicated stock deals in which the men were involved.
They were not registered stockbrokers, but promoted individual stocks with forecasts that the stock price was about to take off, accompanied by real reports from brokerages and analysts.
The men's site bills itself as offering "prestige investment information." The site was still operating Thursday, although some functions were not working and the top analyst's report on it was from Feb. 5, apparently indicating that much of the site is automated.
"It's rumored that stockinvestor.com had built up a database of about 5 million to 10 million e-mail addresses," Bockler said. "Ten million e-mails would artificially move a stock over and above its normal valuation."
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