NanoWorld chatters Camporese, Cate sued by Papalia ally
Monday Jul 17 2000
See (U:NAPH) Street Wire
by Brent Mudry
In the latest round of litigation between the camps of controversial Vancouver
stock promoters Anthony Papalia Sr. and Giovanni Camporese, an associate of
Mr. Papalia has filed a defamation suit against Mr. Camporese and associate
William Cate, claiming he has been libelled in Raging Bull chat-site postings in the
past six weeks.
In a self-prepared 14-page statement of claim filed Friday in the Supreme Court
of British Columbia, Concezio Montagliani of Vancouver claims Mr. Camporese
and Mr. Cate, who is based on Pescadero, Calif., falsely suggested he has
participated in illegal stock market promotions and manipulations, he has ties to
organized crime, and he has made threatening comments. Mr. Montagliani admits
to posting under the nickname "Gunslinger," but he denies doing anything wrong.
Neither Mr. Papalia Sr. nor his promoter-son Anthony Papalia Jr. are named as
plaintiffs in the suit. The lawsuit's allegations have not been proven in court and no
statements of defence have yet been filed.
Both Mr. Papalia and Mr. Camporese have endured unfavourable publicity in
recent years. Mr. Camporese resigned as president of his public flagship A & A
Foods in January of 1997, and the Vancouver Stock Exchange, which had earlier
praised the company, halted trading in A & A shares after discovering A & A had
been convicted in provincial court of violating the Food and Drug Act by
mislabelling cheese products.
In late 1996, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission cited Wall
Street Marketing, Mark Missler and Howard Jenkins, who Mr. Camporese had
hired to promote A & A in 1994, in a prosecution, claiming they were part of a
ring which paid $478,000 in bribes to seven U.S. brokers in 1992 and 1993 to
push the shares of six other public companies. A & A was not involved in the
scheme.
Mr. Papalia and his twin brother Robert Papalia are well known to authorities in
Vancouver, Montreal and London, although neither are believed to be related to
Tony "The Pops" Papalia, who was murdered in a mob execution in Hamiltion,
Ont., a few years ago.
Although criminally charged with securities-related crimes on several occasions,
they have never been convicted. They have, however, been blackballed from the
Vancouver Stock Exchange. In his contentious Raging Bull postings, Mr.
Camporese refers to Anthony Papalia Sr. as "Teflon Tony" and "The Teflon Man."
The Montagliani suit comes nine days after Mr. Papalia filed a defence to Mr.
Camporese's counterclaim in another suit. In that suit, filed in brief on March 14
and in full on April 25, Mr. Papalia claims he was fooled by Mr. Camporese into
buying a $500,000 block of AIC International Resources shares that were sold
not by Mr. Camporese's A & A Industries, but Mr. Camporese himself.
The defamation suit focuses on Nano World Project, a current OTC Bulletin
Board promotion featuring Mr. Papalia as a director and veteran Vancouver stock
promoter David Hunter as president, after he was ousted as president of
Microvision, and Equity Finance Holding Corp., which features Mr. Cate as
president.
Shares of Nano World, which peaked at $24.50 in early April, fell $1 to $5 on
Monday on the bulletin board.
On June 20, Nano World, citing "adverse market conditions," cancelled a
proposed $15-million offering financing of one million shares at $15, which helped
boost the market when it was first disclosed in April. The "best efforts" financing
was handled by Voyager Securities Ltd., described as an "investment advisory
and brokerage company" based in the secretive offshore enclave of Hamilton,
Bermuda.
A June 2nd posting attributed to Mr. Cate claims that: "the Papalias are pioneers
of the cyber-boiler room," operating in an office on Burrard Street in downtown
Vancouver. "The Twins pay their cyber-promoters by giving them 10 cents
UNregistered NAPH shares to sell at $5.00. Paying for promotion in stock
violates SEC rules. It's a HiTech version of Four Star Management," states the
contentious posting.
Mr. Montagliani claims Mr. Cate falsely suggests he was participating in an illegal
market manipulation scheme, he was defrauding investors, and he illegally received
Nano World shares at less than fair market value as compensation.
While Mr. Camporese was ousted by Mr. Papalia from A & A amid
as-yet-unproven allegations of asset misappropriations and diversions, he was
eager to flaunt his achievements to Mr. Montagliani in a June 8th posting.
"In conclusion, you are trying to 'character assassinate' me and my reputation. I
have several degrees from various universities in 3 continents in 3 different
languages. I have written hundreds of articles, some of them were edited, one is in
the Library of Congress. I also have two documents certified by the Secretary of
the State of the U.S., I have received over 100 awards and metals (sic), including
the one of the person, 'who Has Honoured Italy In The World.' I have 5 children
and a wife," stated the posting, attributed to Mr. Camporese.
Nano World is not shy of trumpeting the achievements of its own stock promoter,
Mr. Papalia. "Mr. Papalia brings 25 years experience in investment banking
specifically relating bio and high tech development ... (he) sits on numerous public
company boards in the United States, and in Europe. Mr. Papalia is also the
former assistant to Mr. Loris Fortuna, former Vice-President of Italy," states
Nano World on its Web-site.
In the counterclaim to Anthony Papalia Sr.'s previous $500,000 suit, Mr.
Camporese names twin brother Robert Papalia and Kaiden S.A., a Swiss
company based in Lausanne, as third parties. Mr. Camporese claims that Robert
Papalia is a director and shareholder of Kaiden.
Mr. Camporese alleges that in order to induce him to sell his shares of A & A in
exchange for shares of Pacrim Information Systems Inc., Robert Papalia assured
him that Pacrim was a going concern with significant assets and economic
prospects, that the defendants' Pacrim shares were owned by Kaiden, and that
Kaiden would abide by any contracts it entered into with Robert Papalia.
Mr. Camporese claims that an April 30, 1997, share-exchange agreement noted
that Kaiden owned 143,000 shares of Pacrim, which it would transfer to him, and
he owned 2.84 million shares of A & A that he would transfer to Kaiden. Kaiden
also allegedly agreed to assume $300,000 of Mr. Camporese's liabilities.
While Anthony Papalia Sr. claims he was fooled by Mr. Camporese in the deal,
Mr. Camporese likewise claims he was fooled by twin brother Robert Papalia.
Mr. Camporese claims he discovered in May or June of 1997 that the Pacrim
shares transferred to him were not owned by Kaiden.
Mr. Camporese also claims his shares of AIC International Resources suffered as
a result of Robert Papalia causing Pacrim to first enter into a contract with AIC to
develop a diamond mine in Brazil and then later rescinding the contract.
Mr. Camporese further claims his Pacrim holdings suffered as a result of Robert
Papalia giving some shares of Pacrim to a man called Alfonso Carrera, without
due consideration. Mr. Camporese claims that as a result of Robert Papalia's
actions, he suffered losses in the value of his holdings of shares of A & A , AIC
and Pacrim.
(Readers wishing details of previous litigation between Anthony Papalia Sr. and
Mr. Camporese may refer to Street Wires dated Nov. 23, 1999, March 15,
2000, March 20, 2000, and March 24, 2000.)
(Details of litigation relating to Anthony Papalia Jr.'s Crys-Tel
Telecommunications.com are noted in Street Wires dated Feb. 26, 1999, March
1, 1999, and Nov. 23, 1999.)
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