So when is ANTS going to be putting out a press release stating that they did not have sex with that Lewinsky women?
Fugitive US Stock Promoter Peter Berney Arrested in Zurich
New York, Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Peter Berney, indicted in New York and Las Vegas last year for taking in more than $10 million in two unrelated securities fraud schemes, was arrested in Zurich on Friday, prosecutors said.
Berney, 53, was indicted in October by a federal grand jury in New York with five others for conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud in a scheme to manipulate the shares of TLC Temporary & Staffing Services.
Earlier, in August, he was indicted in Las Vegas, on federal charges of conspiring to launder the proceeds of fraudulent trading through the securities of four public companies between 1993 and 1999: Mosaic Multisoft Corp., National Health and Safety Inc., Terra West Venture Inc. and Health and Wealth Inc. His wife Rebecca was also indicted on the money laundering charge in Las Vegas.
The indictment accuses Berney of merging worthless shell companies with private companies, which he then controlled by selecting the members of their boards of directors, and their corporate officers.
Prosecutors allege the four public companies would then issue new stock at ''very low prices'' to Berney and his associates. This ownership was concealed by placing the stock in the names of entities they controlled, including Watkins Glen Development Trust and PBA Energy Associates.
The co-conspirators ''would set the price at which the securities would trade. In reality, the securities would be virtually worthless,'' the Las Vegas indictment charged. It claims he received more than $10 million from the scheme.
Stockbrokers were bribed, as part of the scheme, to get them to sell the securities to their clients by lying about the companies' prospects.
A 1994 private placement memorandum for Mosaic Multisoft indicates that two Berney entities -- Watkins Glen and PBA Energy -- owned 9.8 percent of the company. The largest shareholder was Chopp Computer Corp. In 1993, Mosaic licensed Chopp's technology to accelerate the speed of computer programs. The license was cancelled in 1995 after Mosaic failed to make required payments, and it was liquidated in a bankruptcy proceeding. Last year Chopp changed its name to Ants Software.com.
Berney's wife Rebecca, who pleaded innocent to the conspiracy charge, is set for trial in Las Vegas on May 15. Her attorney, Richard Wright, said she's been separated from her husband for more than a year.
''Our position is she didn't know it was dirty money,'' said Wright.
Police in Zurich would not comment on Berney's arrest.
Feb/10/2000 11:03
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