Harr Harr it is to laugh.
BN Empire Financial Denies Accord to Use EConnect's Payment System
Mar 14 2000 18:31
Empire Financial Denies Accord to Use EConnect's Payment System
Los Angeles, California, March 14 (Bloomberg) -- Empire
Financial Group Inc., a Florida brokerage, denied agreeing to use
an electronic payment system developed by eConnect Inc., as the
Los Angeles company claimed in a Feb. 28 press release.
Yesterday, trading in eConnect was halted for two weeks by
the Securities and Exchange Commission, citing questions about the
accuracy of the company's public statements.
EConnect, which also owns Internet auction sites, soared from
45 cents this year to last week's high of 21 7/8.
Company executives didn't return telephone calls seeking
comment.
The SEC is looking into eConnect's claims to have an alliance
with Empire Financial, as well as a license with hand-held
computer maker Palm Inc.
Empire, in a statement, said it neither reviewed nor approved
eConnect's press release. It said it signed a confidentiality
agreement with eConnect2Trade.com, a unit of eConnect, along with
a letter of intent for negotiation and information exchange. A
spokeswoman for Empire said the company doesn't plan to dobusiness with eConnect.
A Palm spokeswoman said yesterday the company is unaware of
any relationship with eConnect beyond a standard developers
agreement available to anyone for downloading from Palm's Web
site.
The SEC also is examining the amount of revenue the company
claims one of its Web sites generated. The halt took effect at
9:30 a.m. and will continue until 11:59 p.m. on March 24.
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