I just came across this on RB. Incredible...
ANTONY@PACIFIC AND PLUVIA ARE ORGANIZED CRIMINALS
Pluvia=Stephen Sayre EXPOSED!!!....
WSJ page C15 -About ECNC and Pluvia
SEC lawsuit alleges tree trimmer branched out into internet stock fraud
LA- Internet stock fraud's latest clip job was supplied by a local tree trimmer, according to a SEC lawsuit filed Friday in federal court here.
The SEC suit, which was announced yesterday, said the tree trimmer, Stephen Sayre, 'masqueraded as a financial analyst in an effort to manipulate the price of secure electronic Internet payment systems. Mr Sayre, 43 years old, realized about $1.4 milion in 'illegal profits', the SEC said.
Mr. Sayre couldn't be reached for comment.
The Sayred case is the latest twist in the raucous and bizarre world of Internet stock trading. Regulators have expressed concern about the volatility and potential for fraud on the Internet stock-discussion boards, where it is easy to post false information to a wide audience.
The SEC suit described Mr. Sayre's activities as a 'classic pump and dump scheme'. It said Mr. Sayre put out press releases, under the name Independent Financial Reports, that predicted big increases in the price of eConnect stock. The releases were quickly posted on Internet message boards. Because of the Internet, such press releases 'get much greater dissemination' said Lisa Gok, an assistant regional director of the SEC's Los Angeles office.
The SEC suit said that in its press releases Independent Financial denied owning any eConnect stock. However, Mr Sayre, who formed Independent Financial and was its sole office and director, bought and sold 177,000 cConnect shares from late February throgh early March, the suit added.
The Sayre case is also the latest development in the tumultous tale of eConnect, which saw its stock price on the OTC Bulletin Board rocket to more than 20 early last month form about 1.40 in late February. The stock is now trading at slightly more than $1.00. In his releases, Mr. Sayre predicted eConnect shares could rise to as high as $135, the SEC suit said.
On March 13, the SEC suspended trading in the stock and later sued eConnect and its president, Thomas S. Hughes, for stock fraud. The SEC complaint, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, alleged that the defendants had put out 'false and misleading' press releases to boost eConnect's stock price. The company and Mr. Hughes recently agreed to an injunction without admitting or denying wrongdoing.
Though the SEC suit against Mr. Sayre didn't say that the tree trimmer worked with eConnect, it did allege that Mr. Sayre's releases provided 'reinforcement' to the allegedly false statements put out by the company. An eConnect spokesman said that company never had any business dealings with Mr. Sayre.
Yesterday, eConnect's Mr. Hughes, through the company's spokesman, denied having anything to do with a message purportedly written by him and posted yesterday morning on the Raging Bull internet stock discussion site. Among other thing, the writer of the posting thanked 'all my adoring fans' for their support through dConnect's troubles. mr.Hughes doesn't get involved in any kind of Internet posting, the spokesman said.
Bogus postings have become an increasing problem on the Internet. Last year, for instance, an individual was convicted in fedral court in Los Angeles in connection with creating a fake Bloomberg news story about the supposed purchase of a company called PairGain Technologies Inc. The story briefly sent PairGain's stock soaring on heavy volume.
Yesterday's SEC suit against Mr. Sayre also apparently spawned a doctored Bloomberg story on the Internet. The news service ran a story yesterday aobut the suit. Someone hten changed the story to identify Mr. Sayre as 'Pluvia', the moniker of a well known online stock trader who is also a critic of eConnect. |
