D.H. Blair/Former Execs -4: Investment Bank Is Separate
7/27/0 15:14 (New York)Besides the top officials, 10 Blair brokers have been charged in the case:
Robin Breitner, Alex Dewar, John DiBella, Steven Frantz, Richard Gaydos,
Raymond Hernandez, Richard Molinsky, Darren Orlando, Andrew Schandler and
Richard Smith.
Authorities said many of the brokers made multimillion-dollar salaries
while
employed at Blair. Palagonia was the highest-earning salesman, reportedly
generating as much as $13 million in gross commission in one year.
All of the defendants have been charged with enterprise corruption, which
is
punishable by up to 25 years in prison.
Blair and its former employees are charged with manipulating stock prices -
including securities being offered in IPOs - for the benefit of the firm,
certain favored customers, brokers and others associated with Blair.
Among the IPOs that Blair fraudulently sold were Amerigon Inc. (ARGN),
Telepad Corp., Premier Laser Systems Inc., Interactive Flight Technologies
Inc., Sepragen Corp. (SPGNA), Food Court Entertainment Network Inc., Titan
Pharmaceuticals Inc. (TTP), Digital Video Systems Inc. (DVIDE), Conversion
Technologies International Inc. and Advanced Aerodynamics & Structures Inc.
(AASI), according to the indictment.
Blair's retail-brokerage unit and investment-banking operations separated
in
1992. The investment-banking unit, which continues to be run under the name
D.H. Blair Investment Banking Corp., is not under investigation, authorities
said.
In a statement, D.H. Blair Investment Banking said it is "in no way
involved
in the action brought by the DA" and stressed that it has been "an entirely
separate company" from D.H. Blair & Co. for the past eight years. |
