Westergaardcom, Former Internet Publisher, Settles SEC Charges
Washington, Dec. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Westergaard.com Inc., a former Internet publisher of investment research about small companies, agreed to settle regulatory charges that it failed to disclose payments received for publishing positive reports about the companies.
Westergaard.com founder John Westergaard, 69, also was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with failure to disclose company payments on the Internet radio show he hosted. He presented favorable views of the companies' prospects in return for the payments, the SEC alleged.
Westergaard, who lives in New York City and said he is terminally ill with prostate cancer, is contesting the SEC's civil- fraud charges that were filed in New York federal court.
``These charges are specious,'' Westergaard said in an interview. ``They've been out to get me for three years, and I refuse to back down.''
The SEC alleged that the company and Westergaard, its controlling shareholder, disseminated favorable reports about companies via press releases, an Internet radio show and a Web site. The small companies paid as much as $48,000 for the positive reports, the SEC contended.
Westergaard said he didn't promote paying companies in his weekly radio show on which he interviewed company executives.
The show, which was called ``Johnny Dotcom's Journal'' and appeared on RadioWallStreet.com, ``just described their business and talked about their prospects,'' Westergaard said. It drew as many as 5,000 listeners, he said.
While neither admitting nor denying wrongdoing, New York- based Westergaard.com and its onetime broadcasting unit agreed to be subject to stiffer sanctions if they commit similar violations in the future.
Westergaard.com ceased operations last week and now trades as a shell company on the Nasdaq Stock Market's over-the-counter bulletin board, Westergaard's lawyer Larry Ginsburg of New York said. He declined further comment.
Westergaard.com's stock traded at a 52-week high of $1.03 last Feb. 1. It was trading at 3 cents, down 3 cents to a 52-week low, in midafternoon trading today.
Dec/27/2000 14:13 ET
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