HJ Meyers Ex-Officials Settle SEC Charges on Borealis Stock
Washington, Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Two ex-officials at the defunct H.J. Meyers & Co. brokerage settled charges they illegally inflated the price of software developer Borealis Technology Corp. stock after underwriting the company's initial public offering, regulators said.
Michael Vanechanos of Holmdel, New Jersey, former head trader of H.J. Meyers, and William Masucci of Pittsford, New York, ex- national sales manager of the Rochester, N.Y.-based Meyers, agreed to pay a total $176,213 in penalties, the Securities and Exchange Commission said.
Vanechanos and Masucci neither admitted nor denied the charges involving H.J. Meyers, which once had 15 offices and 300 employees, the SEC said.
In June 1996, H.J. Meyers underwrote the IPO of Borealis, a software developer that since has changed its name to Portivity Inc. Meyers sold roughly 1.9 million, or 80 percent, of the Borealis IPO shares to its retail customers, the SEC said.
Last month, the SEC found that the firm manipulated the stock price of Borealis in the days following the IPO. Masucci and Vanechanos illegally raised the stock's price from $5.00 to $8.49 by dominating the market for Borealis shares and by reducing the supply of those shares, the SEC said.
The SEC also had found that H.J. Meyers, through Vanechanos, fraudulently sold Borealis shares to its customers at undisclosed prices.
Portivity shares last traded Jan. 29 at one-half cent.
Vanechanos agreed to pay a $102,358 civil penalty, including interest, the SEC said. He was barred from the securities business, with the right to reapply after five years, the SEC said. Masucci agreed to return $13,855 in alleged illegal profits, including interest, and to pay a $60,000 civil penalty, the SEC said.
Masucci, whose telephone number is unpublished, isn't represented by a lawyer, the SEC said. Vanechanos' lawyer couldn't be reached for comment.
Feb/12/2001 19:03 ET
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