Tokyo Joe in the news ..
Thursday March 8, 2:40 pm Eastern Time
Stock picker "Tokyo Joe" settles SEC fraud case
(UPDATE: Adds comments by Park's attorney)
By Peter Ramjug
WASHINGTON, March 8 (Reuters) - Stock-picker Yun Soo Oh Park, known on the Internet as ``Tokyo Joe,'' agreed to pay more than $750,000 to settle federal fraud charges, the Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday.
Without admitting or denying the allegations, Park and his company, Societe Anonyme Corp., were ordered to repay $324,934 in ill-gotten gains as well as a fine of $429,696, the SEC said.
Park, who called his Web site ``Tokyo Joe's Societe Anonyme'' when he set it up in 1998, must also post a hyperlink of the settlement on his site, tokyojoe.com, for 30 days, the SEC said.
In its complaint filed in January 2000 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the SEC charged that Park operated an Internet site which dispensed stock advice for a fee.
The commission charged that Park defrauded customers by failing to tell them that he had already bought shares of the stock he was recommending and that he planned to sell them once the stock price rose, a practice the SEC called ``scalping.''
But his attorney, Ira Sorkin, said: ``There were no findings of any wrongdoing.''
``There were no findings of any fraudulent conduct and no findings of any scalping.''
``Mr. Park settled because the SEC originally sought up to $2.5 million ... and it was a settlement that was advantageous to both sides,'' said Sorkin, adding ``Mr. Park wants to go on with his life.''
The SEC also accused Park of promoting a company without disclosing that he had received shares in exchange for his recommendations. In addition, the investment performance results on his Web site were ``materially false and misleading,'' the agency said.
Park, who is about 50 and lives in New York City, tried to have the case dismissed on the grounds that since he gave investment tips over the Internet, he was not an investment adviser in the legal sense, the SEC said.
The court denied the motion and said that the SEC complaint sufficiently alleged that he was an investment adviser.
``This case has established groundbreaking precedent,'' said Richard Walker, the SEC's top cop.
``Those who are in the business of offering investment advice on the Internet may take on the same duties and responsibilities as other investment advisers,'' he said.
Mary Keefe, the top SEC official in Chicago, added: ``In requiring Park and Societe Anonyme Corp. to pay a significant penalty and to give back all of the profits they made from their illegal trading and touting, we are sending a clear message to those in the stock-picking business -- we will pursue you vigorously if you mislead your customers.''
Of course, he's still in business .. <gg>
Jim in CT .. |
