Millionaire.com, boss settle SEC case for $25,000
WASHINGTON, Oct 2 (Reuters) - The president of Millionaire.com <MLRE.OB>, publisher of a magazine for the wealthy, agreed to pay $25,000 to settle charges that his company issued false press releases and violated record-keeping laws, the Securities and Exchange Commission said on Tuesday.
Robert White, president and chief executive, and Millionaire.com did not admit or deny charges that the company issued a press release on Dec. 21, 1998 "falsely" claiming it had sold $8 million of advertising space in its magazine, Opulence, formerly called Millionaire.
The 55-year-old White was accused of aiding and abetting the alleged violations, according to the SEC complaint.
His Washington-based attorney, Michael Missal, said: "Mr. White and the company are very pleased to get this behind them. These are events that happened some time ago and the company is a very different company today."
According to the SEC, the Dec. 21, 1998 press release said that Millionaire and an unrelated company struck a barter agreement under which the company agreed to give Millionaire discount goods and services.
Millionaire would, in exchange, credit the discount amount -- up to $8 million -- to the unrelated company toward future costs of the unrelated company's advertising in a magazine published by Millionaire.com.
The press release announcing the deal was false and misleading "because it failed to disclose that the parties' barter agreement did not obligate the unrelated company to actually advertise in Millionaire's magazine," the SEC said.
On Christmas Eve, or several days after that release, Millionaire issued another release "falsely" saying it had entered into a definitive agreement to buy an auction house, the SEC alleged.
But that, too, was false and misleading, regulators said, because Millionaire.com had only entered into a letter of intent -- not a definitive agreement -- that outlined the terms under which it might buy the auction gallery company.
It also failed to disclose that if the parties did not reach a formal, binding agreement within 30 days then the deal would be called off. The letter expired after 30 days and Millionaire did not make the purchase, the SEC said.
Millionaire.com shares are currently trading for 3 cents, up 1 cent, on the Bulletin Board. The 52-week high is 8 cents.
The Bluffton, South Carolina-based company was further charged with making a filing with the SEC for the quarter ended June 30, 2000 that failed to disclose that it lost its contractual right to exclusive use of highly valued trademarks "Millionaire" and "Billionaire." |
