SEC slaps DISE (ex-UBUY) scam anthrax claims:
rd.yahoo.com*http://www.marketwatch.com/news/yhoo/story.asp?source=blq/yhoo&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo&guid=%7B5449F57B%2D82FF%2D4890%2DAFCF%2DCF266DA4B082%7D
>> SEC slaps three false anthrax claims
Companies said products targeted toxic bacteria
By Leticia Williams, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 3:34 PM ET Nov. 15, 2001
WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- The Securities and Exchange Commission issued cease-and-desist orders against three publicly traded companies that issued press releases after the Sept. 11 attacks, claiming to offer certain products capable of killing or detecting anthrax.
In an example of the agency's proclaimed commitment to provide speedier enforcement action, SEC officials said Thursday that the fraudulent claims were brought to the attention of its enforcement division within a few weeks following the terror tragedy.
"Today's action enforcement actions make clear that the Commission will act in 'real-time' to sanction such conduct," Stephen Cutler, director of the agency's enforcement division, said in a prepared statement.
Each company agreed to the order without admitting or denying the commission's findings.
The SEC alleges that two of the companies, Disease Sciences (DISE: news, chart, profile), of Boca Raton, Fla., and The Classica Group (TCGI: news, chart, profile), of Lakewood, N.J., claimed to have developed products capable of killing anthrax.
The SEC alleged that a third company, R-Tec Technologies (RTTC: news, chart, profile), of Flanders, N.J., had falsely claimed that it devised a mechanism to detect biological and chemical terrorism, according to an SEC statement Thursday.
"I think the commission's response was prompt and effective against these companies that used public anxiety as a springboard for self-promotion," Barry Rashkover, an enforcement official for the SEC's New York division, told reporters Thursday.
Phone calls made to each of the companies' lawyers were not immediately returned.
Leticia Williams is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com in Washington. << |
