Mark Bergman, Access l's chief executive and the author of the report, stated that the financial figures were based entirely on information from Max executives, including McLellan.
45. Max Internet reproduced the January Access 1 report in its entirety on its website, thereby republishing, endorsing and adopting the projections therein.
46. Following Access l's "buy" recommendation, Max's stock rose 152% from $9-1/4 on January 19, 2000 to $23-5/16 on January 26, 2000.
47. The statements made about Max's business in January 2000 were false and misleading. The true, but concealed facts were those alleged in &4 as well as the following:
(a) Despite the fact that Access l's analyst report appeared to contain the independent opinions of an analyst, Max did not disclose that it had paid Access 1 $25,000 and 30,000 shares of Max stock to write the report. The practice of having companies pay for financial coverage, provide all of the financial data relied upon and then publish the report without disclosing the financial relationship, is not endorsed by and has been questioned by the SEC.[2]
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