JUDGMENT ENTERED AGAINST MADERA INTERNATIONAL, INC.
The Commission today announced that on June 4 the United States District
Court for the District of Columbia entered a Final Judgment of Permanent
Injunction By Default against Madera International, Inc. The judgment
enjoins Madera from violating the antifraud, reporting, books and
records, and internal controls provisions of the Securities Exchange Act
of 1934 (Sections 10(b), 13(a) and 13(b)(2)(A) and (B), and Rules 10b-5,
12b-20, 13a-1, and 13a-13).
The court found that Madera, by its default, was deemed to have admitted
the allegations in the Commission's complaint. The Commission's
complaint alleged that Madera, a timber distributor, had engaged in
fraudulent accounting and reporting practices since its inception in
February 1994. Specifically, the complaint alleged that Madera recorded
as assets various purported timber producing properties for which it
lacked clear title, assigned and recorded arbitrary values for those
timber producing properties, recorded revenues from phony sales
transactions, failed to disclose significant related party transactions,
and caused false sales invoices, shipping documents, cash receipts
records and audit confirmations to be furnished to its independent
auditors. Madera also issued false press releases concerning, among
other things, the company's operations and profit forecasts. [SEC v.
Madera International, Inc., Ramiro M. Fernandez-Moris, and Daniel S.
Lezak, Civil Action No. 01 1985 (JR) (D.D.C.)] (LR-17546; AAE Rel.
1570) |
