Re: 10/1/03 - [Lebed] Reuters: Whiz kid Lebed back in business after SEC run-in
Whiz kid Lebed back in business after SEC run-in
Wed October 1, 2003 03:45 PM ET
By Linda Prospero
NEW YORK, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Jonathan Lebed says he'll probably make a million bucks this year. Not bad for a New Jersey teen just a couple years removed from paying the federal government $285,000 to settle stock-manipulation allegations.
In 2000, at just 15, Lebed became the poster child for the fast-paced, high-flying technology-stock bubble when the Securities and Exchange Commission charged him with Internet stock fraud. The SEC claimed that Lebed touted microcap stocks through Internet message boards using a variety of screen names, making $800,000 on trades in the companies.
Lebed settled the charges without admitting or denying guilt.
Now the precocious 19-year-old, who celebrated his birthday on Monday, is back in the stock market.
Although the young entrepreneur is banned from using pseudonyms to pump stocks on the Internet, he continues to give advice on Lebed.biz. He runs the site from Little Falls, New Jersey, and says he has more than 3,000 members, most of whom pay $50 a month. Friends and relatives get free access, he told Reuters in a recent interview.
His stock calls can be on the money, at least for a while.
Bam! Entertainment BFUN.O , for example, a company he profiled to members in July when it was 49 cents, ran to as high as $3.72 in mid-September.
Earlier this week Lebed, who has said he does not own shares of Bam, pushed the stock again in the belief it could be a takeover candidate. On Tuesday, the video game publisher said its auditors questioned its ability to stay in business due to cash problems and deep losses. Its stock lost more than quarter of its value.
On Wednesday, however, Bam shares rebounded and were up 19 percent at $1.37 in late-afternoon Nasdaq trading.
PLEASE NOTICE ME
Stock picking is not his only focus, however. About 30 small companies also pay between $50,000 and $100,000 in cash or stock for the privilege of allowing Lebed to represent them in his investor relations firm, Lebed & Lara, he said.
Initially, Lebed foraged for clients, faxing them copies of newspaper and magazine articles highlighting his accomplishments to convince them of his prowess.
"But now I'm contacted by the companies," he said.
That includes the Margate, New Jersey company Genelink, whose chairman said he has been unable to contact Lebed for the last two months to renew its contract with Lebed & Lara.
When asked why he would choose to hire Lebed over other public relations firms that haven't had run-ins with government regulators, John DePhillipo, Genelink's chairman and chief operating officer said Lebed is "a very bright young man" who has corrected his disclosure problems.
If you're one of the small firms that trade on the so-called over-the-counter "bulletin board," the publicity that Lebed has garrnered can't hurt, he said.
"There are 4,000 companies on the bulletin board. You need to get looked at," DePhillipo said.
A number of other firms that Lebed says he represents declined to comment when contacted or did not return calls.
Maintaining a high profile is a top priority for Lebed, who never attended college, but who hopes to be representing billion-dollar companies five years from now.
"I'm just thankful I found something I'm successful in and can run a business myself," he said.
Lebed's ambitions also extend to politics. Earlier this year, he came in fourth in a four-way race for a seat on Cedar Grove, New Jersey's town council.
"I thought for sure I would win that election," said the confident teen, who owns his own home.
reuters.com |
