Elgindy also featured Raymond Dirks:
Attention All Business Editors: Insidetruth.com initiates coverage VITAL LIVING PRODUCTS INC .
NOTE TO EDITORS: The following is an investment opinion issued by InsideTruth.com
San Diego, CA *October 23, 2001 InsideTruth.com initiates coverage on
VITAL LIVING PRODUCTS INC . (OTCBB:VLPI) with a STRONG SELL rating and a price target of 5 cents in the next 3 to 6 months.
COMPANY DESCRIPTION:
Vital Living Products, Inc. sells water treatment and testing products and services. The Company provides home water test kits, water treatment equipment and high purity drinking water vended from machines placed at retail locations. Vital Living's products are sold under brand names such as PurTest, Puritron, American Aqua, and PurGuard.
FINANCIAL DATA & STATS:
Shares Outstanding :11 milion, every share is freely tradeable ( It is important to ignore what the company says, they twist the truth to meet their needs, we are right and they are wrong, it is that simple.)
52 Week High/Low : $2.08 / $ 0.05
Gross Revenue (Last 6 months) FY : $ 920,000
Total Net Income (Loss) (Last 6 months): (- $ 939,000 ) That’s LOSS for those who don’t know what the dash in front is, or are used to the manipulated pro-forma nonsense that these dastardly companies spew.
Cash / cash per share: 400 dollars , 0.00013/share *
Bank overdrafts: 59,911 dollars *
* Per 10-Q June 30
OVERVIEW :
VLPI makes and sells test kits, primarily water test kits, they have 400 bucks in the bank, and owe almost $ 60,000.00 in bank overdrafts, according to their most recent filing. Now they are trying to exploit recent events by selling a test kit that is misleadingly called PURE TEST - ANTHRAX . This test kit is actually the same old re-labeled bacteria test kit they introduced in 1996. It detects bacteria, not just anthrax.
integritycapital.net
BACKGROUND AND PAST PERFORMANCE:
This Company was basically a nothing concern trading at a few pennies a share, however the anthrax scare created an opportunity that has enabled their debenture investors who paid approximately 450,000 dollars for approximately 5.5 million shares an opportunity to sell at a huge profit , and also allow the company to offer a test kit that not only is useless but completely unreliable. VLPI did no testing whatsoever on ANTHRAX and or Anthrax antibodies, but simply re-labled the following test which was already available to test for bacteria including E Coli. testyourwater.com .
This test takes 48 hours to complete and will not just test positive for anthrax but any bacteria. Insidetruth recently interviewed a top executive at a company that was recently awarded over 175 million dollars to implement procedures to combat the threat of chemical and biotech warfare. We asked him to contact VLPI and to ask the tough questions involving testing of this product and if the government would be interested in such a test.
His findings:
"This test has “not been tested on anthrax or its antibodies”
"The company refused to provide any test information and admitted to him that they have no association with a licensed facility that can work with anthrax"
" The only way for them to have tested these test kits, is to have illegally aquired anthrax in Mexico, the 100 licensed locations that sell anthrax for govt work, have not provided any anthrax to VLPI"
When asked if he believed the people he spoke with he clearly stated " NO way "
He also said that , "this test would never get Government approval" without extensive testing and independant certification
His words " This test is fraud on the public "
Folks, we at insidetruth.com didnt say these things, a Vice President of a Major company that has almost 200 million dollars in Federal Contracts who actually contacted VLPI to explore the possibility of buying this product for his Govt Contracts, did.
OUCH !!
CURRENT EVENTS:
In the wake of the terrorist attack of 9/11 , we have seen a spate of companies jumping on either the airport security band wagon , or the most recent anthrax scare in the US. Insidetruth.com certainly agrees that greater precautions are needed; however we also get ill when we see companies that exploit such events to bilk investors. VLPI is one such concern. What takes normally years and millions of dollars to accomplish, took only a few days and probably a significant portion of that $ 400 cash balance for VLPI to develop a home test kit for anthrax.
Well we would like to tell you what they won’t. Anthrax is very hardy bacteria that can live in spore form and be carried around in letters on fecal matter and or in your coin purse. However the test that VLPI offers is not anthrax specific -- it is a bacteria test in general and will register a positive reading for any of a multitude of bacterias. Chances are very strong that almost everyone will be able to get a false positive by testing outdoors on stagnant water supplies, providing false positives for anthrax. Additionally many pesticides currently contain certain bacillus strains which would also give out false positives. The panic that would result from a wide distribution of this product would be tantamount to irresponsible war mongering and propaganda.
UNETHICAL FINANCING : VLPI has been financed by a non profit corporation in exchange for stock, We feel this is an illegal use of an " Alledged Charity to illegaly evade taxes, which is punishable BY fines and prison. Unless someone can explain how investing in a publicly traded company is a tax exempt event? Hmmmmm. It looks like money laundering and tax evasion to us; we are curious what the IRS Criminal Division will think.
"Under a $400,000 promissory note dated September 1, 1992 issued by us to CTF, Inc., a non-profit corporation controlled by Mr. Peters, we owed approximately $322,605 at June 30, 2001. On February 21, 2001 CTF, Inc. executed an amendment to the promissory note extending its term to February 23, 2003. This note bears interest at prime plus 2%. " June 30 10Q
TESTING :
We believe that VLPI has conducted no verifiable and or dependable testing at all, and that the comments by the CEO on CNBC this morning in an interview ( more like an infomercial ) with Maria Bartiromo, were false and without basis.
It is impossible for VLPI to have acquired anthrax and/or its antibodies, to conduct any testing. Secondly, they have admitted that nobody outside their company’s few employees have ever tested it to verify their claims. We at Insidetruth are 100% convinced this test is useless and is simply an attempt to hype their stock using current events to cash out. VLPI did not and cannot test on anthrax without a government licensed lab and/or project assistance, which they do not have.
You must be licensed and/or certified with a government order to work with anthrax, and all testing is done in state-of-the-art facilities. We think that a company that promotes self testing is potentially guilty of negligent homicide.
The CEO mentioned a false positive rate of 5%, we believe he is as clueless as his SEC filings show he really is. What kind of company operates by using bank overdraft lines?
The false positive rate would be closer to almost 50%, considering the test is meant to detect bacteria in both spore and germ form.
Finally, he never disclosed the false negative rate, ( its gotta be huge! ) which in our opinion is the most dangerous of all results. It is quite possible and probably most likely that an individual who comes into contact with an anthrax-like substance and tries to use this test may get a false negative result. This may come from not waiting the required 48 hours, failing to follow the directions completely, or encountering a strain of anthrax that may not be detected by the test.
We believe that Ace Hardware and other potential retailers who would consider selling this product faces a tremendous liability. All it will take is for one person to buy this test, make an incorrect diagnosis either for or against anthrax and get sick and or die, and then sue Ace Hardware for wrongful death or for selling a test kit that is supposed to be 95% accurate, yet says every thing in your home is tainted with anthrax when in reality it is simple detecting various other benign and or harmless bacteria. We absolutely believe that there was no testing done and we also believe that any retailer offering this test is responsible for any resulting deaths and all possible mental anguish people will suffer when they test positive for items that in actuality are falsely turning up tainted with anthrax. Ace may soon be the place “with the Back-Pedaling Hardware Man “. We are convinced that Ace Hardware will pull this test kit shortly after it realizes what a huge mistake they have made.
We tried several times to attend the ongoing testing and “dog and pony show” being put on today by the CEO of VLPI and his promoter pal, Ray Dirks. However, in violation of SEC Rule FD, we were denied access. We have lodged a complaint with the SEC. It is absolutely illegal to fail to make disclosures to all investors equally and by not allowing us to attend this circus event, we have been deprived of the ability to laugh at them in person. We take great offense that we were not allowed to see the live demonstration of a test kit that is supposed to detect anthrax in the lightening burst speed of 48 hours. We offered to provide Coleman Lanterns and bring the marshmallows, we are further disappointed that we even bought extra fluffy sleeping bags for the exciting wait for the test results, and as a precaution, we even bought several haz-mat suits.
The practicality of waiting 48 hours for a test result is ludicrous, test your mail today so you can read it in 3 days; test your water each day and you will have 2 day old results every day... Are you supposed to swab everything you touch, or are you supposed to test white powders, public salt shakers, what on earth can you test that you can afford to wait 48 hours for if you suspect anthrax? This product is a joke not unlike the company’s financials. The only thing funnier is their stock promoter, Ray Dirks. He is known in the micro cap security world as a POS peddler.
Any Company that claims a accuracy rate of 95% must test on real anthrax and have those results certified by a government approved facility. VLPI didn’t do this, which is a violation of law in our opinion.
IN CLOSING , WE BELIEVE THE CEO OF VLPI IS A HUGE LIAR, PERIOD !
Ray Dirks & Integrity Capital:
Ray Dirks is the guy pushin’ VLPI, along with Integrity Capital Inc., Lets see what kind of news is out there about them.
Integrity Capital promoted several micro-cap scams in the past and has a keen nose for insignificant companies that it can pump up and cash out on. Robert Pratt [President of Integrity] used to be a broker at Global Securities in Vancouver. He promoted: ITKG (Integral Technologies, Inc)
Darren Hayes [listed as their SouthWest office] also promoted: MAMT (Medical
Asset Management, CBTK (Campbell Tech), POS (Postec Systems), CPT (Caprice
Greystoke), IBP (Intl Brooks Petroleum), ICPRF (International Capri) which
became APVAF (Apiva.com Web).
Now lets briefly cover Ray Dirks, the vast majority of his underwritings have been huge flops, please see,
www2.mercerpartners.com . He was sued By the SEC in 1983:
mba-exchange.com. , but it doesn’t end there.
Ray Dirks recommended the scam knows as JAWS, library.northernlight.com , The the SEC Halted it, sec.gov , The SEC filed suit: sec.gov . Well what did they do ??
Let see: In its Complaint, the Commission alleges that Great White Marine and Recreation, Inc., a Waco-based corporation once controlled by Mr. Smith, offered and sold unregistered shares of its stock through false statements in press releases, in promotional brochures, in internet website postings and in a Form 10-SB filed with the Commission. The Complaint alleges that Great White and Mr. Smith raised at least $10.8 million through their fraudulent activities, that Mr. Smith diverted at least $3.5 million to his own uses and that Great White made a $1 million "dividend payment as part of a "Ponzi" scheme
There is much more on Ray Dirks But since it is lunch time we figured we would allow you all the opportunity to eat lunch in peace, We will go into more detail at a later time.
REAL TESTS:
The following government approved and licensed test kits currently exist and are far more accurate and reliable that anything that VLPI currently offers and still we face the dilemma of having only qualified persons actually doing the testing. The following test kits are the “Real McCoy”:
Available to Government and approved a facilities only
1.) alexeter.com
The following kits are available to the public, This test claims results in 15 minutes, not 48 hours !
gearshop.com.
We strongly advise against self testing. Call the authorities if you suspect anything. That’s what most people will do anyway.
There are many test kits for anthrax available that are far more reliable, we suggest you search on your own, we just touched upon two verified and real working kits.
Summary & Closing:
It is clear to us that VLPI is scamming the public and Ace Hardware, and actually posing a significant threat to the general public at large. By the time a test result comes back, it is too late. Is everyone supposed to buy a haz-mat suit that costs 500 -700 dollars for each test? These suits are disposed of immediately by licensed professionals if a test comes back positive, we envision a country of Americans all wearing space suits and armed with Q tip swabs, taking samples of everything they come in contact with . This is the world that VLPI has promoted , in order to sell more stock to the naive and uninformed investor.
We have a suggestion for the public, if you run across any substance that you believe is suspicious , use common sense and call authorities -- its free and you don’t have to risk your life .They are far more capable of accurately helping you, all ya gotta do is call 911. Hopefully as you grew up you learned how to dial these three magic numbers as a child, many of you actually need to call 911 anyway and have yourselves committed for believing the nonsense this company spews. It was a whopping 5 cents before this anthrax hype and it is destined to repeat its past performance. This report has been forwarded to the SEC and the FBI.
InsideTruth.Com is wholly owned By Pacific Equity Investigations.
We have used information that we believe to be incredibly reliable and believe the above to be fact, however we are human and on a rare occasion we make small tiny errors, however we stand behind every word above. If you believe that any information in any one of our reports is inaccurate or in need of correction , please contact us and we will be happy to investigate any and all claims.
Pacific Equity Investigations is an equity valuation research center. It may and often do have positions that are consistent with its reports and are currently short this security and stand to profit when it finally implodes. Anthony Elgindy is a professional trader and analyst, and one of the most well-known investment commentators on the internet. His work has been featured in numerous financial news media. He has appeared on TV shows "20/20" and "Justice Files" speaking out to warn the public about the risks of fraud and overvalued equities. He is the #1 most bookmarked person on the #1 financial discussion site, Silicon Investor siliconinvestor.com , and he is known as the " Mad Max of WallStreet " by WIRED MAGAZINE, wired.com. |
