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(COMTEX) B: SEC Freezes Assets of Eight Accused of Pumps And Dumps, Includ
B: SEC Freezes Assets of Eight Accused of Pumps And Dumps, Including Hartley Lor
Feb 17, 2005 (financialwire.net via COMTEX) -- February 17, 2005
(FinancialWire) The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission continues to move
aggressively against pump-and-dump stock manipulators, freezing the assets
Wednesday of eight it accuses of manipulation of Concorde America (OTC: CNDD)
and Absolute Health and Fitness (OTC: ALSWF).
Three of the eight whose assets were frozen by U.S. District Judge William J.
Zloch are Donald Oehmke, Bryan Kos and Hartley Lord, the CEO of Concorde.
The remaining five were offshore entities: Da Silva, SA, Vanderlip Holdings, NV,
Chiang Ze Capital, AVV, Ryzcek Investments, GMBH, and Barranquilla Holdings, SA.
The SEC said Concorde America claims to recruit Latin American workers for
employment in Europe, and Absolute Health claims to own and operate several
fitness centers. On February 14, 2005, the Commission filed a civil injunctive
action, alleging that Oehmke, Kos, and others defrauded investors through two
classic "pump and dump" schemes.
The SEC's complaint alleges that Oehmke and Kos instigated both schemes,
artificially creating demand for stock they owned in Concorde America and
Absolute Health through unauthorized and false press releases, facsimile and
e-mail spams, internet websites, promotional videos, and automatic voice-mail
messages since approximately June 2004.
According to the SEC's complaint, Oehmke realized a net profit of over $11.3
million from his sales of Concorde America stock and more than $9.4 million from
his sales of Absolute Health. The SEC's complaint also alleges that Kos realized
net profits of nearly $1.7 million from his sales of Concorde America stock, and
more than $5 million from his sales of Absolute Health stock.
The SEC also sued Concorde America and its president, Hartley Lord, alleging
that they participated in the stock manipulation scheme, and sued Absolute
Health alleging that it did not own any fitness centers.
In addition, the SEC sued Thomas M. Heysek, Andrew M. Kline, and Paul A.
Spreadbury alleging that they prepared false and misleading analyst reports,
tout sheets, and press releases, among other things.
The SEC's Complaint charges Concorde America, Lord, Absolute Health, Oehmke,
Kos, Heysek, Kline, and Spreadbury with violating Section 10(b) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, which prohibits fraud
in connection with the purchase and sale of securities.
The complaint is located at
sec.gov .
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