Under the heading of "....Blonds, chewing gum - on Cell phones - in traffic....":
'Debbie' Really Did Dial A Wrong Number Or Two
(financialwire.net via COMTEX) --
May 4, 2005 (FinancialWire) "Debbie" probably made a mistake when she called some U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission employees and left a stock tout message on their home phones.
Spurred on by reports from both within the SEC and elsewhere around the U.S., the "pump-and-dump" "wrong number" phone stock scam that had victimized both companies such as American Multiplexer Corp., Donini Inc. (OTCBB: DNNI), 5G Wireless Communications Inc. (OTCBB: FGWC), Innovative Food Holdings Inc., Maui General Stores (OTCBB: MAUG). and Power3 Medical Products (OTCBB: PWRM) and their shareholders.
FinancialWire had initially broken the story last summer about the scam that later became a national media event. FinancialWire had reported that the SEC had stated it did not appear that any of the targeted companies were involved, despite several scurrilous postings on the Internet that challenged that reporting.
Investors who had bought into the companies lost money when the stocks declined after it was revealed that the "wrong number" touts were frauds.
Telemarketer Michael J. O'Grady pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in the case.
SEC Associate Director of Enforcement Peter Bresnan said the scam resulted in "more complaints from the public than any other fraud in recent history."
Tthe telemarketers, Telephone Broadcast and affiliate Telephony Leasing Corp. helped stock promoters in Houston sell $4.5 million ni stocks through a Tampa brokerage firm.
Similar copycat phone calls resulted in charges against David Whittemore, Dallas, and Whittemore Management Inc., and Peter Cahill of Houston, and Clearlake Venture Corp.
Their scams involved Triton American Energy Corp. (OTC: TRAE) and Yap International (OTC: YPIL). Both have recently been identified in a FinancialWire series as having continued promotions via faxes or email. Yap International was being promoted by more emails delivered to FinancialWire last night even as this article was being written.
In the initial scam, "Debbie" was the wife of an Altamone Springs, FL stock promoter who hired Grady. The phone calls were made to sound like an accidental message left on an answering machine.
The SEC said a Florida stock promoter paid O'Grady $40,000 in cash in a bag exchanged at a Gulfport, Mississippi casino.
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