Regulators Cry 'Eh?' Over Filing for IPO By Canadian Firm
Publisher Claims to Have Ties With Former Presidents, Other Political Leaders
By JUDITH BURNS
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
September 14, 2005
A Canadian company's claim to a "dream team" of directors, including former U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush and former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, is a work of fiction, U.S. regulators charged.
The Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that Apollo Publication Corp., of Windsor, Ontario, misled investors with a registration filing this month stating that its board also included Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, former Secretary of State and Treasury James Baker, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D., Conn.), and former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill. Current Treasury Secretary John Snow also was identified as a director but was identified as "Treasurer William Snow."
The SEC also said Apollo falsely stated that Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and some CIBC affiliates were jointly managing its public offering. It said the company's stock-registration statement didn't contain audited financial statements and wasn't signed by any board members or executives. Apollo identified Xiaobo Lucy Luo as its chairman and chief executive.
Apollo officials didn't return a phone call seeking comment, and the email address in its filing didn't appear to be working. The company will have an opportunity to dispute the SEC's allegations at a hearing before an SEC administrative law judge, with an initial decision within seven months.
CIBC said it wasn't connected with Apollo or the offering and that its name was used "entirely without permission and without our knowledge."
Apollo filed for an initial public offering to sell $3.6 billion of securities. According to its registration statement, Apollo wanted to register shares for trading on the Nasdaq Small Cap Market. It said it would market textbooks and other products to "whole world citizens on the Earth," and said it had already issued shares or options to Vice President Dick Cheney, former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore, John Kerry and Edward Kennedy. It listed "Nile Bush," Marvin Bush, "JohnMaCain" and "John Remusfold" as shareholders.
Write to Judith Burns at judith.burns@dowjones.com1
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