Cindy et al:
The following is a recent article written by an excellent investigative reporter from the Sarasota Herald Tribune:
Disputed shares put crimp in vote
By Michael Pollick STAFF WRITER
NVID International, the penny stock company that was subjected to a federal raid in April, ended its annual meeting Friday without taking a shareholder vote on a new management slate.
To declare a quorum, the current management discovered, the corporation would have had to include shares that are now in dispute, owned by two former principals in the company, Matthew Klenovic and Robert Bunte.
Both were arrested April 4 in Sarasota and charged with defrauding several hundred investors of $3.2 million, using the Internet and other means to make unrealistic claims about a disinfectant product that was in the early stages of development.
The company has since moved its small headquarters operation to Clearwater, the home of its temporary president, David Larson. Many of NVID's shareholders live in Sarasota.
Klenovic pleaded guilty in August to six felony counts of wire and mail fraud and conspiracy to defraud. He has yet to be sentenced. Bunte was indicted by a federal grand jury in September and faces a December trial date.
NVID has rescheduled its annual meeting for Nov. 11, by which time it expects to be able to take a shareholder vote without counting the stock in dispute. There are 44 million shares outstanding.
NVID seeks to obtain the return of 10 million or more of those shares that the company says were granted improperly to Bunte and Klenovic, according to Mike Redden, secretary of the corporation.
The issue is being litigated in federal court in Tampa.
Separately, NVID has sued Bunte and Klenovic in Sarasota County Circuit Court, seeking to take possession of the two homes in which the men and their families live.
The company's lawsuit says Klenovic fraudulently received $594,000 from NVID for shares in a private corporation that Klenovic claimed owned the rights to the disinfectant.
Bunte, a separate suit alleges, similarly received $170,000 for his shares in the same private corporation. Both men used the proceeds to buy Sarasota homes.
Since Klenovic has pleaded guilty to the federal fraud charges, NVID expects to continue with the civil suit against him immediately.
Bunte has pleaded not guilty, putting the civil case against him on hold.
''As long as charges are pending against Mr. Bunte in federal court, he is going to have the right to assert the Fifth Amendment in connection with any ... requests for any civil discovery in the civil case,'' said Bunte's court-appointed attorney in the federal case, Donald Horrox.
Meanwhile, Redden says the company continues to negotiate with a Fortune 500 company for the development of NVID's Axen disinfectant product as a veterinary wash.
NVID is discussing an arrangement in which NVID would receive an upfront fee and later be entitled to royalties if the Fortune 500 company is able to get the product to market, Redden said.
NVID shares trade on the NASD Bulletin Board market and are offered at 10 cents. The company has no audited financial statements.
One item at the rescheduled annual meeting will be the election of a new board of directors. The slate consists of Redden, who continues to work for NVID in Sarasota, Larson and M. Robert Edelson. Edelson works for Ecolab Inc. in Minneapolis and has been involved in the water purification business for 38 years, Redden said.
---
Sorry I didn't see more of you (that have corresponded on this thread) at the meeting.
Eric |
