May 14, 1999
Judge Finds Ex-Brokerage Chief
Manipulated Shopping.com Stock
By a WALL STREET JOURNAL Staff Reporter
LOS ANGELES -- A federal judge found that a former brokerage-firm
president, Cery B. Perle, manipulated the stock of one of his firm's clients,
Shopping.com, an Internet retailer.
The ruling by Judge Dickran Tevrizian came in
response to a suit filed by the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission against Mr. Perle,
who was president and part owner of the
now-defunct Irvine, Calif., brokerage firm Waldron & Co. The judge issued
an injunction against Mr. Perle and imposed $110,000 in penalties.
Mr. Perle Thursday denied any wrongdoing. He said he hadn't had adequate
funds to defend himself against the SEC charges and plans to appeal the
judge's decision.
Waldron served as underwriter for Shopping.com when the Corona del Mar,
Calif., company made its initial public offering in November 1997. In a suit
filed in September in Los Angeles federal court against Mr. Perle and
Waldron, the SEC contended that the defendants manipulated the price of
Shopping.com shares from their initial level of $9 a share to more than $32.
Thursday, SEC attorney Clifford Hyatt said the investigation is continuing.
Earlier this year, Shopping.com was purchased by Compaq Computer Corp.
for $220 million. |
