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To: Follies who wrote (46870)	1/7/2000 10:59:00 PM
From: lorne	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116762

Market Guru Ordered To Return $16M. Martin Armstrong JANUARY 07, 19:03 EST NEW YORK (AP) — A judge on Friday ordered renowned market forecaster Martin A. Armstrong to produce $16 million of gold bars and rare antiquities in an attempt to recover the assets of investors who were bilked out of about $1 billion. Armstrong, 50, founder of Princeton Economics International, violated a court order to turn over the valuables to a court-appointed receiver, Judge Richard Owen in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan ruled. The judge ordered him to produce them by Tuesday at 3 p.m. Prosecutors believe Armstrong has 102 bars of gold, a $750,000 bust of Julius Caesar, hundreds of rare coins, a bronze helmet and other antiquities. In addition, Armstrong's ex-girlfriend, Tina Mustra, who also is his executive assistant at Princeton Economics, testified Friday that she helped Armstrong remove company records from their Princeton, N.J., offices shortly before they were raided last September by FBI agents. ''The testimony of Ms. Mustra (supports) that Mr. Armstrong has been personally involved in the taking and secreting of these items,'' Judge Owen said in signing his order. On Thursday, attorneys for the receiver searched Armstrong's spacious vacation home in Long Beach Island, N.J., but said it had been cleaned out. Behind some books on the top shelf of a bookcase, they found a bar of fine Swiss silver, they said. They also found some packaging for antique coins, complete with auction slips, and two small coins. ''It is overwhelming evidence the coins are in his possession,'' said Alan Cohen, an attorney for O'Melveny & Meyers and the receiver in the case. Armstrong, who is free on a $5 million bond, had no comment following the hearing, but his attorney Lawrence S. Feld said, ''Mr. Armstrong has authorized me to say that he will turnover whatever is in his possession.'' Had Armstrong not signaled that he was willing to comply, U.S. Marshals were standing by to arrest him. Armstrong has pleaded innocent to charges of fraud brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the U.S. Attorney. Armstrong owes almost $1 billion to some 100 Japanese corporate investors. His companies, including Princeton Economics and Cresvale International Ltd. in Tokyo, had raised money from investors and promised to repay the debt, plus interest. Instead of investing the money in safe bonds, as he promised, Armstrong made risky bets on currencies and derivatives. Only $46 million has been recovered to repay investors. Cresvale filed for bankruptcy last month and its chairman, Akira Setogawa, was indicted for tax evasion. Setogawa also has admitted giving rebates to Japanese companies who continued to invest with Armstrong. wire.ap.org