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Strategies & Market Trends : Anthony @ Equity Investigations, Dear Anthony, -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Land Shark who wrote (57479)	6/22/2000 9:48:00 AM
From: Trumptown	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 122087

'Pride cometh before a fall'...your decision...never fun to see a winner turn into a loser... I'm buying at $7... SR

To: Land Shark who wrote (57479)	6/22/2000 1:08:00 PM
From: StockDung	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 122087

Ostrich farming con-men jailed in Britain LONDON, June 22 (Reuters) - Two British businessmen were sentenced to a total of six years and four months in prison for their part in a multi-million pound ostrich farm fraud, the Serious Fraud Office said on Thursday. Brian Ketchell, 50, and Allan Walker, 58, founders of the Ostrich Farming Corporation, had pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud investors in an ostrich breeding scheme. They were sentenced at Leicester Crown Court, where their trial began in March. Walker and Ketchell initially denied the charge but changed their plea to guilty on March 28. Ketchell was sentenced to 3-1/2 years in jail and Walker two years and 10 months. Two other men were acquitted when the trial ended on Wednesday. Ketchell and Walker, from Nottinghamshire in central England, set up the business in 1994/95, promising investors huge rates of return by buying ostriches which they said would become a popular source of food. The business eventually attracted more than 2,800 customers and within 15 months had turnover of 21 million pounds ($31.77 million). The company employed sales representatives, produced a promotional video and some clients were taken to Belgium to see a breeding farm where the birds were reared. Virtually no part of the ostrich was left out of their sales pitch -- hides for the leather industry, anti-static feathers as dusters, oils for medical products and even infertile eggs as ornaments. Buyers were told that the ostriches would have a microchip implanted under the skin to verify the identity of each bird. But instead of buying ostriches, millions of pounds of investors' money was siphoned off into offshore accounts. None of the defendants bought ostriches themselves as a personal investment, but between them they received more than 5.5 million pounds. The company continued to take orders from clients, but in many cases the ostriches were non-existent. Of the 3,456 birds sold to customers or allocated under the farm's guaranteed chick scheme, at least 925 did not exist. The company was wound up in early 1996 by the Department of Trade and Industry on public interest grounds. The SFO began its investigation just over four years ago. 12:35 06-22-00