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To: Junkyardawg who wrote (44712)	7/10/2000 3:23:11 PM
From: Alan Smithee	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 63513

To: LastShadow who started this subject From: AlienTech Friday, Jul 7, 2000 9:59 PM ET Reply # of 36547 SEC Arrests 24 at Solomon Smith Barney July 6th 2000 NEW YORK (DOW.NW) The SEC today arrested 24 Managing Directors at Salomon Smith Barney and charged them varying counts of stock price manipulation, fraud and conspiracy. These charges stem from an ongoing investigation that concluded after Wednesday's "downgrades" by SSB semiconductor analyst Jonatha Joseph. Late on Wednesday, Salomon Fund Managers started accumulating the same stocks (semiconductors including TXN, AMD, NSM, and SSTI) Joseph downgraded earlier in the day according to SEC officials. "According to internal documents, Salomon Smith Barney Mutual Fund Managers and High-Net-Worth clients were instructed to wait until after this announcement before adding to their positions [in semiconductor stocks]" said SEC regulator Jack Lasardi. "Around 1:00 pm EST on July 5th, just hours after the downgrade, [SSB] clients and Fund Managers began heavy buying within the [semiconductor] sector." He went on to state that "this is one of the most flagrant abuses [the SEC] has seen." Each person arrested could potential face over 25 years in prison and up to 3x monetary damages under Federal Racketeering Laws. These charges come amid an increasing number of complaints filed by individual investors regarding market manipulation at the SEC Web site ( sec.gov ). Salomon Smith Barney issued the statement saying, "All of our conduct was in full compliance with the law. These allegations are baseless and unfounded." US Bancorp's Ashok Kumar agrees that the charges are unfounded. He noted"of course they did nothing wrong. That's just the way you play the game. If analysts got arrested every time we intentionally manipulated the price of a stock, we'd all be in jail! Saying that analysts are low-life criminals is a bit of a reality stretch - don't you think?" Others weren't so quick to dismiss the magnitude of today's events. "This landmark case could bring about major changes in the industry," remarked legal analyst Terry Cohn. "Some regulators are pushing for 'matching ratings'that would more strictly address the so-called 'pump and dump' tactics."