To: who cares? who wrote (9246 ) 8/14/2000 7:12:33 PM From: Sir Auric Goldfinger Read Replies (4) | Respond to of 10354 Former Solv-Ex Executive Faces Permanent Suspension by SEC Denver, Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Solv-Ex Corp.'s former general counsel was temporarily suspended by the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly making false statements in the company's press releases and public filings from 1995 to 1997, an SEC official said. The SEC took the action against Herbert Campbell last week, suspending him from appearing or practicing as an attorney before the commission. Campbell said in an interview that he hadn't seen the notice yet, though adding that ``my intention would be to appeal.'' Under the suspension, Campbell would be unable to sign documents filed with the SEC by public companies and wouldn't be able to serve as corporate counsel in SEC matters, said Katherine Addleman, an assistant regional director of enforcement at the SEC's Denver office. Campbell has 30 days to appeal the suspension and call for a hearing before the SEC. A spokesman at Solv-Ex's Albuquerque, New Mexico, headquarters said Campbell no longer works at the company fulltime. Campbell remains a company director. If no appeal is filed, the suspension becomes permanent, said Addleman, whose office led an SEC investigation of Solv-Ex. In May, a federal judge in Albuquerque issued an injunction against Campbell preventing him from further violations of securities laws. The judge previously found that Campbell and Solv- Ex Chairman John Rendall issued a series of misleading statements about the company's oil-processing technology that caused its stock price to soar. The ruling stemmed from a July 1998 SEC lawsuit against the company as well as Rendall and Campbell. The lawsuit claimed that the press releases and other statements helped move Solv-Ex shares from about $5 in 1995 to as high as $38. Solv-Ex claimed it had developed technology to extract oil from sand in northern Canada more cheaply than conventional drilling, but its method was never proven on a commercial scale. It later filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. and Canada and has since reorganized and emerged from those proceedings. Solv-Ex was delisted from the Nasdaq Stock Market in July 1997. Its shares, now traded over-the-counter, were unchanged 1/8 today. --Loren Steffy in Dallas (214) 740-0870 or at steffy@bloomberg.net through the Washington newsroom (202) 624-1820 /rp Story illustration: For a graph of Solv-Ex's stock performance from 1995 to 1997, see {SOLVQ US <Equity> GP D <GO>} and change the dates in the field to the appropriate years. For Solv-Ex's recent over-the-counter performance, see {SOLVD US <Equity> GP <GO>} Company news: SOLVD US <Equity> CN