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Microcap & Penny Stocks : Zia Sun(zsun) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sir Auric Goldfinger who wrote (9278)	8/15/2000 10:01:43 PM
From: StockDung	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10354

You mean you did not know GYM20 was the founder of the Ziasun thread? The same GYM20 that signed a afadavit against us? The header says Ziasun buys up "Yahoo, Excite type companies" He also knows about something in this article that knowone seems to know. The great MM conspiracy in ziasun stock and a large short position. I hope when he gets subpoenaed he can back this up and his many posts. "Investor "GYM20" says "IMO there is a large short position in Ziasun Technologies, ZSUN an OTC stock." "I am a shareholder for over a year and have watched the Market Makers bring the stock price down on great news . There are also a lot of negative posters on Raging Bull and Silicon Investor constantly bashing anything good about the company." Investor Forum: Investors Add More Paid Basher Claims By Jack Burney Published by OTCNN.com 07/07/2000 07:58 AM CST (Investor Forum is a platform for the free expression of investor opinion, open to everyone. OTC News Network provides background and comments, but the opinions expressed by investors in their letters to Investor Forum are their own and not necessarily those of OTC News Network. If you’d like to comment, write us at burney@ev1.net) The mail brings us dozens of stories of bashing, which, if not paid, still represents a concerted effort to trash a stock. Here are a few: Investor "Striper" urges us to "Check out posts by "Quaker" on Raging Bull PNLK (Pro Link Net, Inc.) board regarding people he suspects are paid bashers. There is someone using multiple aliases ("Torcer," *mrpeterman," "codebreak," etc.) and using slight variations of other posters names in what is apparently an all out attempt to trash the stock. Striper contends that "They have made all the serious investors on the RB board absolutely miserable with vitriolic , insulting attacks on anyone with a positive viewpoint on the stock. I am convinced they are (MM) paid bashers. PNLK stock also did the same thing as you recently described in your article i.e. trading above 4 on good news for almost 30 days, looking for NASDAQ qualification and then tanking for no reason." (PNLK stock followed the Pattern of Plunder, low in January, peaking near $6.00 in March and plunging, to close Thursday at $1.78.) Investor "GYM20" says "IMO there is a large short position in Ziasun Technologies, ZSUN an OTC stock. I am a shareholder for over a year and have watched the Market Makers bring the stock price down on great news . There are also a lot of negative posters on Raging Bull and Silicon Investor constantly bashing anything good about the company." (ZSUN was at $15.75 in January, but has been down a rocky road ever sine, closing a $5.00 Thursday.) Investor Paul Milligan writes "I sure wish someone would look at WLGSE (World Wide Wireless) to see what MM games are going on. We have had a series of the most bitter, vitriolic bashers you could imagine on the Raging Bull board - one guy has posted over 6,000 posts against the company in the last year !!! And he claims not to even own any !!! And there are others - one guy suggested that the CEO should suffer a broken neck. The CEO of the company, Doug Haffer, has even had to take legal action with RB to get it under control." Milligan went on to say "Personally, I suspect that there is a campaign of 'bashing' by some MM or broker somewhere, and possibly other games. For instance, this morning, there were over 120,000 shares traded in the first 45 minutes, a period when this stock would normally trade maybe 20,000 if that much, and yet the price didn't move more than $0.08. There's some game going on here!" (WGLSE stock has been on a steep descent in May and June, dropping from $2.75 to close Thursday at $1.48). Investor Steven Sloss thanks us for "the interesting article," then inquires about ANTS Software (OTCBB: ANTS). "I am interested in what is happening with Ants. I was with the company since they were Chopp Computers and I was one of the ones who sold my shares after panicking when I read an article by Bloomberg. Do we as consumers have any legal recourse regarding this situation? At first I thought there was nothing that I can do but now I am not sure. I saw that there is lawsuit against the reporter and Bloomberg. (ANTS did file suit against Bloomberg.) Previous Commentary Next Commentary Private Placements About Us Letter To The Editor Contact Us Advertise SEC Filings Search by: company ticker symbol Search for keyword:

To: Sir Auric Goldfinger who wrote (9278)	8/15/2000 10:12:57 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 10354

Dot-Com Flop Tracker By Katie Motta With April's drop in Net stocks and the flood of venture capital subsiding, many Net companies have been forced to close up shop. As of July 28, The Standard tallied 22 dot-coms that have closed their doors, while many other small operations likely have faded silently away. For information about dot-coms that haven't closed but have trimmed staff, see The Industry Standard's Layoff Tracker. Check back for updates on closures, and e-mail any tips to: layoffs@thestandard.com. Flops as of July 28 DATE COMPANY TYPE OF COMPANY WHAT HAPPENED DATE FOUNDED July 28 Pandesic E-commerce ASP Founded as a joint venture between Intel and SAP, no longer see potential for profitability due to the market's low acceptance of business-to-consumer e-Commerce solutions. 1997 July 14 FleetScape.com Trucking industry e-commerce Originally backed by Accel. Unable to find additional VC funding for the company. 'Sept. 1999 July 6 WorldSpy/MicroPortal E-commerce/free ISP Backed by iCentennial and with 260,00 subscribers, the ISP service has been suspended. Users are directed to Juno; WorldSpy will receive Juno stock per customer that makes the switch. N/A July 5 HomeWarehouse.com Home e-commerce Received funding in December from Comdisco Ventures ($9 million); also backed by Accel and Sequoia capital. Unable to find more funds and will be sold to Wal-Mart. Nov-99 June 30 FasTV Streaming video news Lead backer, Prince Al-Nehayan of the United Arab Emirates, said he will no longer fund the company. Unable to find other backers. 1996 June 13 Petstore.com Pet e-commerce Burned through $150 milion in funding and sold customer databse and business partnerships with Safeway and Discovery Communications to Pets.com for $13 milion. N/A June 12 Epidemic Marketing E-mail marketing Closed doors after merger talks with Kefta fell through. Early 1999 June 12 Reel.com Entertainment e-commerce Hollywood Entertainment, owner since 1998, will use Reel's content but will direct sales to Buy.com. Jan. 1996 June 9 Equipp.com B-to-B commerce for machine-tool industry Could not secure additional funding; attempt to be aquired fell through. Summer 1999 Late May CraftShop.com E-commerce Originally funded by CMGI AtVentures, PRIMEDIA Ventures, Andlinger & Co. and Brand Equity Ventures, the site has filed for bankruptcy and plans to sell its assets. Sept. 1999 May 30 NewsWatch.org Media Founded by the Center For Media and Public Affairs but can't continue due to lack of funds. Jan. 1999 May 24 Brandwise.com Comparison shopping Backed by Whirlpool, Hearst and the Boston Consulting Group but is now unable to get more funding. Oct. 1999 May 19 Toysmart.com Toy e-commerce Even with $45 million in funding from Disney, the firm could not compete in the crowded online toy market. Jan. 1999 May 11 Pixelon Media technology Unable to close a deal for more funding; filing for bankruptcy. June 1999 May 11 Boo.com Apparel e-commerce After burning through $135 million in funding, Boo ceased operations and was liquidated. The firm's back-end technology was sold to Bright Station for $375,000 on March 30, and the site was bought by Fashionmall.com on June 1 for an undisclosed amount. Nov. 1999 Mid-May Digital Entertainment Network Entertainment Originally backed by Chase, Enron and Intel, DEN delayed its IPO and could not get additional funding. May 1999 Mid-May BBQ.com E-commerce Unable to get additional funding. July 1999 May 5 RedRocket.com Toy e-commerce Funded by Nickelodeon and founded in Jan. 1999, the site was shut down because it was unable to compete in the toy market. Aug. 1997 Late April Violet.com Gift e-commerce Ran out of funding and could not find a buyer. N/A April 10 Healthshop.com Health e-commerce Originally backed by Warner Lambert, Healthshop closed and laid off all of its employees in April but was subsequently acquired by HealthZone.com on May 22. July 1998 Feb. Audiocafe.com Audio equipment e-commerce Never able to raise capital after initial funding from sale of founder's house ran out. Sept. 1998 Dec. 22 1999 CookExpress.com Food e-commerce Ran out of funds and was unable to get more funding. Jan. 1999 Source: The Standard

To: Sir Auric Goldfinger who wrote (9278)	8/15/2000 10:15:42 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 10354

LIVING.COM IS DEAD AUG. 15 2000 thestandard.com Living.com, an online furniture retailer backed by Amazon.com (AMZN) and Benchmark Capital, shut its doors Tuesday, saying it has laid off its 275 employees and will file for bankruptcy. Living.com, based in Austin, Texas, which had raised $41 million, burned through all its cash and has been unable to raise additional money, the company said. "The decision to close our store was an extremely difficult one," Shaun Holliday, CEO of Living.com, said in a statement. "The recent downturn in the capital markets has substantially impaired our ability to raise the capital required to achieve profitability." Amazon, which sold home furnishings on its site through Living.com, has removed the "Home Living" tab from its Web site. Living.com is only the latest in a string of online retailers to shut its doors. As the markets turned sour on money-losing online retailers, a slew of companies have been shuttered, including Disney-backed Toysmart, Discovery Communications-backed Petstore.com, Reel.com, CraftShop.com, Boo.com, RedRocket.com, Violet.com, BBQ.com, HealthShop.com, HomeWarehouse.com and CookExpress.com. In June, Living.com rival Furniture.com was on the verge of bankruptcy, but its financial backers agreed to shell out an additional $27 million to rescue the company. The closure of Living.com is a black eye for Amazon, which owned an 18 percent stake in the company. Under an agreement signed in February, Living.com planned to pay Amazon $145 million over five years to be the retail giant's home-furnishings store. Officials at Amazon and Benchmark could not be reached for comment. Meanwhile, WineShopper.com, another Amazon-backed retailer, said Tuesday that it has agreed to merge with rival Wine.com. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Check out The Standard's Dot-Com Critical List for a look at which sites have cut workers or closed up shop. Also, e-mail any tips on layoffs or closures to layoffs@thestandard.com.

To: Sir Auric Goldfinger who wrote (9278)	8/15/2000 10:19:32 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 10354

August 7, 2000 Dot-Com Layoff Tracker thestandard.com By Katie Motta Although the University of Texas at Austin says the Internet Economy workforce grew 36 percent in 1999 to 2.5 million employees, many Net businesses are now being forced to cut hundreds of staff members. As of August 8, 117 dot-coms had laid off at least 9,479 employees. For information about dot-coms that have closed up shop, see The Industry Standard's Flop Tracker. Check back for updates on layoffs, and e-mail any tips to: layoffs@thestandard.com. Layoffs as of August 8 DATE COMPANY TYPE OF COMPANY NUMBER LAID OFF OFFICIAL RESPONSE Aug. 8 NBCi Online Media 170 Part of cost-cutting initiatives. Aug. 7 Convergent Communications B-to-B communication services 250 Cutting back to make the company profitable. July 28 Pandesic E-commerce ASP 400 Ceasing operations due to market conditions. July 25 Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch Network of local portals 150 Eliminating field positions in sales and marketing as a result of buying Microsoft's Sidewalk city guides. July 25 Tom.com Chinese portal 80 Evening out employee balance between Hong Kong and China. July 20 CarsDirect.com Auto e-commerce 40 Streamlining in technology and management allows room for cuts; hiring in some departments. July 19 Critical Path Communication provider 100 (11%) Eliminated redundancies created by nine acquisitions over the past eight months. Mid-July Gazoontite Health e-commerce 50 Focusing on brick-and-mortar expansion. Mid-July iLink Global Online shipping 11 Outsourced marketing department but hired people in other departments. July 14 AllAdvantage.com Pay-to-surf 60 Cutting costs to reach profitability. July 14 Stratford Internet Technologies Application developer 39 Streamlining to focus on profitable aspects of the business. July 14 Deutsche Telekom Telecommunications 1,500 Restructuring to remain competitive. July 14 Mediconsult.com Health information 100 Selling consumer medical sites and shifting to a business-to-business model. July 14 FleetScape.com Trucking industry e-commerce 9 Closed, unable to find funding. July 13 Sendmail Communications provider 25 Streamlining in an attempt to reach profitability. July 12 DoughNET Teen finance 12 Making the company more efficient. July 7 HealthCentral.com Health e-commerce 43 Eliminated redundancies due to merger with Vitamins.com. July 6 Caredata.com Health content 62 Placing focus on profitable products. July 6 eBay Online auction 13 Streamlining Butterfields unit's Chicago office to concentrate on 'Great Collections,' an online product. July 6 WorldSpy/ MicroPortal E-commerce/free ISP N/A Closing, ran out of funding. July 5 TripHub.com Student travel 11 Attempting to be efficient and profitable. Late June Personic Internet recruiting/staffing 10% Transitioning to a Web-based model to meet market demands. June 30 FasTV Streaming video news 79 Closing, ran out of funding. June 29 CollegeClub.com College e-commerce N/A Streamlining to reach profitability more quickly. June 29 Tickets.com Ticket e-commerce 25 Reorganizing the company into two discrete business units. June 29 Qualcomm Wireless Telecommunications 200 The skill set of eliminated positions did not fit current business needs. June 29 VarsityBooks.com Book e-commerce 27 Changing its focus from book-selling to college marketing. June 29 Oralis.com E-commerce for oral-health industry 24 Part of cost-reduction program designed to accelerate profitability. June 29 Techies.com Technology careers 60 Increased efficiency in engineering and sales allowed them to eliminate positions. June 28 TalkCity Online community 35 Moving from community chat services to marketing services for businesses. June 28 FortuneCity Global community network 40 Attempting to become profitable by 2001. June 27 Rivals.com Sports site 40 Focusing on profitable products. June 27 Great Plains Software Software 170 (7% of employees) Adjusting business model to return to former levels of earning and earnings growth. June 26 Noosh Commercial printing 45 Marketing to a smaller audience; focusing on attracting large companies. June 23 RealNames Internet keyword N/A Focusing on core business to drive revenue. June 23 Pseudo Streaming video 58 Reorganizing to streamline operations. June 22 Furniture.com Furniture e-commerce 80 Further cost-cutting as IPO is withdrawn. June 22 Blue Nile Jewelry e-commerce 10 Eliminated customer service positions due to more-competent technology and streamlining. June 20 MaMaMedia Children's media 30 Restructuring to move toward profitability. June 20 South China Morning Post Media 18 Hong Kong's largest newspaper scales back Web-edit operations. Mid-June Productopia Comparison shopping 9 Restructuring production department. Mid-June Kozmo.com E-commerce delivery 24 Cost-cutting prior to IPO. Mid-June eNutrition Health e-commerce 40 Business model has shifted to focus on profitable products. June 16 PeopleSupport Customer service provider 88 Consolidating L.A. office and ramping up Internet call centers in St. Louis and Asia. June 16 eProject Web-based project planning 25 Focusing directly on core business and conserving funds. June 15 Hardware.com Hardware e-commerce 21 Focusing on b-to-b service, and conserving funds. June 15 EMusic.com Music e-commerce 40 Changing focus from independent labels to major labels. June 13 VarsityBooks.com Book e-commerce 13 Changing its focus from book-selling to college marketing. June 13 Petstore.com Pet e-commerce 200 Closed. Customer database and business partnerships sold to Pets.com. June 13 BigWords.com College e-commerce 28 Restaffing due to expansion from bookselling to all products. June 12 Reel.com Entertainment e-commerce 200 Closed due to competition and lack of funding. June 12 4Anything.com Web-guide portal 40 Changing focus to entertainment, multimedia and e-commerce. June 12 Epidemic Marketing E-mail marketing 60 Closed doors after merger talks with Kefta fell through. June 9 Equipp.com B-to-B commerce for machine-tool industry 40 Could not secure additional funding; attempt to be aquired fell through. June 8 Corel Software 320 Part of $40 million cost-saving plan. June 8 MedicaLogic/ Medscape Health e-commerce 110 Eliminating redundant jobs due to recent merger June 7 Oxygen Media Media 12 Put two programs on hiatus. Employees will be rehired when the shows resume taping. June 7 Salon.com News 13 Cutting operating expenses. June 5 APBnews.com News 140 Could not close third round of funding. June 1 CBS.com Entertainment 24 New management moving toward new goals. June 1 Sony Online Entertainment Entertainment 60 Closing Los Angeles offices, consolidating in San Diego. June Kforce.com Online staffing 150 Decreasing "nonrevenue-producing employees" and implementing more efficient technology. June MyFamily.com Genealogy N/A Streamlining tasks, processes and functions to move toward profitability. Early June Beatnik.com Music 20 Focusing on licensing interactive technology and on software product line. Early June PlanetRx.com Health e-commerce 70 Preserving funding to remain in business after recent stock price decline. May AltaVista Portal 50 An attempt to move toward profitability. May eCircles Community site 15% of staff Conserving money so that their funding will last longer. May Sparks.com Greeting card e-commerce 14 Focus on profitability. Late May Clique E-commerce ASP 14 Shifting focus to European markets. Late May BizBuyer.com Business e-commerce 30 Implemented more efficient technology and streamlined vendors. Late May Learn2.com Online education 47 Eliminating merger redundancies, closing Sausalito office. Late May Espanol.com Hispanic e-commerce 20 Repositioning of the company as an "e-commerce enabler" in attempt to garner more funding. Late May Embark.com Student portal 35 Focusing on profitability. May 31 TurboLinux Linux services N/A Trimming costs. May 26 Petstore.com Pet e-commerce N/A "Belt-tightening" in response to market conditions. May 24 Brandwise.com Comparison shopping 80 Ceasing business; could not find funding. May 23 Divine Interventures Online startup accelerator 29 The company was overstaffed. May 22 J.D.Edwards Software 800 Cutting costs to return to profitability. May 22 Living.com Home decorating e-commerce 50 Streamlining in attempt to get to profitability more quickly. May 19 Toysmart.com Toy e-commerce 170 Closing up shop; could not compete in crowded toy market. May 19 iExchange.com Stock information exchange 15 Restructuring to preserve funding and focus on development. May 18 RealAge Health content 15 Does not comment on layoffs. May 17 Boo.com Apparel e-commerce 300 Closing due to lack of funding. May 16 SpinRecords.com Online music distributor 40 Restructuring; also hiring in some departments. May 12 KBkids.com Toy e-commerce 45 Cutting costs due to competition. May 11 Pixelon Media technology 55 Laid off all employees and are closing. May 11 carOrder Auto e-commerce 100 Reorganizing in order to become profitable. May 8 SmallOffice.com Business portal 16 Streamlining the company to become profitable. May 3 LinuxCare Linux services 70 Cut costs because of delayed IPO. Mid-May iwin.com Sweepstakes N/A Streamlining operations in order to reach profitability. Mid-May On2.com Entertainment 5 Moving away from TV to Web-quality programming. Mid-May LOADtv Entertainment 42 Moving to a b-to-b format. Mid-May Digital Entertainment Network Entertainment 200 Closing business; could not find additional funding Mid-May MarchFIRST Internet professional services 260 Post-merger elimination of redundant jobs (Whitman-Hart and USWeb/CKS). Early May CollegeClub.com College e-commerce N/A Cutting costs to reach profitability more quickly. Early May NextMonet.com Art e-commerce 10 Decided to use free-lance writers instead of in-house editorial staff. Early May Quepasa.com Hispanic portal 1/3 of staff Would not confirm the exact number of layoffs. Early May WeddingChannel.com Online wedding planner 40 Eliminated redundancies due to merger with Della.com. May 1 Third Age Media Portal for older adults 30 Narrowing content focus. April Furniture.com E-commerce N/A Would not confirm the exact number of layoffs. April Drkoop.com Health content 65 Cutting costs after stock price dropped. April 27 Excite Portal 15 "Realigning." April 26 SkyMall Catalog e-commerce 50 Streamlining in an attempt to get to profitability more quickly. April 18 InsWeb Insurance e-commerce 30 Lost its largest client, State Farm Insurance. April 10 Healthshop.com Health e-commerce 70 Did not receive third-round funding. Mid-March Sony Online Entertainment Entertainment 50 Consolidating offices in San Diego. March 1 ChannelSpace.com Entertainment 25 Cutting costs to "stay healthy" for a planned IPO. Feb. Audiocafe.com Audio equipment e-commerce 20 Closed, could not secure funding. Mid-Feb. BabyCenter.com E-commerce 80 Acquired by eToys, which consolidated activities in So. Calif. Feb. 1 Adam.com Health content 30 Consolidating operations at Atlanta headquarters. Late January Finet.com Online Banking 45 Shifting focus to b-to-b rather than b-to-c. Jan. 28 Amazon.com E-commerce 150 Reviewed company's employment needs. Jan. 28 Crosswalk.com Christian portal 30 Site changed from a commerce site to a content provider. Jan. 19 Beyond.com E-commerce 75 Transitioning from business-to-consumer to business-to- business. Early Jan. Preview Travel Online travel 48 Consolidating workforce after being acquired by Dallas-based Travelocity. Dec. 29 Value America E-commerce 300 Cutting overhead costs.

To: Sir Auric Goldfinger who wrote (9278)	8/15/2000 10:32:04 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 10354

Subject 36611

To: Sir Auric Goldfinger who wrote (9278)	8/15/2000 11:01:10 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 10354

More on Asia4Sales CEO James Emberton and the COVERUP. Maybe Frank Ching can tell us why he is the administrative contact for the boiler room and has a james@AMBEREUROPE.COM email address? Guess he forgot to put this on his resume. Registrant: CHABOCHI, S.L. (CGEUROPE-DOM) Rambla de Catalunya, 124 2 3 Barcelona, Spain E-08008 ES Domain Name: CGEUROPE.COM Administrative Contact: Emberton, James (JE7343) james@AMBEREUROPE.COM" Registrant: Amber Securities Corporation SE (AMBEREUROPE-DOM) Av Diagonal 615 8 Planta Barcelona, Spain E-08028 ES Domain Name: AMBEREUROPE.COM Administrative Contact: Francisco, Calzada Camacho (CCF23) damian@PCSC.ES Amber Securities Corporation SE Av Diagonal 615 8 Planta Barcelona, Spain E-08028 ES +34 3 4449900 (FAX) +34 3 4108242 Technical Contact, Zone Contact: Lario, Xavier (XL10) xlario@PROXY.INTERCOM.ES Intercom STA, S.A. C/ Sant Francesc 4 Cerdanyola del Valles, ES 08290 ES 34-3-5802846 (FAX) 34-3-5805660 Billing Contact: Jou, Sandra (SJ1303) sjou@PLUG.INTERCOM.ES Intercom STA, S.A. C/ St. Francesc, 4 2n Barcelona, ES 08290 ES 34 3 5802846 (FAX) 34 3 5805660 Record last updated on 18-Jun-1998. Record expires on 18-Jun-2000. Record created on 18-Jun-1998. Database last updated on 15-May-2000 14:34:14 EDT. Domain servers in listed order: LIX.INTERCOM.ES 212.66.160.2 TAC.INTERCOM.ES 212.66.160.8 the above record was copies on SI. Since I have posted it it was changed. I wonder why? Registrant:CHABOCHI, S.L. (CGEUROPE-DOM) Rambla de Catalunya, 124 2 3 Barcelona, Spain E-08008 ES Domain Name: CGEUROPE.COM Administrative Contact: McNamara, Jason (JE7343) jasonm@CGEUROPE.COM CHABOCHI, S.L. Rambla de Catalunya, 124 2 3 Rambla de Catalunya, 124 2 3 Barcelona Spain E-08008 ES +34 3 4449900 (FAX) +34 3 5805660 Technical Contact, Zone Contact: Lario, Xavier (XL10) xlario@PROXY.INTERCOM.ES Intercom STA, S.L. C/ Sant Francesc 4,2 Cerdanyola del Valles ES 08290 ES 34-93-5815000 (FAX) 34-93-5805660 Billing Contact: Garcia Mor, Sergio (SG8639) sergi@GRUPO.INTERCOM.ES Intercom STA SA Sant Francesc, 4, 2 Cerdanyola del Valles, BArcelona E-08290 Spain ES +34 3 5802846 (FAX) +34 3 5805660 Record last updated on 19-Jul-1999. Record expires on 19-Jul-2001. Record created on 19-Jul-1999. Database last updated on 14-Aug-2000 22:18:47 EDT. Domain servers in listed order: LIX.INTERCOM.ES 212.66.160.2 TAC.INTERCOM.ES 212.66.160.8

To: Sir Auric Goldfinger who wrote (9278)	8/15/2000 11:19:50 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 10354

SEC SUES TEXAS AMERICAN GROUP, INC. AND ITS SENIOR MANAGEMENT FOR MAKING FALSE STATEMENTS ABOUT THE COMPANY'S ASSETS AND ISSUING UNREGISTERED SECURITIES The Commission announced today that it filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against Texas American Group, Inc., a Texas corporation headquartered in Verdi, Nevada; Alan E. Humphrey, the company's President; Richard E. Lee, a Texas American Group director; and William Grosvenor, the company's Chief Executive Officer. The Commission's complaint alleges that in 1995 and 1996, the defendants repeatedly made false statements about the company's assets and financial condition in filings with the Commission, at investor seminars, and in promotional materials and advertisements. The complaint further alleges that during the same period, Texas American Group issued over 170 million unregistered shares of its common stock in sham offshore transactions. According to the complaint, the defendants claimed that Texas American Group owned the Amarilla Golf and Country Club, purportedly a $148 million resort in the Canary Islands, even though Texas American Group never actually owned Amarilla. The complaint also alleges that Texas American Group falsely claimed to own various other assets, including internet lottery and casino games, a hotel development and management company, and a London pathology testing service. The complaint further alleges that Texas American Group falsely claimed in national advertisements recommending the stock that it had $300 million in assets. In addition, as alleged in the complaint, the defendants issued over 170 million unregistered shares of Texas American Group stock to various offshore persons and entities, for the purported purpose of obtaining real estate and other assets. Notwithstanding the offshore nature of the transactions, the complaint alleges that the issuance of this stock did not qualify for the Regulation S safe harbor from registration because Texas American Group's actions constituted a scheme to temporarily place the securities offshore in order to evade the registration requirements of the federal securities laws. The complaint alleges that Texas American's Group's scheme to evade the registration requirements of the federal securities laws is evidenced by the fact that: (i) many, if not all, of the transactions for which Texas American Group issued stock were shams; (ii) in many cases the stock was issued to entities that appear to be controlled by individuals associated with Texas American Group; and (iii) the stock flowed back into the United States almost immediately after the expiration of what was then the 40-day restricted period under Regulation S. The complaint alleges that by their conduct, all of the defendants violated the antifraud provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act), as set forth in Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The complaint also alleges that Texas American Group, Humphrey and Grosvenor violated the antifraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act), as set forth in Section 17(a). The complaint further alleges that Texas American Group, Humphrey and Lee violated the registration provisions of Section 5 of the Securities Act. In addition, the complaint alleges that Humphrey violated Rule 13b2-2 of the Exchange Act for lying to an auditor about the Amarilla transaction and that the company violated Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act and Rules 12b-20, 12b-25, 13a-1, 13a-11 and 13a-13 in connection with various reporting violations. The complaint seeks permanent injunctions against all of the defendants, a permanent injunction against Humphrey serving as an officer or director of any reporting public company, and civil monetary penalties against Humphrey, Lee and Grosvenor. This enforcement action is part of the Commission's four-pronged approach to minimizing microcap fraud: enforcement, inspections, investor education and regulation. For more information about the SEC's response to microcap fraud, visit the SEC's Microcap Fraud Information Center at sec.gov. [SEC v. Texas American Group, Inc., et al., Case No. 1:00CV01955, D.D.C.] (LR-16652)