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To: jmhollen who wrote (51)	3/8/2001 3:50:17 PM
From: Evan	Respond to of 99

Say it ain't so Joe, say it ain't so :-) 'Tokyo Joe' Will Pay $754,630 to Settle S.E.C. Fraud Case Sun Soo Oh Park, better known as the Internet stock picker Tokyo Joe, agreed today to pay $754,630 to settle a civil complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which accused him of misleading his loyal day-trading followers. Mr. Park agreed to pay $429,696 in civil penalties and to surrender $324,934 in trading profits and interest, the S.E.C. said. He neither admitted nor denied any wrongdoing. ``He can go on with his life, he still has his Web site, he does not have to register as an investment adviser,'' said Ira Lee Sorkin, a lawyer for Mr. Park.'' A native of Korea who has worked as a lawyer and restaurateur, Mr. Park found fame in the halcyon days of online trading. His stock tips and his method of disbursing them gained notoriety as regulators sought to tame the fast and furious cyber-scene he helped to pioneer. The S.E.C.'s suit, its first against an Internet celebrity, raised new issues about freedom of speech that still resonate as the government, consumer advocates and industry apply old rules to a new medium. Through his Web site, www.tokyojoe.com, Mr. Park offered stock tips, charging as much as $200 per month for access and e-mail updates. According to the S.E.C.'s complaint, Mr. Park's tips were tainted because he declined to disclose that he owned some of the stocks he was recommending. According to the complaint, filed in United States District Court in Chicago, Mr. Park urged his followers to buy stocks, then sold his own shares as the purchase orders from his almost 4,000 devotees pushed up the prices. Regulators said that the practice amounted to securities fraud and that Mr. Park repeated it from June 1998 until July 1999. ``Those who are in the business of offering investment advice on the Internet may take on the same duties and responsibilities as other investment advisers,'' said Richard H. Walker, director of enforcement for the S.E.C. ``Today's settlement demonstrates that we will not countenance undisclosed conflicts of interest.'' Mr. Park and his wholly controlled company, Tokyo Joe's Societe Anonyme Corporation, agreed to return all the profits, with interest, that the S.E.C. said were gained through the promoting and selling practice known as ``scalping.'' The fines include one of $279,696 matching the amount of the profits and another of $150,000 for making false statements about the performance of the stocks he recommended. The S.E.C. had originally sought a total settlement of $2.25 million, according to Mr. Sorkin. Mr. Park had argued that the securities fraud laws did not apply to him because he did not fit the legal definition of an investment adviser. True investment advisers, he argued in a motion to dismiss the S.E.C.'s complaint, did not offer advise on the Internet.