Think you're safe in that rat hole? Just slide down the alphabet 7 letters and change the extradition papers from Brazil, double the money stolen and you're SCREWED!:
"Stan Lee Co-Founder, 3 Others Indicted in Stock CaseEncino, California, June 12 (Bloomberg) -- Peter Paul, who co-founded the now-bankrupt Stan Lee Media Inc. (SLEEQ) with comic book
creator Stan Lee, and three others were charged by a federal grand
jury in Brooklyn with running a securities-fraud scheme that
allegedly bilked investors out of $25 million.
``The story underlying this case has no super-heroes, nor is
it in any way comical,'' said Alan Vinegrad, U.S. attorney for the
Eastern District of New York. ``It is an all-too-real and sad
account of greedy securities fraud perpetrators and unwitting
victims.''
Paul gave more than $2 million of the proceeds to Hillary
Clinton's U.S. Senate campaign by helping finance an Aug. 13
Hollywood tribute to Bill Clinton during last summer's Democratic
National Convention, said Paul's attorney, Larry Klayman. Lee and
actors John Travolta and Shirley MacLaine attended the party,
according to media reports last year.
Clinton's campaign refunded a $2,000 donation received from
Paul in June on Aug. 16, three days after the fundraiser,
according to Federal Election Commission records. Jim Kennedy, a
spokesman for Senator Clinton, and Julia Payne, spokeswoman for
the former president, declined to comment.
The five defendants, who were charged with conspiracy to
commit securities fraud as well as securities fraud in an
indictment unsealed today, face maximum sentences of 15 years in
prison if convicted.
The grand jury also indicted Stephen M. Gordon, 50, a former
executive vice president of Stan Lee Media, of Sherman Oaks,
California; Jeffrey Pittsburg, 57, an analyst and securities
broker from Great Neck, New York, who wrote reports touting the
shares of the online media company; and Charles Kusche, 47, a
stock promoter from Darien, Connecticut. They were arrested by
U.S. postal inspectors.
``I am not guilty of this,'' Pittsburg said in a telephone
interview. ``I emphatically deny the charges,'' he said later.
Neither Gordon nor Kusche was immediately available for
comment.
`Likes Brazilian Food'
Paul, 52, is living in Brazil, his lawyer said. ``He likes
Brazilian food,'' Klayman said. Paul previously resided in
Calabasas, California.
Klayman is chairman of Judicial Watch, an organization that
filed numerous suits against the Bill Clinton and his
administration.
Lee, who wasn't charged with wrongdoing, is best known for co-
creating characters like Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk and the X-
Men while employed by Marvel Comics. A spokesman for Stan Lee
Media declined comment on the indictment.
The defendants are charged with manipulating Stan Lee shares
through nominee accounts, set up to conceal their trading. Paul
and Gordon allegedly hired Pittsburg to write reports with
optimistic projections about the business that had no basis in
fact.
Pittsburg, president of Pittsburg Institutional Inc. of New
York, allegedly was paid a $20,000 retainer and $8,000 per month
for services that included publishing research on Stan Lee Media.
Borrowed Money
Paul and Gordon allegedly borrowed $5 million from Merrill
Lynch & Co., secured by their Stan Lee stock, to raise cash
without depressing the price of the shares by selling them. Paul
and Gordon also allegedly hired Pittsburg and Kusche to sell some
of their Stan Lee stock, making secret payments in cash and stock
to the two men equal to 55 percent of the selling price.
After Paul and Gordon halted payments to Pittsburg and Kusche
in November 2000, the price of Stan Lee shares plunged from a high
of $9.65 that month to 13 cents in December.
Encino, California-based Stan Lee Media, which went public by
merging with a shell company in 1999, filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection in February. The shares now trade for around
20 cents, down from a high of $28.18 on Feb. 11, 2000.
--David Evans in Los Angeles (310) 910-8811 with reporting by
Susan Decker through the Washington newsroom /jhr/tm/cs
Story illustration: For a graph of Stan Lee Media share' recent
performance, see {SLEEQ US <Equity> GP <GO>}."
Sound familiar? You betcha ya fricken bush league tout, you're next! |
