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Non-Tech : Auric Goldfinger's Short List -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mmmary who wrote (8994)	1/17/2002 8:12:20 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 19428

the lawsuit also states. "Body Solutions is designed to fatten profits, not shed pounds," said Makinen's lead attorney, Makers Of Body Solutions 'Lose Weight While You Sleep' Diet Supplement Deceived Purchasers, Lawsuit Says Janet Makinen vs Mark Nutritionals Inc. Case No. 51-2002-CA-000149-XXXX-ES TAMPA, Fla., Jan. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The following was released today by James, Hoyer, Newcomer & Smiljanich P.A.: When Janet Makinen heard about Body Solutions on the radio, it sounded easy: Take the Body Solutions supplement before going to bed, and lose weight while she slept. But after taking the supplement as directed for two months, Makinen, a 50-year-old resident of Dade City, Florida, found she had gained weight. She called Body Solutions to complain, but the operator only tried to sell her more diet products. Makinen filed a class-action lawsuit Wednesday against Mark Nutritionals Inc, the Texas-based manufacturer of Body Solutions. The lawsuit claims Mark Nutritionals deceived consumers by saying they could "lose weight while you sleep." Furthermore, Mark Nutritionals never alerted consumers to the fact their program entailed the purchase of additional products, including a product that contains ephedrine, which can pose health problems for some people, the lawsuit states. Mark Nutritionals trains its telephone operators to sell more products when people call up to complain they haven't lost weight, the lawsuit also states. "Body Solutions is designed to fatten profits, not shed pounds," said Makinen's lead attorney, Christa Collins of the Tampa-based law firm James, Hoyer, Newcomer & Smiljanich. "Mark Nutritionals took advantage of vulnerable people who wanted only to lose weight." The lawsuit seeks class-action status, a refund of consumers' purchase monies, as well as punitive damages and a trial by jury. The Federal Trade Commission has previously cited the phrase "Lose Weight While You Sleep" as an example to warn consumers that "claims for diet products and programs that promise weight loss without effort are phony." The FTC's Consumer Alert for diet scams is available on-line at ftc.gov James, Hoyer, Newcomer & Smiljanich has offices in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Tallahassee. Its litigates cases nationwide in the areas of consumer fraud, product liability and whistleblower investigations. MAKE YOUR OPINION COUNT - Click Here tbutton.prnewswire.com SOURCE James, Hoyer, Newcomer & Smiljanich P.A. CO: James, Hoyer, Newcomer & Smiljanich P.A.; Mark Nutritionals ST: Florida, Texas IN: HEA SU: LAW 01/17/2002 15:22 EST prnewswire.

To: mmmary who wrote (8994)	1/17/2002 11:43:40 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 19428

"Enron cited Andersen's destruction of thousands of documents and its accounting advice. For its part, Andersen said its relationship with Enron ended in December when the company filed for bankruptcy." Enron Axes Andersen Accounting Firm By H. JOSEF HEBERT .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - Enron fired accounting firm Arthur Andersen on Thursday as the feuding corporations both came under growing scrutiny for their roles in the collapse of the world's largest energy trading company. Enron cited Andersen's destruction of thousands of documents and its accounting advice. For its part, Andersen said its relationship with Enron ended in December when the company filed for bankruptcy. ``We can't afford to wait any longer,'' Enron chairman Kenneth Lay said in a statement, announcing that Enron's board of directors had dismissed Andersen. Enron's announcement came just hours after the House Energy and Commerce Committee demanded that Andersen provide more documents detailing what the auditors knew about Enron's use of questionable partnership to keep hundreds of millions of dollars in debt off the company's books. Patrick Dorton, a spokesman for Anderson, said the accounting firm remained ``committed to continuing to address the issues related to the collapse of Enron in a forthright and candid manner.'' As to Andersen's dismissal by Enron, Dorton said, ``As a matter of fact, our relationship with Enron ended when the company's business failed and it went into bankruptcy.'' Andersen has acknowledged that it destroyed Enron-related documents, possibly as early as last September. Lay cited the document shredding and Andersen's firing of the head of its Enron account as reasons for dismissing the firm. Ten congressional committees are investigating the Enron collapse as well as Andersen's auditing of the energy company. The Enron bankruptcy has left thousands of workers without jobs and their retirement money - much of it in Enron stock - essentially gone. Enron filed for bankruptcy Dec. 2 as its stock fell from $83 a share a year ago to less than dollar. Documents obtained by House investigators have shown that Andersen had concern at least a year ago about some of Enron's business practices and that its use of partnership might pose problems with federal regulators. During a high-level meeting in early February, Andersen executives expressed concern about Enron's off-the-books accounting of profits from its partnerships, especially one headed by Andy Fastow, at the time also Enron's chief financial officer. Summarizing the meeting, Andersen accountant Michael Jones wrote in an e-mail that the discussions ``focused on Fastow's conflicts of interest ... and the amount of earnings Fastow receives'' from the partnership while also Enron's financial officer. Another document obtained by House investigators disclosed that Andersen officials were told last August by Enron whistle-blower Sherron Watkins of her serious concerns about the off-the-books deals at Enron and that the company ``will implode in a wave of accounting scandals.'' However, Andersen decided to continue to serve Enron, noting that the fees from the Enron account could reach $100 million a year and that the risks posed by Enron's business practices could be managed. The Jones memo went to David Duncan, who headed the Enron account for Andersen and earlier this week was fired by the accounting firm. Jones suggested that Andersen further investigate whether the Securities and Exchange Commission might have problems with Enron's use of its partnerships. Duncan has told House investigators that no such investigation was pursued. Enron on Nov. 8 acknowledged to the SEC that it had overstated its profits by $586 million as it shielded losses in the complex partnerships, including the one headed by Fastow. SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt on Thursday declined any comment on the recent Enron disclosures. Andersen, in a statement, characterized the February 2001 meeting about Enron as not unusual and said its purpose was to provide a general review of the Enron account. ``Nothing in the meeting or the memo indicated that any illegal actions or improper accounting was suspected,'' said the Andersen statement. It said that not until Watkins, the Enron whistle-blower, made known her concerns last August ``that we became aware that individuals within Enron believed that there may have been accounting improprieties.'' But congressional investigators are increasingly focusing on both Enron and its auditors. ``It's now clear to us that key players at Andersen as well as Enron knew of the growing problems months before the company imploded,'' said Ken Johnson, spokesman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Associated Press writer Pete Yost contributed to this report. AP-NY-01-17-02 2317EST

To: mmmary who wrote (8994)	1/18/2002 1:56:15 PM
From: Sir Auric Goldfinger	Respond to of 19428

Another drug stock: IMCL US $ [Q] Trading Halt:Quotation Cancelled IMCL US $ Up 2 4 . 3 6 -5.72 Q Q .000/.000 Q 0x0 Equity C N 10:55 BBOX US Equity LAST ( 53.570) > 53.500 WIRE TIME Page 1 982328 BN 10:55 ImClone Cancer Drug Research Probed by U.S. House (Update1) 981617 INW 10:53 Stock Traders Daily Revises Recommendations 1) BN 10:44 ImClone Cancer Drug Research Probed by U.S. House Committee 2) BUS 10:43 The Pomerantz Firm Announces Class Periods and Deadlines for 3) BN 10:42 IMCLONE CANCER DRUG RESEARCH PROBED BY HOUSE PANEL :IMCL US 4) DJN 10:41 DJ House Commerce Chmn Seeks Erbitux Records, Info >IMCL 5) DJN 10:39 +DJ House Committee Investigating ImClone's Erbitux Trials 6) BUS 10:27 Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman and Herz LLP Commences Class 7) PRN 7:25 Goodkind Labaton Rudoff & Sucharow LLP Announces Class Action 8) BUS 6:56 Goodkind Labaton Rudoff & Sucharow LLP Announces Class Action 9) PRN 5:01 Kaplan Fox Seeks to Recover Losses for Investors Who Purchased 10) WSA 1/17 IMCLONE SYSTEMS:WAKSAL HARLAN W FILES TO SELL 700,000 SHARES 11) DJN 1/16 DJ Holder Registers 700,000 of IMCLONE SYSTEMS INC (IMCL) 12) PRN 1/16 ImClone Systems, Inc. Stock Purchasers Represented by Schatz & 13) INW 1/15 The Pomerantz Firm Charges ImClone With Securities Fraud 14) PZM 1/15 Wechsler Harwood Halebian & Feffer LLP Announces Class Periods - 15) BN 1/15 Analysts Question Bristol-Myers' ImClone Investment, Paper Says 16) PZM 1/15 Brodsky & Smith, L.L.C. States That Class Actions and/or Investi 17) INW 1/14 Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP Announces Shareholder Class Action 18) BUS 1/14 Weiss & Yourman Law Office Announces Class Action Lawsuit