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To: afrayem onigwecher who wrote (9834)	5/10/2002 3:50:28 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 19428

SEC gets an earful at investor summit By Leticia Williams, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 3:44 PM ET May 10, 2002 WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- With a series of financial scandals headlining the nation's news in recent weeks as a backdrop, investor advocates gave regulators an earful Friday. In the wake of the Enron fallout and the ongoing conflicts of interest issues in the accounting industry, and now, with the recent flare-up of investigations and questions about the relationship between research analysts and their firms, investor confidence is on the wane. The SEC opened its doors to the public for an investor conference, the first of its kind, on Friday, in an effort to quell the current crisis in confidence in the financial markets. Securities and Exchange Commission Harvey Pitt along with Commissioners Isaac Hunt, Jr. and Cynthia Glassman participated in the discussion. A common thread quickly emerged during the session: there is a pressing need to educate and protect investors. "An educated investor is the best defense against fraud," said Securities and Exchange Commissioner Cynthia Glassman Panelists at the summit said that in addition to clear and concise financial information, which the SEC recently approved rule proposals to improve, eradication of conflicts of interest across the board, and improved corporate governance rules, are also in order. And because investors seem to know more about the markets than ever before, "they expect more," said panelist, Joseph Borg, president of the North American Securities Administrators Association, and panelist. Timely, accurate, truthful financial statements and increased financial literacy, starting in the nation's grammar schools, were among the suggestions concerning investor education that came from Friday's discussions. Conflict upon conflict Investor advocates were not happy with what's been done so far to resolve the conflict of issues problem in the auditing industry. "We have serious conflicts of interest and they're not being addressed," Damon Silvers said, associate general counsel for AFL-CIO. "What we are getting instead [are] bills... that are in fact designed to do things like protect Enron directors and continue to allow conflicted auditors to do the damage that they've done already to American investors. And the final tragedy is that the SEC has blessed this approach," he said. On Thursday, the Senate Banking Committee led by Paul Sarbanes, D-Md., issued a draft proposal for audit oversight legislation, to compete with House legislation passed last month. Some have said the Republican-endorsed House bill, which is also backed by Pitt, does not go far enough in outlining corporate responsibility. See full story. "As long as there's greed there's gonna be another Enron," said panelist Patti Houlihan, president of Houlihan Financial Resource Group. "How do you legislate morality?" Though the SEC doesn't have the power to prevent people from wanting to defraud investors "what we want to do is make it incredibly hard for them to get away with it," Pitt said. Leticia Williams is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com in Washington.

To: afrayem onigwecher who wrote (9834)	5/10/2002 6:36:39 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 19428

Notes on the bursting of Henry's bubble By Joshua Chaffin in New York Published: May 7 2002 21:45 The pile of Merrill Lynch emails released by New York attorney-general Eliot Spitzer last month support his contention that the broker's internet analysts sacrificed their integrity in order to drum up business for their investment banking colleagues. But read in full, the emails offer something more: a rare glimpse into the life of celebrity stock analyst Henry Blodget at the height of the biggest speculative bubble of modern times. The portrait that comes across is of a young man who is more human - and more uncertain - than the television personality whose words could once make share prices dance. Mr Blodget engaged frequently in debates with his deputies over where to place unproven companies on Merrill's intricate ratings scale. He sometimes advised restraint. "The first bullet is pretty bullish, no?" he wrote to Sofia Ghachem, a Merrill analyst, concerning a glowing report she had prepared on Infospace, a wireless internet company. "You don't have to make writing conform to rating - I'd rather it be the other way around," he reminded her. Mr Blodget could be cavalier about his duties. "No one gives a #### except retail and press," he explained to an executive after coaching him through an investor conference call. But he was also an affable boss: "I don't mean to be a pain on this one, but . . ." was the typical way that he prefaced a request to one of his deputies. Above all, the emails show that Mr Blodget was a very, very busy man. As the arbiter of value in the dotcom era, everyone, it seemed, wanted a piece of him. Internet companies were eager for him to bless their deals. Merrill's investment bankers wanted to rent his services to win new business. And Merrill stock brokers would call on the wonder analyst to understand the latest shifts in the market. The messages create the impression that harried Mr Blodget was not a lonely analyst, locked away in an office studying technical charts and capitalist philosophy, but rather a master painter signing off on the works of a bustling staff. That would help to explain the weary note that Mr Blodget sent a colleague from Florida in February 2001: "I'm going to have to work like crazy for the next few months. Definitely have that burned-out feel. This just ain't a low-stress job." The biggest drain on Mr Blodget's time was not research per se but investment banking. He revealed in a March 1999 memo that he was spending 85 per cent of his time on banking matters. That email was written at a time when the market was frothing with internet deals and a lagging Merrill was under pressure from senior management to catch up with rivals Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley for a share of the business. Research in general, and Mr Blodget in particular, were one way Merrill hoped to rope in dotcom clients. "Do you think we should aggressively link coverage with banking - that is what we did with Go2Net (Henry was involved)?" asked a Merrill investment banker in one message in April 2000. There was a flurry of requests for the star analyst to meet prospective clients, whose stock he might one day tout. "Bankers have a meeting with Arun on the 27th where they promised a guest appearance from you - is that true, cause if it's not, the co will be very unhappy with us," one analyst wrote to Mr Blodget in June 2000. For Mr Blodget and his team, dealing with would-be masters of the new economy was not always all it was cracked up to be. Ms Ghachem once warned in a message to her colleagues about the "prima donnas" from Infospace and their new chief executive. Even as Mr Blodget became the centrepiece of Merrill's internet business, the marketing effort had galloped beyond him. To his astonishment, tech stocks he covered were added to one of the broker's recommended lists. "What is the 'Favored 15' and why is INSP on it?" he wrote to Deepak Raj, a senior executive in the research department, after fielding angry complaints from investors about the list. Unknown to Mr Blodget, the "Favored 15" was compiled by another Merrill group as a selection of "VERY high octane", high-risk stocks based in part on ratings that he had assigned. "Happy days," wrote Mr Blodget when he finally succeeded picking his way through Merrill's bureaucracy and removing a company from the list. When the bubble finally burst, the analyst and his team seemed bewildered. "Shame on me/us for giving them any benefit of the doubt," he lamented after yet another of his recommendations had collapsed. Merrill's brokers were even more critical as their losses mounted. Martin Brown, a 20-year Merrill broker from Grand Rapids, claimed that he was in jeopardy of losing a "massive amount" of clients and assets because of Mr Blodget's calls. Mr Brown chastised the bank for its tendency to downgrade stocks after they had already plunged. "This kind of hindsight my 13-year-old daughter can do us for free," he wrote. Jeffrey Sexton, from Louisville, was enraged when he discovered from a news article that parts of Info- space's annual report were handwritten. "Shame on me for not doing the due diligence that I and other [financial consultants] assume you and other analysts are doing," Mr Sexton wrote. "Tell me they have the wrong Infospace or the handwritten draft of the founder's Harvard B-school thesis." If there was one benefit to Mr Blodget from living so publicly through the tumult of the internet bubble, it would seem to be that it steeled his nerves for the ensuing legal turbulence. He seemed remarkably unruffled in a note to Kirsten Campbell, a former research colleague, last July, just after Mr Spitzer had launched his probe: "Have fun with the lawyers, and don't worry about it," Mr Blodget advised. "I was scared to death in the beginning, but have since learned that these things happen all the time. Look forward to having lunch at some point. H."

To: afrayem onigwecher who wrote (9834)	5/10/2002 7:19:28 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 19428

Stock Options Worry Some Investors By MARCY GORDON .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - Investors are expressing their concern to the Securities and Exchange Commission about company executives' stock options, about the accuracy of corporate financial reports - and about the SEC chairman's own prior association with ``pirates of Wall Street.'' The fallout from Enron's collapse overshadowed the agency's first ``investor summit,'' held Friday at its Washington headquarters and broadcast over the Internet and on cable television. SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt, who presided over the event, has come under recent criticism for meeting privately last month with the chairman of KPMG - a big accounting firm that Pitt represented as a private securities lawyer and whose audits of Xerox Corp. are being investigated by the SEC. The government watchdog group Common Cause said Friday that Pitt should resign because of ``a pattern of actual and apparent conflict of interest ... (that) undermines citizen and investor confidence.'' Eugene O'Kelly, the new chairman and chief executive of KPMG, said in an e-mail to employees last week that he had discussed with Pitt the SEC's investigation of the Xerox audits. He said he told Pitt the agency should not take any action. Pitt has said he did nothing improper and did not discuss any enforcement matters in his April 26 meeting with O'Kelly, a 10-minute session for the two to get acquainted. Pitt said they also discussed KPMG's plans to acquire some operations of the embattled Arthur Andersen accounting firm, which formerly audited records of bankrupt Enron Corp. Pitt said Friday, ``The meetings I engaged in were proper. They were for the benefit of investors.'' Several Democratic lawmakers this week told Pitt and O'Kelly that they have serious concerns about the meeting. Other lawmakers of both parties, however, have expressed support for Pitt, as has the White House. At the SEC summit, Pitt read a question from someone named ``CA'' who cited Pitt's former association ``with the current pirates of Wall Street'' and suggested there should be public representatives in top positions at the SEC. As a prominent attorney before President Bush named him to head the SEC last spring, Pitt represented major Wall Street brokerage firms, the New York Stock Exchange, all Big Five accounting firms, including KPMG and Andersen, and British insurer Lloyd's of London. Answering the question Friday, Pitt said his past associations ``have absolutely nothing to do with my intent to serve investors.'' Pitt, the other SEC commissioners and agency department heads took only written questions from members of the sparse audience or from people around the country using the Internet. The SEC received more than 600 questions, many of them sent before the summit, which was announced last week. The questions answered Friday covered a wide range of subjects, including whether shareholders should get to approve company executives' stock options and other compensation, whether mutual funds should be required to disclose social and environmental risks of companies whose stock they have, compensation of financial analysts and the accuracy of companies' accounting and financial reports. On Wednesday, the SEC approved rules designed to curb conflicts of interest among analysts that, among other things, will require them to clearly disclose in research reports and TV and radio interviews their financial interest in companies whose stock they recommend. Before the flap over Pitt's meeting with the KPMG chairman, he had been criticized by several Democrats in Congress and some ethics groups for not totally removing himself from the SEC's investigation of Enron and Andersen. He also has defended in Senate testimony his private meeting with accounting industry executives in December on a post-Enron reform proposal. The SEC is examining KPMG's audits of Xerox, which allegedly inflated its reported profit by some $1.5 billion and hid its true performance from investors. Xerox agreed last month to pay a record $10 million civil penalty and to revise financial statements back to 1997 to settle the SEC's allegations of accounting fraud. The office-equipment maker neither admitted nor denied the allegations. On the Net: Securities and Exchange Commission: sec.gov 05/10/02 18:53 EDT

To: afrayem onigwecher who wrote (9834)	5/11/2002 9:58:07 AM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 19428

Take-Two paid chairman 2001 bonus - filing LOS ANGELES, May 10 (Reuters) - Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. <TTWO.O> paid its chairman a bonus equal to 137 percent of his salary in fiscal 2001, amid a string of accounting problems in the year that prompted a federal probe, the company said in a filing on Friday. In a proxy statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Take-Two said Ryan Brant received a salary of $575,000 and a bonus of $790,000. No other executive on the compensation list presented in the proxy earned more than $360,000 in salary or $230,000 in bonuses. Brant's five-year employment agreement, signed in August 2000, provides for a salary of $600,000 "and a bonus based on financial performance," the company said. In December, Take-Two said it would have to restate some past results because of errors in the way it recognized revenues and treated product returns. A delay in reporting those restatements led to a three-week halt in the stock earlier this year, before the company announced in mid-February the restatement of all of fiscal 2000 and the first three quarters of fiscal 2001. Subsequently, the company said it would have to restate the last three quarters of fiscal 2001 to correct math errors made in the process of preparing those results. The first restatement of the 2001 results increased revenue by $19 million and decreased the company's net loss by 1 cent. The second restatement did not have a net effect on results. The company has been under formal investigation by the SEC and has had three chief financial officers in the last six months. The first of those, James "Chip" David, who was replaced in mid-December, was paid a $233,000 salary in fiscal 2001 and a bonus of $230,915, including the cash value of about $142,300 worth of shares of stock, according to the filing. The company's fiscal year ended Oct. 31. In November it released "Grand Theft Auto 3," which became a major hit that topped game sales charts for 18 weeks and lead the company to raise its guidance for the current fiscal year. The strength of the game has driven the stock up 47 percent this year. A spokeswoman for Take-Two was not immediately available for comment. 05/10/02 20:25 ET

To: afrayem onigwecher who wrote (9834)	5/12/2002 8:25:59 PM
From: StockDung	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 19428

Costa Rica: nice place for your cash to visit Don Bauder May 12, 2002 Call it the tech/tax/secrecy haven. Costa Rica boasts that it is the highest-ranked Latin American country for technological innovation. It's also a tax haven, billed as "the Switzerland of the Americas," featuring banking secrecy and companies that are officially called "anonymous societies." One disadvantage: An information agreement with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service has eroded banking privacy, according to The Offshore Money Book. But Americans still stash cash in the Costa Rican cache. Late last month in Sacramento, Karolyn Grosnickle pleaded guilty to laundering $50,000 she accepted from an undercover Internal Revenue Service agent. She had arranged to send the loot to a bank account in Costa Rica controlled by Anderson's Ark & Associates, which the federal government says is an international organization that assists its members in tax evasion and money-laundering schemes. Two other defendants went to trial in federal court in Sacramento early this month. A fourth defendant, Keith E. Anderson, was arrested in Costa Rica in February and is still in the pokey, as extradition proceedings continue. He is charged in Washington state with getting $28 million in illegal tax refunds for 1,500 clients, who were withdrawing the lucre from Costa Rica with a debit card. San Diegans have discovered the wonders of Costa Rica. Not long ago, retired San Diego stock brokerage manager Ron Hammershoy ran into a broker he had once briefly employed, Harold Bailey (B.J.) Gallison, former head of the notorious, government-shuttered Pacific Cortez Securities (nee La Jolla Capital). Creditors got 2.5 cents on the dollar in the collapse of the penny stock brokerage, which was brought down by the Department of Corporations. Gallison, along with a number of his confreres, will be tried on criminal fraud charges in July. According to Hammershoy, Gallison whipped out his business card. It was for GISBeX, based in Costa Rica, which lists itself as a "Global Internet Stock Brokerage Exchange" – the words from which GISBeX comes. International investors can buy and sell most stocks and bonds on worldwide exchanges through the electronic system, says GISBeX on its Web site. "The Global Internet Stock Brokerage Exchange is committed to protecting your privacy," boasts its Web site. "All transactions are private, confidential and in total anonymity." The site tells how investors can protect assets through an international business corporation (IBC) in such tax havens as Grenada and Belize. This was not the first time I had heard about Gallison's involvement with GISBeX. Nor was I surprised. The criminal case that will be heard in July before Superior Court Judge Bernard Revak involves offshore activities of Gallison and colleagues, including Troy Flowers and long-time penny stock tout William Edward "Billy" Daniel. Indeed, the trial has been held up as both the prosecutors and defense wait to get depositions from entrepreneurs in the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas tax havens, says Steve Davis, deputy district attorney, who is putting on the government's case with the Department of Corporations. Gallison "has come before Judge Revak to let him have his passport so he could go to Costa Rica," says Davis. "He has mentioned in court that he has business down there, setting up an electronic brokerage." Davis says he is not concerned about Gallison's current Costa Rica activity. Gallison's attorney did not respond to a telephone call. Then there is BetterWayCasinos.com, based in the Pacific Beach area. This six-month old firm sells online gambling sites to individuals for up to $15,000. "We provide the software and the Web site," says Steve Aaron. "The licensing for the casino properties is in Costa Rica," he says. A person buys the casino or sportsbook site through BetterWay, then recruits gamblers through Costa Rica, he says. "The average online casino and sportsbook profited more than $1 million in 2001!" boasts the BetterWay Web site. "Pick a site and you're in business in under 14 days," trumpets the Web site. No thanks. I'm taking a cruise to Costa Rica. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Don Bauder: (619) 293-1523; don.bauder@uniontrib.com

To: afrayem onigwecher who wrote (9834)	9/4/2002 12:25:31 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 19428

TODAYS BELEIVE IT OR NOT->"Save the World Air Erin Brockovich, the legal researcher who was celebrated in a movie of the same name, has been named to the board of advisers of Save the World Air, according to a news release datelined San Diego.Lawyer Ed Masry, Brockovich's boss, was another hero of the movie. He was named chief executive of Save the World Air last year. In the film, Brockovich was played by Julia Roberts and Masry by Albert Finney.The company claimed it had a device that virtually eliminated auto exhaust pollution. The stock soared and later crashed; the Securities and Exchange Commission filed suit, claiming top officers, including one in La Jolla, were manipulating the stock. Later, the company agreed not to engage in misleading market activities, but the SEC continued to pursue the top officers.On July 30, Save the World Air was granted a preliminary injunction against its former chief executive.The company still uses the San Diego dateline on its news releases – but, in its filings with the SEC, it lists its headquarters as Agoura Hills.Neither the company nor Masry's law firm could be reached for comment.Don Bauder: (619) 293-1523; don.bauder@uniontrib.com" signonsandiego.com ----------------------------- Save The World Air Inc. Appoints Erin Brockovich and SEMA Board Chairman Nathan Shelton to Its Board of Advisors SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 3, 2002--Save The World Air Inc. (Pink Sheets:ZERO) company President Edward Masry announced today that Erin Brockovich and Nathan Shelton, chairman of the Board for the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) have been appointed to the company Board of Advisors and have agreed to serve, beginning immediately. In a statement issued by Masry regarding the addition of the new members, he expressed, "We greatly appreciate the commitment of Erin and Nate Shelton to actively participate on the SWA Board of Advisors. Each of these new members brings with them a wealth of experience, knowledge, and vision about specific aspects of our business that collectively, should provide a valuable dimension to our company. Erin's specific familiarity with environmental issues, along with her dedication to the challenge of educating people about the harmful effects of pollution, and to solving significant environmental issues will be invaluable to our company as we move forward with the development and distribution phases of the Zero Emission Fuel Saver device." Masry went on to say, "I am also particularly appreciative of Nate Shelton's acceptance of our offer to serve. Nate has agreed not only to serve on the company advisory board, but has also accepted an Executive Consultant position with the company and will be responsible for overseeing product design and marketing. For those who may not be familiar with Nate Shelton and his achievements in the automotive industry, I should point out that throughout his thirty-year career in the automotive business, Nate has served in a variety of executive capacities. In addition to his role with SWA, Nate presently serves as the Chief Marketing Officer for K & N Performance Filters and also serves as the Chairman of the Board for the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA). Nate's dedication to the mission of SWA and to the development and worldwide marketing of the ZEFS devices, along with his experience in such matters is greatly welcomed and appreciated." The company will be announcing further news about company developments as appropriate. Safe Harbor Statement: The statements contained herein, which are not historical, are forward looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward looking statements, including, but not limited to, the company's ability to market its products and services and future customer acceptance for these products and services and other risks detailed from time to time in company documents furnished to investors. CONTACT: Save The World Air Inc. Edward Masry, 818/865-3500 questions@savetheworldair.com SOURCE: Save The World Air Inc. Today's News On The Net - Business Wire's full file on the Internet with Hyperlinks to your home page. URL: businesswire.com 09/03/2002 13:18 EASTERN