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Technology Stocks : VNWC - VIDEO NETWORK COMMS INC ( VNCI ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: afrayem onigwecher who wrote (123)	5/13/2002 2:31:46 PM
From: PartyTime	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 308

OK, I'll bite. What be BankOne all about? Is this material relevant to your back-and-forth with Craig, or does it have some bearing on VNWC?

To: afrayem onigwecher who wrote (123)	5/13/2002 3:03:21 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 308

Ex-merchant jailed in France for wine fraud BORDEAUX, France, May 13 (Reuters) - A French court sentenced a former wine merchant to jail and heavy fines on Monday for fraud after he mixed lesser quality wines with those of the renowned Bordeaux region and sold them as fine wines. Jacques Hemmer was given an 18-month prison sentence and ordered to pay fines totalling over one million euros ($916,000) for mixing wines from two regions and selling them as wines from Bordeaux, the southwest area famed for its fine red wine. Eight months of the jail sentence was suspended. Hemmer's lawyer said his client planned to appeal. The sentence was harsher than that demanded by the prosecution, who argued Hemmer's action had seriously harmed the reputation of France's wine industry. Bordeaux is the world's largest fine wine producing area. "We are very pleased with this tough sentence and hope it sends a message to all potential fraudsters that such activity is not acceptable in our industry," Roland Feredj, director at at Bordeaux wine producers' industry body CIVP, told Reuters. "For us this decision helps to defend our industry's reputation." Last month, police seized hundreds of bottles of vintage Bordeaux wines from 20 of the region's best-known vineyards as part of a fraud probe. The probe followed revelations by a Belgian wine merchant that he mixed wines of different ages and that the practice was widespread among Bordeaux wine producers. The investigation is continuing. French wine producers face a growing threat to their export markets from New World rivals in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, the United States and South Africa. Regulations for those wines are not as strict as in France, where the industry says quality is its greatest asset. In the same case as Hemmer's, six other Bordeaux wine merchants who had sold wrongly labelled wines bought from Hemmer via a wine broker were cleared of fraud. Quality French wines are heavily regulated right down to the number of vines permitted per hectare and the method of pruning. Vineyards that comply with the rules can put AOC (Appellation d'Origine Controllee), a mark of quality, on their label. 05/13/02 12:58 ET