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Strategies & Market Trends : Anthony @ Equity Investigations, Dear Anthony, -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wolff who wrote (78355)	6/21/2002 4:15:22 AM
From: Wolff	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 122087

Prominent Wall Street Figure Convicted of Fraud Mon Jun 10, 2:24 PM ET By Gail Appleson NEW YORK (Reuters) - Prominent money manager Alan Bond, who appeared regularly on the television show "Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser," was convicted on Monday of fraud for cheating pension funds out of millions of dollars. The Manhattan federal jury took less than an hour to return a guilty verdict on all six counts against Bond, 40, of Upper Montclair, New Jersey, who was president and chief investment officer of Albriond Capital Management. U.S. District Judge Leonard Sand ordered that Bond be jailed immediately due to concerns he might try to flee. Sentencing was set for Sept. 9. Bond, a Dartmouth College and Harvard Business School graduate, was one of a small number of African-Americans to rise to a top position in the lucrative world of money management. Bond is now indigent and was represented by a public defender. During the trial, he was free on bail secured by his parents' modest home in the New York City borough of Queens. Bond's family broke into sobs after the verdict was read. U.S. marshals allowed Bond to hold his father in a lengthy embrace before he was led away. Bond was convicted of three counts of investment advisory fraud, which carry a possible maximum prison term of 10 years each, and three counts of wire fraud, which carry a possible maximum term of five years each. Mark Gombiner, Bond's defense lawyer, said he would appeal. Bond was arrested last year and accused of defrauding clients by sending unprofitable securities trades to their accounts while directing most of the profitable ones to himself. Prosecutors charged that Bond's "cherry-picking" scheme ran between March 2000 and July 2001 while Bond was out on bail awaiting trial on 1999 charges of taking more than $6 million in kickbacks from brokerage firms. He is scheduled to go to trial in November on the kickback charges. They said Bond made $6.3 million from the cherry-picking scheme while his clients lost more than $56 million. The victims of the cherry-picking scheme were Birmingham Amalgamated Transit Authority Local 725, a union pension fund; Chapman Capital Management, an investment adviser; and the Old Dominion Disability & Retirement Allowance Plan. The government argued that the pension funds lost two-thirds of their value, while Bond received a 5,000 percent return on his own investments in a little over a year. "The defense didn't really offer anything in Mr. Bond's defense," Tony Impieri, the jury foreman, told reporters after the verdict. "It was pretty clear cut." He said that Bond only hurt himself by testifying during the trial. "Prior to him taking the stand, I had reasonable doubt. The downfall was when he took the stand.... On cross-examination, he dodged every question, he could not give a straight answer." Impieri said. Bond rose to prominence managing more than $600 million of pension and investment funds for about 25 clients, including the National Basketball Association, City University of New York and the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority. More from > Top Stories - Reuters Next Story: Solo U.S. Balloonist Sets Record Pace, Nears NZ Fri Jun 21, 4:09 AM ET - (Reuters)

To: Wolff who wrote (78355)	6/21/2002 4:51:17 PM
From: Wolff	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 122087

PayPal Reveals Plans to Sell Shares Thu Jun 13, 7:31 AM ET By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Business Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Online payment provider PayPal Inc. said its co-founders and other key insiders will cash in on the company's hot stock by selling millions of shares sooner than anticipated, a development that overshadowed news of a favorable decision from banking regulators. The Mountain View-based company said at least 6 million shares will be sold by its stockholders in the secondary offering. PayPal's co-founders, Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, are selling the largest individual stakes. Musk, who resigned as PayPal's chief executive in September 2000 but still remains on the company's board, plans to sell 1 million shares, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ( news - web sites). After the sale, Musk, 30, will still own 6.1 million shares, or a 10.1 percent stake in the company. Thiel, who succeeded Musk as CEO, is selling 574,701 shares, leaving him with 2.2 million shares, or a 3.6 percent stake. By CEO standards, Thiel, 34, received a relatively modest salary last year — $147,084. He stands to collect more than $10 million on his stock sale, based on the recent trading range of PayPal's stock. Other significant stakes are being sold by: Max R. Levchin, 26, the company's chief technology officer; David O. Sacks, 30, the company's chief operating officer; and Reid G. Hoffman, 34, an executive vice president. The disclosures raised new investor concerns at the same time management tried to erase another worry by announcing New York state regulators had concluded the company's online payment service didn't break banking laws. The New York regulators had warned PayPal might need to be licensed as a bank, a requirement that could have diminished the company's growth prospects. Despite that positive ruling, PayPal's shares fell $1.83, or 7 percent, to close at $23.65 Wednesday on the Nasdaq Stock Market. It's not unusual for entrepreneurs to liquidate some of their holdings once their companies become publicly traded, particularly one that has been as warmly received as PayPal. Since PayPal's initial public offering of stock at $13 per share in mid-February, the shares have traded as high as $30.48. But the timing of the sale and the size of the insider stakes involved appeared to catch investors off guard, said analyst Christopher Penny of Friedman, Billings, Ramsey. After most IPOs, top executives usually can't sell any of their shares for at least six months — a timetable that would have prevented PayPal insiders from cashing out until mid-August. An IPO's investment bankers, though, have the flexibility to lift the restrictions earlier, an option that was exercised with PayPal to give insiders a chance to lock in seven-figure windfalls. "You may as well strike while the iron is hot. There is a lot of appreciation for PayPal right now," said analyst James Van Dyke of Jupiter Media Metrix. PayPal has emerged as a high-tech rarity — an Internet business that makes money. The company turned its first profit during the first quarter of this year when it earned $1.2 million. PayPal expects to earn $5.5 million to $5.8 million in the second quarter. The company makes its money by using e-mail to deliver payments between buyers and sellers on the Internet. As of March 31, PayPal had 15.4 million accountholders. ___ On The Net: paypal.com