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

To: ayn rand who wrote (10338)	8/26/2002 10:50:46 AM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 19428

Broker Scams Made Fraud List By DAVID HO 08/26/2002 08:30:42 EST WASHINGTON (AP) - Scams involving unscrupulous stockbrokers and financial analysts with conflicting interests are for the first time among the top 10 investment frauds listed by state securities regulators. Fraudulent oil and gas investments and schemes involving charitable gift annuities also joined the annual list, the North American Securities Administrators Association said Monday. The group, known as NASAA, represents securities regulators in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico. "Record-low interest rates and a bear market on Wall Street have created a bull market in fraud on Main Street," said Joseph Borg, NASAA president and director of the Alabama Securities Commission. He said con artists take advantage of nervous investors, pitching scams as safe alternatives with high returns - an impossible combination. The regulators ranked the frauds and risky investments they are fighting by how often they occur and their impact. The top-ranked scam for 2002 involved unlicensed individuals, such as independent insurance agents, selling securities. Borg said most agents are honest, but too many are lured by high commissions into selling high-risk or fraudulent investments. The regulators ranked deceptive stockbrokers at No. 2, saying "the declining stock market has caused some brokers to cut corners or resort to outright fraud." Last year, North Dakota's securities commissioner yanked the licenses of two brokers, saying they squandered millions by making speculative investments without their clients' permission. The brokers were affiliated with H.D. Vest Investment Services Inc., an Irving, Texas, firm that in December settled with regulators and agreed to repay customers more than $3.2 million. Analyst research conflicts came in third on the regulators' list. State investigators are probing whether some analysts issued glowing research reports and made buy recommendations to win investment-banking business, NASAA said. Merrill Lynch & Co., the nation's biggest brokerage, agreed in May to pay a $100 million fine and revamp its stock research practices in a settlement with the New York attorney general's office, which had charged that the firm's analysts were misleading investors for personal gain. The other seven top investment frauds, in order, are: _Promissory notes, which typically involve loans to companies made by investors in exchange for a fixed amount of periodic income. Legitimate corporate promissory notes are not usually sold to the public and some schemes are fraudulent. _Prime bank schemes that promise investors risk-free, triple-digit returns on debt notes said to be guaranteed by the world's biggest banks. _Viatical settlements, which, when done legally, involve buying into the insurance policies of the terminally ill, who get a portion of the money to help with medical bills. The investor is supposed to get paid when the person dies, but in some fraudulent cases the policyholders aren't really dying or don't even exist. _Affinity fraud investing schemes that target religious, ethnic and professional groups and are performed by members of the groups who use their common backgrounds to gain trust. _Charitable gift annuities, in which a donor gives cash or stock to a charity in return for lifetime fixed payments based on age - the older the donor, the larger the payment. Regulators said investors should be cautious of little-known organizations offering such investments. _Oil and gas schemes, including investments in fraudulent operations or wells that don't produce. _Leasing scams involving telephones, automated teller machines and Internet kiosks. ___ On the Net: North American Securities Administrators Association: nasaa.org

To: ayn rand who wrote (10338)	8/28/2002 11:19:34 AM
From: RobbRacer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19428

I have to ask-Are you a part time movie critic now?

To: ayn rand who wrote (10338)	8/28/2002 12:35:53 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 19428

WorldCom's Former CFO Scott Sullivan Indicted on Fraud Charges By Christopher Mumma New York, Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Former WorldCom Inc. Chief Financial Officer Scott D. Sullivan was indicted on securities fraud charges. Sullivan was also accused of making false filings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Sullivan, 40, was arrested Aug. 1 along with WorldCom's former controller David Myers, 44. They were charged with plotting to conceal mounting expenses at WorldCom from investors, to prop up earnings. The pair was accused of misrepresenting billions in company expenses, in a fraud that led to the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Myers was not indicted today. Former Chief Executive Officer Bernard Ebbers, who resigned in April while owing the company $408 million in loans, is also under investigation. The arrests of Sullivan and Myers came five weeks after WorldCom disclosed it had misreported $3.9 billion in expenses. Attorney General John Ashcroft said the scheme was meant to hide five straight quarterly net losses and create the illusion the company was profitable. On Aug. 8, WorldCom said it found $3.3 billion more in misstated expenses, bringing the total to $7.2 billion. WorldCom, parent of the MCI long-distance phone service and carrier of about half all Internet traffic, filed for bankruptcy protection on July 21, listing $107 billion in assets and $41 billion in debts. The Clinton, Mississippi-based company had missed a $79 million payment to bondholders who are owed $30 billion. WorldCom fired Sullivan in June, and Myers was forced to resign. Following their arrest earlier this month, the two men were paraded in handcuffs past television cameras and photographers, on their way from the FBI building in Manhattan to a court appearance a block away. Sullivan was freed on a $10 million bond. Myers posted a $2 million bond.

To: ayn rand who wrote (10338)	8/28/2002 12:40:07 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 19428

ESPN Founder Makes Plea Deal .c The Associated Press NAPLES, Fla. (AP) - ESPN founder William Rasmussen pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud in a deal that allows him to avoid a possible 30-year prison sentence for his role in a failed golf course project. Rasmussen, 69, will be sentenced to two years of probation and must cooperate with investigators under the plea deal reached Tuesday. He pleaded guilty to two counts of making false statements, a first-degree misdemeanor, said Ed Griffith, spokesman for the State Attorney's Office. Special prosecutor Angelica Zayas said Rasmussen gave false promotional material to stockbrokers at A.S. Goldmen & Co., knowing they would use the material to sell stock in a Stadium Naples partner company. Rasmussen had also been charged with racketeering conspiracy for his actions in the failed Stadium Naples project, which proposed building a golf spectator arena that developers thought would draw a professional tournament. That charge was dropped as part of the deal. Rasmussen and his attorney declined to comment. Former Collier County Commissioner John Norris, attorney Leo Salvatori and developers Renee Tolson and Paul Hardy still face charges of racketeering, bribery and money laundering in the scheme. 08/28/02 12:15 EDT

To: ayn rand who wrote (10338)	8/29/2002 8:27:18 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 19428

Six charged in stock manipulation case NEW YORK, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Six people were indicted on Thursday for their alleged role in a scheme to artificially manipulate the market for the securities of at least four publicly traded companies. The indictment alleged that the defendants earned over $30 million in the alleged scheme. Two of the defendants are Frank Skelly and Craig Gross, former principals of the now-defunct securities firm, Walsh Manning Securities. The indictment alleges that the two conspired with other defendants in the scheme that began in Nov. 1995 and lasted through Oct. 1997. The indictment alleged that the defendants had conspired with principals of the brokerage firm Foster Jeffries Securities Corp. and an officer of the brokerage firm J.B. Sutton Group to manipulate the price in the securities of the following companies: Brake Headquarters <BHQU.OB>, American HealthChoice <AMHI.OB>, Multimedia Games <MGAM.O>, and Jenna Lane Inc. <JLNY.OB> The conspirators allegedly caused the officers and directors of the corporations to raise capital through the private placement of securities at substantially discounted prices. The defendants allegedly caused a portion of the securities distributed in these private placements to be sold directly to accounts that they owned or controlled. The remaining private placement securities were purportedly sold to investors who had secretly agreed to sell their securities directly or indirectly to Walsh Manning or another entity owned by the conspirators at times and prices directed by the conspirators, usually at below-market prices. By doing this, the defendants allegedly obtained large amounts of the companies' securities at lower prices and then offered them for resale to the retail customers of Walsh Manning, Foster Jeffries, and J.B. Sutton at artificially inflated prices. The indictment further alleges that the defendants inflated the market price of securities through a variety of high-pressure "boiler room" sales practices. Skelly, 38, currently lives in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Gross, 37, currently lives in Kings Park, New York. If convicted, Skelly and Gross face a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for conspiracy, and a possible 10-year prison term and a $1 million fine for each of three counts of securities fraud. The indictment also charges Kenneth Greene, a former principal of Stratton Oakmont, a former scandal-plagued broker-dealer, influenced and controlled the activities of Walsh Manning, Foster Jeffries, and J.B. Sutton in violation of a 1994 order barring him from association with any brokerage firms for five years. He faces the same penalties as Skelly and Gross if convicted. 08/29/02 18:04 ET