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Biotech / Medical : MAXXON, INC (MXON.Nasdaq BB) Disposable syringe technology -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Joe Lyddon who wrote (102)	1/1/2003 3:16:06 PM
From: Arcane Lore	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 105

SEC suing Tulsa syringe maker for falsely inflating share price By Associated Press, 12/31/2002 17:19 TULSA, Okla. (AP) The Securities and Exchange Commission is suing a Tulsa safety syringe company and three of its executives alleging they profited from selling shares at fraudulently inflated prices. The commission sued Maxxon Inc., its president and chief executive officer Gifford Mabie and two other company officials Monday in U.S. District Court in Tulsa to recoup more than $1.5 million in alleged illicit gains. The SEC also wants to permanently bar Mabie from ever serving as an officer or director for a public company again. The lawsuit claims Mabie, Dr. Thomas Coughlin and Rhonda Vincent made false statements between 1997 and 1999 about the company's proposed safety syringe during television appearances, in press releases and on the Internet. The statements increased the price of Maxxon shares, which traded over the counter, and then Mabie, Coughlin and Vincent sold stock they owned, the SEC alleges. The commission said Mabie made at least $1.6 million through the share sales, while Coughlin made at least $50,290 and Vincent $29,526. ''The SEC is wrong and when all the facts are known it will be proved that they are wrong,'' Vincent, who is Maxxon's financial reporting manager, said Tuesday. Neither Mabie nor Coughlin immediately returned messages Tuesday. Maxxon held an exclusive right to develop a syringe with a retractable needle designed to prevent needle-prick injuries to health care workers. The company and its executives heavily promoted the syringe but never manufactured it, the SEC alleges. Mabie said on six television shows in California and in a conference call with brokers that the syringe could be produced for the same cost as a standard syringe, in alleged contrast to what consultants had told him, the SEC said. He and Maxxon also allegedly made false statements about orders the company received for the syringe, a proposed factory in Sweden and the syringe's progress in receiving approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the SEC said. The company also touted allegedly bogus claims that major health care companies considered the syringe to be the best in the world, the SEC said. ''They benefited as a result of their illegal conduct by selling stock at prices that were unjustified,'' said Chris Conte, assistant director of the SEC's enforcement division in Washington, D.C. The company's stock closed Tuesday at 6 cents a share, down 9 cents. boston.com