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To: SEC-ond-chance who wrote (82801)	1/6/2003 9:52:32 AM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 122087

Push to liquidate troubled New Tel AAP 07jan03 THE administrators of struggling telco New Tel will recommend that creditors vote to liquidate the company. Administrator Phil Carter of Pricewaterhouse Coopers yesterday said creditors would have to decide the company's fate on January 13. This will be their second meeting since New Tel was placed in administration on December 10 last year. After viewing the administrators' financial report on New Tel, creditors will be asked to vote on whether to execute a deed of company arrangement, end the administration and/or wind up the company. "No viable proposal for a deed of company arrangement has been presented," Mr Carter said. "In addition, our inquiries to date have indicated a number of matters which we consider deserve more extensive investigation, utilising the powers available to the liquidator," he said. "It is therefore our view that the creditors' best interests will be served by the company being placed into liquidation without delay." If Mr Carter is given the nod to place New Tel into liquidation, creditors will be asked whether to appoint a committee of inspection. The administrators worked through Christmas to finalise the creditors' report, after announcing in December that New Tel's assets were likely to be liquidated. However, Mr Carter has said the sale would be unlikely to cover the telecommunications company's $40 million to $50 million in liabilities. Employees have been paid all the wages they were owed, but remain at the top of the creditors' list over their claim for superannuation, leave and redundancy payouts worth a total of up to $2 million. Last month, Mr Carter rejected a takeover offer from Hong Kong-based Broadband & Wireless Ltd, after a creditors' committee and BWL's Richard Steggall failed to reach a sale agreement. The reason for rejecting Mr Steggall's offer was that it hinged on a deed of company arrangement, which effectively ruled out liquidation. Pricewaterhouse Coopers said it has set up a phone number, 1300 554 469, to provide New Tel creditors with information about the administration.

To: SEC-ond-chance who wrote (82801)	1/6/2003 9:54:27 AM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 122087

Malone queues as liquidators hover AND it would be wrong to wrap up 2002 without a nod to another communications icon and corporate go-getter, one Peter Francis Malone. Malone started the second half of the year at the helm of Osborne Park carrier New Tel and finished it on the unemployment queue, apparently with only a $400,000 Aston Martin, beachside hovel and a swag full of New Tel options to his name. Of course, if rumours of insolvency turn out to be true and New Tel's administrators make way for a liquidator, Malone could find himself without the motor and the house as well. But the highlight for HOTT was the former telco touter's communication with the Fourth Estate . . . or lack of it, to be exact. Never an easy man to get hold of, the first whiff of trouble from the New Tel bunker saw Malone disappear more effectively than Jimmy Hoffa. After weeks of unanswered messages and ignored calls, however, Malone resurfaced to issue a media release taking a swipe at the press and call HOTT to whine about "media speculation". After a conversation in which he conceded better communication would help, he went to ground again and this time showed no signs of re-emerging, with callers to New Tel told staff were unable to disclose his whereabouts. We were told to try the international man of mystery's mobile but advised we probably wouldn't have much luck in getting Malone to answer his phone or return messages - a prediction which turned out to be spot on. A last ditch bid involving Malone to buy back the company was knocked back last month, and New Tel now looks almost certain to be liquidated early in the new year. January 04, 2003 © 2002 West Australian Newspapers Limited All Rights Reserved.

To: SEC-ond-chance who wrote (82801)	1/6/2003 9:56:44 AM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 122087

Liquidator to pursue New Tel's directors By Colin Kruger January 7 2003 The New Tel administrator, PricewaterhouseCoopers, intends to go after the company's former directors with a recommendation that the failed telecom be put into liquidation "without delay". More than 200 creditors are expected to receive the administrator's report this week, ahead of a creditor's meeting scheduled for next Monday, where New Tel's fate will be decided. PricewaterhouseCoopers administrator Phil Carter said that no viable proposals for alternatives, such as a deed of company arrangement, had been presented. And, with New Tel's assets unlikely to meet the creditors' bills of up to $50 million, the administrators are expected to look to other alternatives to help make up the shortfall. "Our inquiries to date have indicated a number of matters which we consider deserve more extensive investigation, utilising the powers available to the liquidator," Mr Carter said. In liquidation, administrators can investigate and legally undo preferential payments made to creditors in the six months before administration, uncommercial transactions going back two years, and related party transactions going back four years. The administrators can also take action against directors and other officers if New Tel is proved to have traded while insolvent since mid-October. One area that is expected to get closer scrutiny is the transfer of New Tel's majority share in Advanced Engine Components to the Lim Asia Arbitrage Fund late last year, along with a disputed intercompany debt owed to New Tel.

To: SEC-ond-chance who wrote (82801)	1/6/2003 10:01:04 AM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 122087

New Tel creditors meeting to vote 07jan03 ADMINISTRATORS of struggling telco New Tel will recommend creditors vote to liquidate the company. Administrator Phil Carter of PricewaterhouseCoopers yesterday said creditors would have to decide the firm's fate on January 13, at their second meeting since New Tel was placed in administration on December 10. After viewing the administrators' financial report on New Tel, creditors will be asked to vote on whether to execute a deed of company arrangement, end the administration and/or wind it up. "No viable proposal for a deed of company arrangement has been presented," Mr Carter said. "Inquiries have indicated a number of matters which we consider deserve more extensive investigation, utilising the powers available to the liquidator. "It is therefore our view that the creditors' best interests will be served by the company being placed into liquidation without delay." If Mr Carter is given the nod to place New Tel into liquidation, creditors will be asked on whether to appoint a Committee of Inspection. The administrators worked through Christmas to finalise the creditors' report, after announcing in December that New Tel's assets were likely to be liquidated. However, Mr Carter has said the sale would be unlikely to cover the telco's $40 million-$50 million in liabilities. Employees have been paid all wages owed, but remain at the top of the creditors' list over their claim for superannuation, leave and redundancy payouts worth a total of up to $2 million. Last month, Mr Carter rejected a takeover offer from Hong Kong based Broadband & Wireless Ltd (BWL), after a creditors committee and BWL's Richard Steggall failed to reach a sale agreement. The reason for rejecting Mr Steggall's offer was that it hinged on a deed of company arrangement, which effectively ruled out liquidation. Creditors can rings 1300 554 469 for information about the administration.

To: SEC-ond-chance who wrote (82801)	1/6/2003 10:45:53 AM
From: StockDung	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 122087

FBI Seeks Bank Records Tied To LVEN gamblingmagazine.com The FBI has asked at least one bank for any financial documents linked to companies and individuals who may have been involved in the rapid runup and later crash of Las Vegas Entertainment Network's stock price last fall. Meanwhile, neither LVEN nor federal regulators will comment about results of a secret investigative hearing in Washington D.C. on Friday concerning the status of the three-month trading halt in LVEN stock. The Securities & Exchange Commission ordered Nasdaq to suspend trading of LVEN stock as of last Oct. 18, citing questions about "the adequacy and accuracy of publicly disseminated information concerning, among other things, an agreement to receive $190 million in cash from two investors." Publicity about that alleged investment sent LVEN stock soaring more than 250 percent before falling back almost equally abruptly in just one day of heavy trading. Collectively, investors who bought during the price runup may have lost millions. SEC spokeswoman Dara Feldman said the federal agency had no comment about the Friday session. "We don't talk about investigations at all," she said. Nasdaq spokeswoman Nancy Condon said investigative hearings are not public. "If in fact one did occur, we still wouldn't say anything about it," she said. "There was a hearing in Washington this morning between LVEN and Nasdaq," LVEN spokesman Tim Noyes said Friday from the company's headquarters in Los Angeles. But he declined to discuss what happened or specify who participated. "Everything is halted right now, and I have nothing else to report," he said. LVEN Chairman Joseph Corazzi didn't respond to requests for comment. A bank executive who requested anonymity confirmed that the FBI, as part of a criminal investigation, has contacted financial institutions asking for records linked to LVEN, U.S. Guarantee Corp. and some of its principals and others associated with LVEN. The FBI recently raided the Scottdale, Ariz., offices of U.S. Guarantee, which had purportedly agreed to help Las Vegan Fred Cruz "infuse" a total of $495 million into LVEN. Cruz hung up on a Sun reporter seeking comment Friday. Bureau spokesman Ed Hall told the Mesa, Ariz., Tribune newspaper he couldn't reveal why a dozen agents conducted the raid because they were acting on a sealed search warrant. Cruz and U.S. Guarantee Chief Executive Alvin Tang have several criminal convictions on charges such as fraud, conspiracy, grand theft and forgery. Corazzi and LVEN's president, Carl Sambus, were executives in businesses that have previously filed for bankruptcy. LVEN bought the closed El Rancho property near the north end of the Strip in 1993. It sold the El Rancho to International Thoroughbred Breeders in 1996 and eventually wound up with the right to receive some additional proceeds if it could find a new buyer for the run-down property at a higher price. The deadline for that deal was last April. Meanwhile, LVEN filings with the SEC indicate the company issued 4.75 million shares of stock to insiders including Corazzi, Sambus and Cruz in the months leading up to the October price runup. Those price gains were fueled by a series of announcements that alleged Cruz would invest $495 million into LVEN with the aid of financial transactions engineered by U.S. Guarantee. At one point, LVEN issued several news releases saying it was offering to buy Jackpot Enterprises Inc., a Nevada gaming company, for $95 million and claiming the money for the deal had come from Cruz through U.S. Guarantee. Both Cruz and U.S. Guarantee claimed their assets included billions of dollars of gold dust or mining claims, though they later said some of the assets had been "lost" or erased from their balance sheets. Neither Cruz, Corazzi nor Sambus have disclosed whether they sold LVEN stock during the price increase. The FBI's search for bank financial records may provide an answer. article # 28/242

To: SEC-ond-chance who wrote (82801)	1/7/2003 3:53:42 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 122087

WONDER WHY THEY DO NOT DO THIS IN THE U.S.?-> New Tel directors may face charges By Michael Sainsbury, Telecommunications January 07, 2003 FAILED telecommunications company New Tel may have traded while insolvent for as long as 12 months before it was placed into administration – leaving directors, including Deloitte Touch Tohmatsu's chief, Domenic Martino, facing possible criminal charges. This was revealed yesterday in the first report to creditors by Philip Carter and Gregory Hall of PricewaterhouseCoopers. According to creditor sources, the administrators said they suspected New Tel had traded without sufficient funds to cover its financial commitments for a year before its collapse late last year. Mr Carter and Mr Hall could use the broader powers available to liquidators to take their investigations further. At a meeting on Monday, they'll recommend to creditors, who are owed as much as $50 million, that New Tel be put into liquidation. Perth-based New Tel was placed in administration on December 10 after a tumultuous four months during which a series of deals designed to prop up the company failed. "Our inquiries to date have indicated a number of matters which we consider deserve more extensive investigation, utilising the powers available to the liquidator," the administrators said in their report. "It is, therefore, our view that the creditors' best interests will be served by the company being placed into liquidation without delay." But in the full report to creditors – not released publicly – the administrators outlined more serious concerns about insolvent trading, according to the source. Such trading is illegal, and directors of companies that have done so face the possibility of substantial fines and jail. Liquidators can unwind preference payments made by companies up to six months before an administrator was appointed. They can also unwind uncommercial transactions for up to two years before the administration date, and related party transactions up to four years before. Such transactions may include a $4 million payment to Deloitte during 2000-2001, and a $1 million payment believed to have been made to New Tel's failed white knight, Broadband and Wireless. New Tel chief executive and founder Peter Malone, who once said his ambition was to become Qantas' No. 1 frequent flyer, is likely to be a target of any fresh investigations. His Perth beachside residence and sports cars could prove to be targets for liquidators as they seek assets to make up the shortfall in New Tel's finances. Mr Martino quit the New Tel board in February last year. However, he may be implicated if the company's insolvent trading dates back as far as administrators suspect. Mr Martino is also understood to have been closely involved in attempts to save the company. Other New Tel directors include Perth identity Harry Sorensen, US-based Mark Hake, and Hong Kong-based An Zhou and Gary Koh. The administrators were unavailable for further comment, a PwC spokesman said.