DJ IN THE MONEY: SHEP Tech's Questionable Alliance Claims 

By Carol S. Remond 
A Dow Jones Newswires Column 

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--You'd think we're talking about sliced bread. 
SHEP Technologies Inc. (STLOF), a small Vancouver, British Columbia, 
company created less than a year ago via a merger with an Isle of Man 
corporation, says it has developed an experimental technology that 
harnesses lost energy generated when a driver steps on the brakes. 
That energy can then be used to offset the power needed when the 
vehicle accelerates again. 
How much of a "killer app' are we talking about? A recent newsletter 
- subsidized by SHEP - puts it this way: The technology "could be one 
of the great investment discoveries of our times - with SHEP on the 
edge of a potential billion dollar royalty." 
The newsletter, The Intrepid Investor, is a monthly, subscription 
publication whose self-described mission it to go "everywhere in 
search of sound, relatively low-risk investments." The recent edition 
cited above goes on to inform readers that SHEP has forged a business 
relationship with Ford Motor Co. (F) and major auto-parts supplier 
Easton Corp. (ETN). "Ford reached agreement with SHEP in 1999, and 
brought in the Eaton Corp.," the newsletter said. "Ford is expected to 
begin with medium-sized SHEP trucks in the 2005 model year." 
Except these business relations don't appear to exist, or at least 
not in the way described by the newsletter. And there are questions 
about the possible relationship between that newsletter and companies 
and people affiliated with publishing company Agora Inc. - a company 
facing civil charges for disseminating false information. 
"Ford doesn't have and has not had a formal relationship with SHEP 
to acquire SHEP's hydraulic launch assist technology," Mike Vaughn, a 
Ford spokesman said. 
"Ford has no plans to manufacture any vehicle using SHEP 
components," Vaughn added. 
Gary Klasen, a spokesman for Eaton, said that there is "no active 
relationship, and there are no agreements, between Eaton and SHEP." 
Early prototype models of an Eaton's own brake-assist product used 
some SHEP components, Klasen acknowledged, but the new generation of 
the product, first installed in vehicles last December, doesn't 
include any SHEP components or technology. 
Malcolm P. Burke, SHEP's president and chief executive, didn't 
return multiple phone calls. 
A SHEP investors-relations official referred all questions about 
Ford and Eaton to Burke. 
SHEP shares, which had been trading below a dollar in late May, 
skyrocketed to a high of $2.85 a share last week on heavy volume. The 
stock closed Tuesday at $1.41. 
According to a disclaimer on The Intrepid Investor, the SHEP content 
"appears as paid advertising, subsidized by SHEP and a 3rd party group 
to provide public awareness of SHEP." The disclaimer also says "SHEP's 
management have approved and signed off as 'approved for public 
dissemination' all statements made herein regarding SHEP's history, 
technology and current as well as prospective business operations." 
Brian Sodi, named in corporate filings as manager of Capital 
Financial Media LLC, The Intrepid Investor's publisher, said in an 
email Wednesday that each and every page of advertising material was 
approved for public dissemination by SHEP's president. 

Behind 'The Intrepid' Masthead 

The Intrepid Investor disclaimer also indicates that Capital 
Financial Media managed a total production budget of $898,500 for this 
"current and past print advertising efforts and retained, over and 
above the cost of production, any amounts that remain as compensation 
as a fee for production services. 
"An additional $102,500 is expected to be received over a period of 
approximatively two months from the current mail date for additional 
production costs," the disclaimer adds. 
In addition to these moneys, Capital Financial Media also "has 
received 15,000 shares of SHEP and is expected to receive up to 20,000 
additional shares of SHEP." Capital Financial Media may also receive 
options to purchase SHEP shares for its services, according to the 
disclaimer. 
How much of these costs SHEP covered isn't spelled out in the 
disclaimer, and SHEP or Capital Financial Media aren't saying. But 
SHEP's balance sheet would suggest it doesn't have a lot of money to 
spend on promotions, and its auditor, Davidson & Company, has attached 
a going-concern statement to its latest annual report. 
Filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show that SHEP 
raised about $1.6 million late last year and earlier this year selling 
shares in private placements. But SHEP shows just $69,000 in cash and 
cash equivalent as of the end of March, though that amount is up from 
$4,253 at the end of December. 
(SHEP also helped finance at least one other marketing effort, an 
electronic promotion published in MarketByte LLC's OTC Journal at a 
cost of $75,000, according to a disclaimer on that publication. In 
that case MarketByte also received 100,000 free trading shares of SHEP 
as payment by an unnamed third party.) 
There are also questions about whether Capital Financial has any 
relation to Baltimore publishing company, Agora, which the SEC, in a 
suit filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland in April, accused of 
scheming to defraud investors by disseminating false information. 
Agora last week filed a motion to dismiss the SEC suit. 
In a telephone voicemail message last week, Capital Financial's Sodi 
said that neither Agora, nor its president, William Bonner, owned or 
own any part of Capital Financial Media. 
But Luke Hodgens, a man described by Sodi in his message as one of 
his employees, told Dow Jones Newswires in a phone interview that 
there is a "slight affiliation" between Capital Financial Media and 
Agora. "One of the owners of Agora has a small interest in" Capital 
Financial Media, Hodgens said. 
Agora's general counsel, Matthew Turner, didn't return any of Dow 
Jones Newswires' phone calls. 
But a variety of state documents indicate a relationship between 
Capital Financial Media and Agora. 
Stay with us here. 
Florida corporate documents show that in January, Capital Financial 
Media LLC of Florida merged with Capital Financial Media LLC of 
Maryland. 
Maryland and Florida corporate documents, in turn, show that the 
principal office of Capital Financial Media of Maryland is 14 West 
Mount Vernon Place in Baltimore - which is also the main address of 
Agora. And Maryland corporate documents show Agora's president, 
William Bonner, as resident agent for Capital Financial Media of 
Maryland. 
Also, one of Agora's units, Agora Investment Conferences, is located 
on the same property as Capital Financial Media, in Delray Beach, Fla. 

And property records in turn show that the Florida property is owned 
by Formano Properties of Delray Beach Inc., whose president, according 
to corporate records, is Mark Ford. 
Finally, Florida corporate records name Mark Ford as a director of 
Agora Travel Inc., and these same records list William Bonner, Agora's 
president, as a director of Agora Travel. The address for both Bonner 
and Ford in the Agora Travel corporate documents is that of Agora in 
Baltimore. 
Perhaps all coincidence. But investors should do a lot more legwork 
on SHEP before deciding it's The Next Big Thing. And they may want to 
seek out sources of information besides The Intrepid Investor. 

(Carol S. Remond is one of four In The Money columnists who take a 
sophisticated look at the value of companies and their securities and 
explore unique trading strategies.)