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To: Taki who wrote (130098)	3/22/2004 9:58:43 PM
From: StockDung	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 150070

.Ex-Classica executive indicted.Halperin pleads not guilty to manipulating prices of securities Tuesday, March 16, 2004 BY TOM JOHNSON Star-Ledger Staff The former chief executive of a financially troubled Sayreville company was indicted yesterday on charges of securities fraud for allegedly manipulating stock prices. Scott Halperin, 42, who resigned in October as the top executive at the Classica Group, was accused of conspiring with a Florida-based investment banker and two associates to fraudulently manipulate the stock price of Classica and Marx Toys & Entertainment, another New Jersey company. If convicted, Halperin who faces one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and two counts of securities fraud, could face prison sentences of up to 25 years and a fine of $250,000 on each count. Halperin and the other defendants were arraigned before U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Joan Azrack at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn yesterday. He pleaded not guilty and was released on a $500,000 bond he had previously posted when arrested last fall, his attorney, Alan Zegas, said. "He intends to vigorously defend himself against all charges," Zegas said. The charges stem from an investigation launched with the assistance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which previously filed an administrative complaint accusing Halperin and the others of similar charges. In a 34-page indictment, Halperin is accused of working with Daniel Rubin, who was the head of his own investment bank, to issue 1.8 million shares of Classica stock to the investment group in exchange for its agreement to fraudulently inflate the value of the stock. A similar scheme was later hatched involving Marx Toys, of which Halperin is a significant shareholder. Classica markets a microwave technology to prolong the shelf life of food products. According to the indictment, the stock scheme occurred at a time when the company's shares were trading around 50 cents and were in danger of being delisted by Nasdaq. Last August, at the time the deal between Halperin and Rubin was being negotiated, the shares of Classica doubled in a single day, rising as high as $1.34. The stock was delisted voluntarily by the company after Halperin's arrest last fall. W. Raymond Felton, an attorney for Classica, declined comment on the indictment. "The company is having some financial difficulty, and right now it is considering its alternatives," he said.