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To: scion who wrote (93376)11/16/2005 11:55:55 PM
From: StockDung  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 122087
 
ALLS GEOFF EITEN HAS TO DO IS HYPE THE CRAP OUT OF THIS THING

SLUP CLOSED AT 1.52 TODAY.

..............................................WHATS UP WITH SKUP, ER AH SLUP?

Solucorp Industries, Inc SLUP.PK otcfn.com

Investor Facts is a publication of OTC Financial Network, a financial communications and investor relations company. OTC Financial Network, a division of National Financial Communications Corporation serves as special advisor to the featured Company and has received fees for services including sixty thousand shares of restricted stock with stock options after six months of the date of the contract to purchase an aggregate of 20,000 shares of common stock at $5.00 per share, 20,000 shares at an exercise of $6.00 per share, 20,000 shares at an exercise price of $7.00 per share, 20,000 shares at an exercise price of $8.00 per share, and 20,000 shares at an exercise price of $9.00 per share, for the creation and distribution of materials, including this report.

otcfn.com

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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 18306 /August 25, 2003
Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Release No. 1849 /August 25, 2003
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. SOLUCORP INDUSTRIES LTD., ET AL., 99 Civ. 11965 (S.D.N.Y.) (WCC)
SOLUCORP INDUSTRIES LTD. EXECUTIVES
FOUND LIABLE FOR FRAUD
Two Permanently Barred from Serving as Officers and Directors
Company and Three Other Former Officers and/or Directors Settle SEC Claims Against Them and are Permanently Enjoined

On July 25, 2003, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York entered an opinion and order in a civil injunctive action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission finding that the following three defendants had violated the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws: Joseph S. Kemprowski, a purported consultant who performed duties on behalf of Solucorp Industries Ltd. analogous to those of an officer; Peter R. Mantia, the company's president; and Victor Herman, the former chief financial officer of Solucorp's principal operating subsidiaries and the preparer of Solucorp's consolidated financial statements. The Court's opinion and order, which was entered after a full trial on the merits in March 2003, provides for permanent injunctions against Kemprowski and Mantia and a permanent bar on their serving as an officer or director of any publicly traded company. The opinion and order also provide that Kemprowski, Mantia and Herman shall disgorge their illicit gains from selling Solucorp shares while in possession of material, non-public information about the fraudulent conduct. The final judgment has yet to be entered.

Of the six other defendants named in this action, five--including Solucorp, other former officers and/or directors, Arle Pierro, James G. Spartz, and W. Bryan Fair, and the company's former outside auditor, Glenn R. Ohlhauser--entered into settlements with the Commission prior to the commencement of the six-day trial pursuant to which they consented to the entry of final judgments permanently enjoining them from future violations of the federal securities laws.

The Commission's Complaint, filed on December 13, 1999, as amended, alleged that, over a four year period, from mid-1995 through early 1999, Solucorp's senior management, including Kemprowski, who acted as the de facto head of Solucorp, claimed in press releases and other publicly disseminated materials to have contracts that either did not exist or were subject to undisclosed material contingencies, or that provided for revenues materially below those announced by the company. The Complaint also alleged that senior management falsified Solucorp's financial statements by improperly recognizing as revenue license fees that were subject to material contingencies. Solucorp's improper recognition of license fees resulted in its filing with the Commission periodic, transition and interim reports, including financial statements, on at least five occasions from December 1997 through April 1999, which materially overstated revenue. See Lit. Rel. No. 16388 (Dec. 13, 1999).

In its July 25, 2003 opinion and order, the Court found that, "[o]ver a number of years, Solucorp and its executives engaged in a course of deception through the issuance of false and misleading press releases and financial statements in which, in a number of cases, they reported that the Company had entered into contracts that did not exist, in one case backdated a contract to increase the accrued revenue recognizable thereunder, and in many other cases reported that the minimum revenues to be derived from such contracts far exceeded the actual minimums." The Court found that this "pattern of deception was so consistent and pervasive that it cannot logically be attributed to mere negligence." Accordingly, "the executives responsible for the issuance of these press releases and financial statements, specifically Kemprowski, Mantia and Herman, knowingly and deliberately falsified them with the intention of deceiving shareholders and potential investors or, at the very least, were guilty of reckless disregard for the truth or falsity of the disclosures."

The Court found that Kemprowski, Mantia and Herman had violated the antifraud provisions of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange Act") and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act"), and that Mantia and Herman had knowingly falsified the company's books, records and/or accounts, or were reckless in preparing or certifying them, and circumvented or failed to implement internal controls in violation of Exchange Act Section 13(b)(5) and Rule 13b2-1, and Mantia misinformed the company's outside auditors in violation of Exchange Act Rule 13b2-2. The Court also found that Kemprowski and Mantia failed to disclose their equity ownership in Solucorp as of February 20, 1998, the effective date of Solucorp's registration of its stock with the Commission, and to timely disclose changes in that ownership, in violation of Exchange Act Section 16(a).

Each of the five defendants who settled the Commission's action prior to the commencement of the trial in March 2003 consented, without admitting or denying the Commission's allegations, to the entry of a final judgment providing for the full injunctive relief sought by the Commission. On March 12, 2003, the Court signed the final judgments against Solucorp, James G. Spartz, a former vice president and a director of Solucorp, Arle Pierro, a former senior vice president and director of Solucorp, and W. Bryan Fair, a former director of Solucorp. The final judgment against Solucorp permanently enjoined the company from violating the antifraud provisions of Exchange Act Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 and Securities Act Section 17(a), the reporting requirements of Exchange Act Section 13(a) and Rules 12b-20, 13a-1, 13a-10 and 13a-13 thereunder, and the books and records and internal controls provisions of Exchange Act Sections 13(b)(2)(A) and 13(b)(2)(B). The final judgment against Spartz permanently enjoined him from violating the antifraud provisions of Exchange Act Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and the insider reporting requirements of Exchange Act Section 16(a) and Rules 16a-2 and 16a-3, but did not impose a civil penalty based on Spartz's sworn representations concerning his financial inability to pay. The final judgments against Pierro and Fair permanently enjoined them from violating the disclosure rules for insiders, Exchange Act Section 16(a) and Rules 16a-2 and 16a-3 thereunder, and imposed a $10,000 civil penalty on Pierro for allegedly failing to timely disclose her equity ownership in Solucorp and changes in that ownership.

On January 16, 2003, the Court entered a final judgment against another settling defendant, the company's former outside auditor, Glenn R. Ohlhauser, that permanently enjoined Ohlhauser from future violations of Exchange Act Section 10A. See Lit. Rel. 16785 (October 31, 2000); Lit. Rel. 17951 (January 27, 2003).

In its July 25, 2003 opinion and order, the Court dismissed the claims against Robert Kuhn, a former vice president of Solucorp, on the grounds that the evidence did not establish that he had committed any violation of the federal securities laws.



sec.gov

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To: scion who wrote (93376)11/17/2005 8:56:00 AM
From: StockDung  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 122087
 
Rocker Partners, Gradient Move To Strike Overstock Suit

By Carol S. Remond
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
16 November 2005

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Hedge fund Rocker Partners L.P asked a California judge Tuesday to throw out a suit accusing it of conspiring with a research firm to drive down the stock price of Internet retailer Overstock.com (OSTK).

Salt Lake City-based Overstock.com sued Rocker Partners, its managers and research firm Gradient Analytics Inc. and its officers in August, alleging that they all conspired to denigrate the company's business for profit. The suit was filed in the Superior Court of the State of California in Marin County.

In a motion filed in answer to Overstock.com's claim, Rocker Partners said that the company's suit is an attempt to "chill others from exercising their rights of free speech" and asked the judge to strike the complaint.

Also on Tuesday, Gradient Analytics filed its own motion asking for the dismissal of Overstock's claims.

Both Rocker Partners' and Gradient Analytics' motions to strike were filed under California's anti-SLAPP statute, or Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation statute.

"Gradient's reports constitute First Amendment protected speech, and are therefore squarely covered by" the Anti-SLAPP statute, the research firm said in a press release.

Overstock.com has until Dec. 1 to respond to the motions to strike. Under California law, if a defendant that filed a SLAPP motion is able to convince the court that its actions were taken in furtherance of its rights to free speech, the burden shifts onto the plaintiff, which must demonstrate that its case has merits.

Overstock.com alleged in its suit that Rocker Partners, a hedge fund which often takes bets that stock prices will go down, engaged in unfair practices and colluded with Gradient Analytics to produce negative reports with the aim of pressuring Overstock.com's stock price to profit.

Short sellers typically borrow securities and sell them in anticipation that prices will fall and that they will be able to buy back the stock at a lower level.

In a press conference to announce the suit in August, Overstock.com's president Patrick Byrne alleged that Rocker Partners and other hedge funds, in cahoots with financial reporters, are working with a nefarious business figure, which Byrne dubbed the Sith Lord, to weaken his company.

Following that conference call, Byrne circulated to various media outfits three affidavits by former Gradient employees alleging improper relationships between Rocker Partners and the research firm. The affidavits are posted on Overstock.com's Web site but were not filed in court with the company's complaint and amended complaint.

Rocker Partners and Gradient Analytics have denied any wrongdoing and said they would file countersuits against Overstock.com.

Illegal short selling isn't alleged in Overstock.com's case against Rocker Partners and Gradient Analytics. But Overstock.com president Byrne has been very vocal in claiming that his company's stock has been pressured by illegal short selling, dubbed naked short selling, or selling short without first borrowing stock as typically required. Earlier this year, Byrne largely financed an advertisement in the Washington Post to raise awareness about the evils of illegal short selling. Byrne also financed an infomercial to denounce the practice. Mary Helburn, one of two former shareholders who joined Overstock.com in its complaint against Rocker Partners and Gradient Analytics, is the executive director of the National Coalition Against Naked Shorting or NCANS, an organization alleging a massive short selling conspiracy on Wall Street. Byrne has said he has been a major contributor to NCANS.

The other complainant in the case against Rocker Partners and Gradient Analytics is Hugh D. Barron. Barron is listed as Latin American sales agent for Centricut LLC on that company's Web site. Byrne was chairman, president and chief executive of Centricut from 1995 to 1999.

The defendants in the complaint filed by Overstock.com are: Rocker Management LLC, Rocker Partners LP, Rocker Offshore Management Co. Inc., David Rocker, Marc Cohodes, Gradient Analytics Inc., James Carr Bettis, Donn Vickrey, and Matthew Kliber.