To: Biomaven who wrote (20701 ) 3/7/2007 12:15:51 PM From: Ian@SI Respond to of 52153 Is this the same RGEN getting a dishonourable mention? SEC Freezes $3 Million Seen Stolen Through Account 'Intrusions' 12:07 EST Wednesday, March 07, 2007 WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- U.S. securities regulators obtained an emergency court order freezing $3 million of proceeds in a Latvian account allegedly used to scam investors and manipulate trading by hacking into online brokerage accounts. Account intrusions hit seven different U.S. brokerage firms, costing about $2 million in losses, and allowed the unknown manipulators to pull in more than $ 700,000 in profits, the Securities and Exchange Commission said. U.S. authorities said the manipulations appear to have begun in December 2005 and continued for at least a year. The SEC announced Wednesday that it obtained a court order Tuesday to freeze assets in the trading account at JSC Parex Bank, based in Riga, Latvia. The action is the third brought by the SEC in recent months alleging market manipulation through intrusions in online U.S. brokerage accounts. In the latest case, the SEC said unknown intruders would hack into online accounts of unsuspecting brokerage customers, place unauthorized orders to buy shares in tiny companies, and then sell those shares from their own accounts once the price rose. Accounts at E*Trade Securities, Scottrade Inc., TD Ameritrade Inc., Vanguard Brokerage Services, Fidelity Investments, Merrill Lynch (MER) and Charles Schwab & Co. (SCHW) were hacked into, according to the SEC's complaint. U.S. authorities said they could not identify the manipulators since trading was done through an omnibus account handling trades for 20 different accounts for individuals in Russia, Latvia, Lithuania and the British Virgin Islands. Court papers identified 15 stocks manipulated through the online intrusions: Bluefly Inc. (BFLY), BriteSmile Inc. (BSML), DepoMed Inc. (DEPO), Dura Automotive Systems Inc. (DRRAQ), I-Many Inc. (IMNY), Integrated Alarm Services Group Inc. (IASG), Netguru Inc., Netwolves Corp. (WOLV), Onvia Inc. (ONVI), Orchid Cellmark Inc. (ORCH), Remote Dynamics Inc. (REDI), Repligen Corp. (RGEN) , Tapestry Pharmaceuticals Inc. (TPPH), Valentis Inc. (VLTS), and WTS Dime Bancorp Inc. -By Judith Burns, Dow Jones Newswires