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Gold/Mining/Energy : BRE-X, Indonesia, Ashanti Goldfields, Strong Companies. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: darko who wrote (27949)	6/5/1998 2:37:00 AM
From: Walter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 28369

Friday, June 5, 1998 Obituary: David Walsh Canoe Money's Bre-X archive By SANDRA RUBIN The Financial Post David Walsh, the chain-smoking stock promoter who snatched fame and fortune from the jaws of bankruptcy with Bre-X Minerals Ltd., only to see it slip from his grasp, died yesterday afternoon from the effects of a massive stroke. Walsh, 52, had been on life support since being felled by a ruptured brain aneurysm Sunday at his luxury home in the Bahamas. "Aside from the aneurysm, Mr Walsh was in excellent health," his doctor, Eugene Newry, said in a statement. "He passed away while on life support." By all accounts, Walsh had been under tremendous pressure since the exploration firm he founded collapsed last year after being exposed as a world-class gold swindle. Walsh spent his final months fighting class action lawsuits and talking about clearing his name. Lawyers predicted none of the legal manoeuvring will be derailed by his death and the suits will continue against his estate. "I want to send my condolences to his family and friends," said lawyer Harvey Strosberg, leading a $3-billion Canadian class action. "Shakespeare summed up the practicalities when he said, 'The evil that men do lives after them, but the good is oft interred with their bones.' " Walsh tasted the highest of life's highs and the lowest of its lows in what would turn out to be his final years of life. He and his wife Jeannette filed for personal bankruptcy in 1992, $200,000 in debt. Walsh was running a penny stock outfit from his basement the following year when he gambled his last $10,000 to fly to Jakarta and meet with John Felderhof. He appeared to strike paydirt, acquiring the rights to an Indonesian gold property Felderhof recommended. Busang's reserve estimates seemed to rise as fast as Bre-X stock. It was the motherlode of picks for investors who bought early. The shares skyrocketed from pennies in 1993 to over $286 each, on a pre-split basis, by 1996 - making overnight millionaires of many. Walsh was apparently sitting atop the biggest gold strike the world had ever seen. And he was rich. He and Jeannette made about $45 million trading in Bre-X shares. It wasn't to last. When he died, he was fighting a Bahamian court order freezing his assets and putting the couple on a weekly allowance. It brought by Bre-X's Canadian bankruptcy trustee. Ross Nelson said the action will continue against Walsh's estate. "But given this unfortunate circumstance, we don't feel it appropriate to comment any further," he said from Calgary. Walsh's death means he takes to the grave what knew about the celebrated gold fraud, although he insisted less than three weeks ago in an affidavit that he had put his trust in Felderhof, and honestly believed him when he said there was a huge gold deposit in Busang. He has donated his body to medical science. BREAKING NEWS MARKET WATCH BIZ TICKERS MUTUAL FUNDS MONEY RATES BIZ SEARCH Obituary: David Walsh CIBC earnings fail to impress Oil venture draws fire Shulman aims to win Draxis CANOE home \| We welcome your feedback. Copyright c 1998, Canoe Limited Partnership. All rights reserved. Please click here for full copyright terms and restrictions.