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Microcap & Penny Stocks : Tokyo Joe's Cafe / Societe Anonyme -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TokyoMex who wrote (5710)	6/24/1998 3:33:00 PM
From: Rande Is	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 8798

NASD boots crooked shorts::: Wednesday June 24, 1:22 pm Eastern Time NASD Regulation expels Maidstone, fines execs WASHINGTON, June 24 (Reuters) - NASD Regulation Inc. said Tuesday it expelled Maidstone Financial Inc. from the National Association of Securities Dealers and fined four individuals a total of $14.8 million. NASD Regulation said in a statement that two Maidstone senior executives and two more senior executives of HGI Inc., formerly known as the Harriman Group, were sanctioned in connection with fraud in the underwriting of three securities. Maidstone and the four individuals neither admitted nor denied NASD Regulation's findings, it said. NASD Regulation filed a complaint in December alleging that HGI and Maidstone made more than $16.2 million in illicit profits, defrauding investors in the process, while serving as underwriters of three securities. The securities were Sims Communications Inc. (SIMS - news), Natural Health Trends Corp. (NHTCD - news) and International Cutlery Ltd. (ICUT - news). Illegal profits were made by purchasing stock at below-market prices to cover large short positions each firm had intentionally created in their inventories, NASD Regulation said. In each offering, the firms purchased the covering shares from shareholders who had received their securities prior to the initial public offerings through private placements and bridge financing arrangements. Nearly $1 million has been deposited by the four executives into an escrow account for disbursement to hundreds of defrauded investors from 15 states and three countries, NASD Regulation said. Marshall Bernstein, Maidstone's chief executive officer and chairman, was barred from working in the securities industry, fined $1.9 million, and censured. Its president, Stuart Litman, was also barred, fined $1.9 million and censured. HGI's vice president and director, Brian Douglas Scanlon, was barred, fined $5 million, and censured. Secretary and chairman Mark Arthur Hanna was barred, fined $5 million and censured. Maidstone was fined $1 million and censured. The case against HGI remains pending, NASD Regulation said. Investors entitled to restitution will be contacted in writing by a consultant hired by Maidstone and approved by NASD Regulation. NASD Regulation, a subsidiary of the National Association of Securities Dealers Inc., oversees all U.S. stockbrokers and brokerage firms.