Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Microcap & Penny Stocks : MIDL .... A Real Sleeper -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rande Is who wrote (4108)	8/20/1998 11:03:00 AM
From: jeffrey rainey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7039

Midland Inc. Shares Suspended by SEC Amid Disclosure Concerns Fort Worth, Texas, Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission suspended trading of Midland Inc.'s shares for 10 days amid questions about the Denver holding company's news releases. The SEC said it's concerned about statements Midland made about several recent acquisitions, its assets and liabilities and the possible misappropriation of assets by Midland's officers. ''There's a pattern of news announcements that never reached fruition,'' said Spencer Barasch, assistant administrator of the SEC's Fort Worth, Texas, office. Midland officials weren't immediately available for comment. In December, the company's chief financial officer, Robert Marsik, and secretary, Mark Pierce, were among 58 defendants accused by the SEC of penny stock manipulation in one of the largest stock-fraud cases ever. At the time, Midland, then based in Dallas, denied wrongdoing and then-president Wayne Duke said he would seek Marsik's and Pierce's resignation. Pierce, however, was still listed as the company contact on an Aug. 9 news release. That release claimed Midland was in talks to acquire shipping and trading companies from Noble House SA, a transaction that was scheduled to close today. The deal was supposed to give Midland shipping vessels and port facilities and increase the company's assets to more than $6.7 million, Midland said. In February 1997, Midland, then known as gourmet coffee retailer America's Coffee Cup Inc., issued a similar release saying it planned to acquire shipping assets Megahel Nautical SA & Mill-Agr, a transaction the company said would give it shipping assets of more than $6 million. That transaction never took place, Barasch said. On June 16, Midland said it canceled plans to buy Arcon Energy Inc., a maker of gasoline additives, for $50 million in stock. At the time, the company accused Arcon's chief executive, Dan Fisher, of fraud related to the transaction. Fisher became Midland's chairman as part of the transaction, and resigned June 5 after the agreement fell apart. Midland shares climbed as high as 1 7/6 in late May. They closed unchanged at 32 cents yesterday. The trading suspension, a enforcement action rarely used by the SEC, took effect at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time today and runs for 10 business days, or until midnight on Aug. 31.