To: Janice Shell who wrote (129 ) 3/24/1999 7:08:00 PM From: John Sladek Read Replies (1) | Respond to
Janice,techstocks.com The National Post reports in its Thursday, Jan. 28, edition that Microforum's chief executive officer, Howard Pearl, has a criminal past. ... Mr. Pearl has never dodged the question when asked by regulators, his banker, or his board of directors: He was convicted in Tennessee in 1979 of a relatively minor wire fraud offence and paid a $1,000 (U.S.) fine. In 1982, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison by a U.S. District Court judge in California after pleading guilty to his role in a cocaine-smuggling operation. Mr. Pearl served 13 months of his 1982 prison sentence in the United States and he was placed on parole in Canada for the balance. Mr. Pearl says that information has been disclosed to the Toronto Stock Exchange, to Microforum's board of directors and to key business associates. It has not, though, been disclosed to all Microforum shareholders. Microforum chairman David Peterson was informed about Mr. Pearl's background last year when Microforum acquired Mr. Pearl's privately held firm PPL Marketing Services. He says Mr. Pearl is a fine hardworking manager. [Note: Mr. Peterson, is a Lawyer, and the former Premier of the Province of Ontario. He has been a director of several Canadian companies, including YBM Magnex].Last month some clowns were trying to lynch Howard Pearl for something he did last decade.When i compare MCF to other internet stocks i just shake my head. Message 8484923 In my own opinion, what happened with Mr. Pearl is not really a disaster. These things happened a long time ago and he did pay for his acts. He is now entitled to be treated entirely as a complete citizen. ... And beleive me, I know quite a few people in Silicon Valley that had criminal records in the past and that are doing great business today. These people make often the best fighters in business, because they have everything to rebuild from scratch in their life techstocks.com had to tell, such as regulators and the bankers about it. Of course they were involved in a financing around this time, so I can see why they didn't want this to be widely-known.canada.bigcharts.com I say "possibly", since the general price trend following the MCF IPO a couple of years ago has been down. Also there was some sort of underwriting recently which could account for some of the recent move.
