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Non-Tech : International Heritage (IHIN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: esecurities(tm) who wrote (441)	6/22/1999 2:26:00 PM
From: esecurities(tm)	Respond to of 454

INTERNET--(esecurities.W)--June 22, 1999 - Pyramid Scheme Files Chapter 7, FBI Investigations. "...Four years after it was started in Raleigh, International Heritage is bankrupt and being liquidated and its three founders face federal civil penalties. More than 150,000 distributors in the United States and Canada may have lost their investments, and 12,600 creditors have filed claims against International Heritage totaling more than $30 million. Last week, a federal bankruptcy trustee unveiled a tentative settlement that would force Stanley Van Etten, the company's charismatic president, to surrender a $3.5 million bond he had posted and to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission another $150,000. The settlement contains no admission of guilt on Van Etten's part. Pyramid schemes are marketing plans in which investors or distributors make their money back primarily from fees paid by newer investors. A scheme cannot survive, and its distributors cannot make money, without a steady stream of new participants. The Federal Trade Commission warns against pyramid schemes in its Web site (www.ftc.gov), noting that most states outlaw the plans. ''When a plan collapses, most people - except perhaps those at the very top of the pyramid - lose their money,'' the FTC says. An SEC complaint filed in March 1998 in Atlanta alleged International Heritage defrauded investors and generated more than $150 million in revenue by promoting merchandise with snob appeal, but said it profited mostly from new distributors and collecting their sign-up fees...Van Etten, 37, marketed International Heritage by sounding themes such as personal freedom and spirituality at meetings in churches and halls across the country...International Heritage filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which leads to liquidation, in November. The SEC then filed a civil complaint alleging Van Etten and co-founders Claude Savage and Larry G. Smith were responsible for fraud, filing false reports and illegal sale of unregistered securities. The FBI is also investigating Van Etten and International Heritage..." Source: (AP) Tuesday June 22 1:00 AM ET dailynews.yahoo.com SiliconNewswire.com