| From: Clem_Kadiddlehopper | 11/9/2004 9:41:21 PM |
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CNDD - SEC Opens Concorde America Investigation
By Carol S. Remond
A Dow Jones Newswires Column
23-08-04 1130GMT
(This article was originally published Friday)
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--The Securities and Exchange Commission has begun an
investigation into the issuance of promotional press releases about Concorde
America Inc. (CNDD) and a sharp jump in the company's stock price.
Concorde America President Hartley Lord said the SEC has subpoenaed various
records of the company, including incorporation papers and stock transfer
sheets. Lord said he would meet with the SEC in Miami on Monday.
Meanwhile, Tom Heysek, a newsletter writer who penned a glowing report about
Concorde America, said he also has talked to securities regulators and provided
them with information.
Concorde America has been the subject of two recent "In The Money" columns
that explored unusual trading in the company's stock and the odd circumstances
surrounding the issuance of two promotional press releases over the past month.
One column also noted how some investors who bought 10 million shares of the
company for 10 cents a share this summer could have made millions of dollars if
they sold their shares. The company, which has no real business yet so to speak,
has a market capitalization of about $1 billion.
The two press releases touted the company's business prospects and appeared to
have been issued by Concorde America. The releases were distributed nationally
by PRNewswire. Concorde's Lord said he did not authorize the release of the
press releases. But promoters who received shares of the company continue to
aggressively tout the stock online and through faxes.
The company was created about seven weeks ago through a merger with a shell
corporation called MBC Foods Corp. Concorde America's business plan is to hire
people in Latin America to send to Europe as migrant workers.
"The SEC is doing a full-scale investigation here," Lord said. "They want to
know who put out these bogus press releases, who paid for them," he said.
Lord and Heysek have somewhat different versions of discussions that took
place between the two of them prior to the company going public.
Lord said he talked to Heysek once "8 or 9 weeks ago."
In an interview, Heysek first said he had spoken with Lord a couple of dozen
times. He later amended that to say it was too many calls to have an accurate
number but that it was certainly more than one.
Heysek's bullish report on Concorde America's business prospects appears on
USPennyStocks.com and WinningStockPicks.net, with a $30 and a $38 target stock
price. But he said that the research report he sent to subscribers in mid-July
contained a target price of $6.
Heysek said he had provided the information and "confirmation of all material
that went into the research report" to the SEC.
"The issue is whether management was less than truthful in June and July (when
talking) to our people or less than truthful on Aug. 11," Heysek said, referring
to a Aug. 11 press release in which Concorde America said that two previous
releases were not authorized by the company and that neither the company, nor
any company official provided any of the information contained in the two first
releases.
Heysek said he provides writeups about companies to subscribers weekly or
biweekly. He said he received no Concorde America stock for his research and has
no idea why the two promotional websites picked up his report. While he said he
had no relationship with the websites and has no control over their content, the
two sites do carry similar biographical information about Heysek as well as his
photo. "They publish our stuff and get the membership going," Heysek said.
There are some 213 million shares of Concorde America stock outstanding, but
203 million of those are restricted, which means that they have little immediate
value since they cannot easily be sold or transfered.
Lord said that 10 million free trading shares were issued to a group of
investors in late July at 10 cents a share. Lord declined to provide information
about the identity of the stockholders other than to say that they are
corporations.
Lord said that a consultant named Donald Oehmke introduced him to a lawyer
named Jeremy Ross who "had the (due) diligence file" on MBC Foods, the public
company into which Concorde America was reverse merged in late June.
Heysek said he doesn't know Oehmke, who did not return phone calls.
Concorde America's stock was trading at $4.70, up 41 cents or 9.56% on volume
of 317,507 shares.
(Carol S. Remond is an award-winning columnist and one of four who write the
"In The Money" feature. Most recently, she shared a 2003 Best of Business Award
from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for her role in Dow Jones' team
coverage of the Canary Capital mutual fund trading scandal.)
-By Carol S. Remond; Dow Jones Newswires; 201 938 2074;
carol.remond@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
23-08-04 1130GMT |
