From: StockDung | 4/8/2008 3:20:30 PM | | | | =DJ IN THE MONEY: Utah Co In Middle Of German Probe Of Stk Deals
Monday, April 07, 2008 3:38 PM
By Carol S. Remond A Dow Jones Newswires Column
A Utah company has inadvertently gotten itself involved in a probe by German securities regulators into how a bank in that country got stuck with millions of shares of stock it didn't want in several companies after a client reneged on an agreement to pay for the stock bought on its behalf.
Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale, or NordLB, earlier this year said it set aside 82.5 million euros to cover potential losses resulting from an unnamed client refusing to take delivery of stock.
As reported by Dow Jones Newswires, German fund Vatas Holding GmbH has stuck NordLB with 13% of Curanum AG, 15% of Balda AG, 20% of Euromicron AG and 23% of RemoteMDX Inc. (RMDX), a Utah-based maker of ankle "bracelet" monitoring equipment used by law enforcement.
NordLB spokesman Jan-Peter Hinrichs told Dow Jones Newswires that the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, or BaFin, began its investigation Monday. Hinrichs said BaFin is looking into the circumstances surrounding the trades and trying to determined how it happened. Hinrichs said the bank would cooperate with the investigation.
A spokesman for BaFin declined to comment.
Following the affair, four individuals have left NordLB. A trader and his supervisor were let go by the bank last month. More recently, a general vice president in charge of capital markets as well as Juergen Koesters, a member of the bank's management board and head of securities trading operations, have also stepped down.
Hinrichs declined to comment on reports that the bank is looking to sue Credit Suisse Group (CS) over its role in the failed stock deals. Hinrichs also declined to comment on German news reports that NordLB has taken steps to freeze some of Vatas' other stock holdings, slapping a lien on the fund's 18.5% stake in Air Berlin PLC in an attempt to recoup losses from the incomplete stock deals.
A spokesman for Credit Suisse declined to comment.
Vatas also declined to comment through an email.
The fund is a large strategic investor in RemoteMDX and, in December, suggested in a regulatory filing it was considering taking control of the company.
NordLB said last month in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it holds 31 million shares of RemoteMDX, which it purchased on behalf of a client that refused to settle the order. NordLB said it isn't looking to hold the stock and plans to sell it.
According to a Dec. 28 filing with the SEC, Vatas held almost 17 million shares, including common stock and securities issuable upon exercise of warrants, or about 13% of RemoteMDX.
NordLB said in an SEC filing that it spent $116.6 million to acquire the RemoteMDX stock at an average price of $3.76 a share. RemoteMDX stock was recently trading at $1.55 a share.
Trades listed in NordLB's filing show that it bought and sold a huge amount of RemoteMDX shares, purportedly on behalf of Vatas, between Nov. 1, 2007, and Feb. 25, 2008.
Part of the filing doesn't make a lot of sense. For example, the filing shows that the bank bought 14.75 million RemoteMDX shares at $3.736 on Feb. 25. But 3.2 million shares traded that day and the stock never came close to that price, closing at $1.62 a share.
RemoteMDX offers TrackerPal, an ankle bracelet combining cellular and global-positioning-system technologies that help law-enforcement personnel track those who were the product through the company's SecureAlert subsidiary.
(Carol S. Remond is an award-winning columnist who won a Gerald Loeb Award in 2005 for best news service content with "Exposing Small-Cap fraud," a series of articles that described how three small companies unscrupulously pumped up their stocks.)
-By Carol S. Remond, Dow Jones Newswires; 303-997-5783; carol.remond@dowjones.com |
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From: StockDung | 4/8/2008 3:35:47 PM | | | | =DJ SEC Files Charges Against CMKM Diamonds In $64M Scheme
Monday, April 07, 2008 4:02 PM
By Carol S. Remond OF DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Tiny mining company CMKM Diamonds Inc. (CMKX) and itsuse of billions of unregistered shares to finance various endeavors like a drag car racing team and corporate merger with other companies has long been a thorn in the side of securities regulators in the U.S. and Canada.
On Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission finally caught up with the Pink Sheets company, charging CMKM, its chief executive Urban Casavant and several others with violating registrations provisions of federal securities laws by fraudulently issuing "hundreds of billions of shares," the SEC said.
The SEC alleged in its complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada that the defendants "conspired to illegally issue and sell unregistered stock" and "lined their pockets with more than $64 million from 40,000 nationwide."
The complaint alleges that Casavant generated investors' interest in the company through false press releases, Internet chat boards and funny-car race events in events across the country without disclosing that he ran this purported gold and diamond company from his house in Las Vegas.
The SEC complaint charges CMKM, a broker dealer and transfer agent involved and 11 individuals including Casavant.
The commission identifies in its complaint John Edwards as the mastermind of the scheme. The SEC alleges that Edwards and others sold their unregistered stock into the public markets. The SEC alleges that Edwards profited by about $26.4 million from sales through a single brokerage firm and that Casavant received about $31.5 million.
The SEC alleges CMKM improperly issued up to 622 billion shares of purportedly unregistered stock between January 2003 and May 2005.
The complaint alleges that CMKM improperly issued up to 622 billion shares of purportedly unregistered stock between January 2003 and May 2005. The SEC claims that these stock issuances were based in large part on "inadequate, suspect and inconsistent" written authorization and opinion letters prepared by company lawyer Brian Dvorak.
CMKM transfer agent 1st Global Stock Transfer LLC and owner Helen Bagley are also charged with issuing stack of stock certificates without restrictive legends based on these faulty documents.
The SEC is seeking permanent injunctions against the defendants and disgorgement of profits. The Commission is also seeking penny stock bars against each named individual defendants and an order prohibiting Casavant from acting as an officer or director of any public company.
The SEC revoked the registration of CMKM in October 2005 after the company failed to file annual and quarterly financial reports since 2002.
-By Carol S. Remond, Dow Jones Newswires; 303-997-5783; carol.remond@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires |
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To: magicrecall who wrote (88243) | 4/8/2008 4:39:59 PM | From: StockDung | | | Way to go Bud Burrell!! Go get-them CMKX naked shortsellers!!
thesanitycheck.com
CMKX: 465 Billion Shares in with a 2500 fax Backlog in the Owner's Group Box.
Location: Blogs Bud Burrell - Front and Center Posted by: bburrell 3/15/2006 7:17 PM
The number keeps building. There are just under 466 Billion shares in the box so far at the counsel to the owners group, with an estimated 28% of shareholders in. There are over 2500 faxes of additional shares yet to be processed in the current backlog. Conservatively, let's hear it for 1.5 Trillion shares in total on an outstanding issued number of 100 Billion!
Perhaps Madame LeFarge will handle the insatiable monster with one tooth if it can hopefully be brought back. Better yet, let's let the Red Mafiya handle the collections, backed up by the Mossad. We will get back more than was stolen if either unit handles the collections in their own inimitable fashion.
I was once questioned about the wisdom of getting familiar with the shareholders of CMKX. I was right and the questioners were wrong. One crime doesn't excuse another. There may have been really disreputable behavior by management, but that doesn't excuse the conduct of the criminal naked short sellers. If this short breaks the back of the entire situation, which it could by itself, then every person who has been victimized owes them a debt of gratitude.
The twit at the SEC who came up with the concept of using the shorts as "Unregulated Policemen" should go to the head of the future headless line. It is doubtful that person is still at the SEC. He/She sounds like a political appointment, not a career civil servant, most certainly an attorney. For the latter status, maybe we can figure out a way to execute them twice.
I hope the CMKX shareholders' Owner's Group holds a mass rally in DC when they get their settlement, right outside the Congress. Headings for the signs they should carry will be easy to come up with.
thesanitycheck.com |
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To: magicrecall who wrote (88243) | 4/8/2008 4:47:02 PM | From: StockDung | | | How do you feel Bud being a naked shortselling patsy:
Re: CMKX: 465 Billion Shares in with a 2500 fax Backlog in the Owner's Group Box. By bburrell on 6/25/2006 7:27 AM
Just because CMKM is claimed, possibly with legitimacy, doesn't excuse the absolutely enormous apparent naked short position. It is a poster child for both kinds of manipulations, and the SEC did nothing about either, for what reason I can't even guess.
There have been some major changes at CMKX with the dissolution of the Task Force, and with the resignations of Frizzell, Stocklein, and Maheu.
There is something rotten in Las Vegas and Washington. I don't think everyone is going to walk away on this one. The shareholders wil have their revenge, now or later.
thesanitycheck.com |
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From: StockDung | 4/8/2008 6:23:43 PM | | | | Susanne Trimbath DTCC fact checker:
-------------------------------------------------
"According to the Press Release, the DTCC contends that they were not invited to speak at the NASAA Public Forum held in November to discuss the issues of Naked Shorting. Mr. Lambiase, Director of Securities for the State of Connecticut and moderator of the forum, specifically identified to the audience attending the forum that the DTCC was invited to attend but had declined the invite. Panelist Dr. Susan Trimbath, former Operations Manager for the DTCC, also confirmed the DTCC invite during the forum discussions."
from DTCC Continues Public Campaign Stop blaming us; it s not Our Fault January 26, 2006 David Patch =================================================================== 5. INSIDE THE BLACK BOX
I worked not only at DTC in New York, but also with the Pacific Clearing Corporation in San Francisco. I have the experience necessary to talk about what happens inside clearing and settlement. Please don’t misquote me as saying I worked for DTCC because I actually worked for their predecessor DTC, with only one C. Last February a reporter in New Jersey put an extra “C” in my resume and DTCC had to issue a media statement clarifying my employment record. Let’s not put them to that trouble again, OK? Seriously, all the details of my background are in my bio. Susanne Trimbath stpadvisors.com ==================================================== hedgeworld.com DTCC Questions Facts in Naked Shorts Squabble
By Christopher Faille, Financial Correspondent | Thursday, March 16, 2006
NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com)—In the increasingly heated public dispute over "naked" short sales of securities, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. fired an unexpected volley Tuesday [March 14], issuing a statement on the "purported work experience of a former employee" at one of its subsidiaries. The former employee, Susanne Trimbath, was a manager of transfer agent services at the Depository Trust Company from 1987 to 1993. This work experience became relevant to the controversy over what is now DTC's corporate parent, DTCC, because on Feb. 23 Ms. Trimbath participated in a hearing of the New Jersey State Senate Judiciary Committee, and there criticized Bradley Abelow, the governor's nominee for state treasurer.
Mr. Abelow (who has since been confirmed as treasurer) was a director of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. from 2002 to 2005 Previous HedgeWorld Story, so certain individuals who believe that DTCC has enabled short sellers' failures to deliver (FTDs), thereby empowering shorts at the expense of targeted issuers, used the opportunity created by the confirmation hearing to put their case before the public.
At the hearing, Ms. Trimbath referred to herself as a "former employee of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation," and then said that for simplicity she would thereafter refer to DTCC and its subsidiaries as the "Depository." She didn't indicate that she had ever been an officer.
Her self-introduction appears to have been a misstatement in at least one respect. She wasn't an employee of DTCC, which didn't exist until 1999. She was an employee of DTC, which later became a subsidiary of DTCC. In a telephone conversation the evening of DTCC's press release, Ms. Trimbath said that she agrees with the facts of her employment history as that release sets them out. She was employed at DTC prior to the formation of DTCC as a holding company in 1999.
DTCC's statement expresses concern about misrepresentations not by Ms. Trimbath but by unnamed third parties. It states, "[I]naccurate information … has appeared in the press and … on Web sites and in public forums" portraying Ms. Trimbath as a former officer, and an "expert on clearance and settlement and the Stock Borrow program."
DTCC said that Ms. Trimbath was a "manager of transfer agent services, a corporate middle-management position below officer level." Nothing in her testimony was inconsistent with that characterization, nor did she quarrel with it Tuesday. She testified that she wanted the committee to consider "how you can have year-long failures to settle trades," and that the answer to that question was and is "lax management at the Depository and a willingness to look the other way when broker members neglect their fiduciary duty to small investors."
She said that she saw the hearing as "an opportunity to bring to light a failure of management [at the Depository] to address this issue" concerning failures-to-deliver "a decade ago when it was merely a thorn in somebody's side." She also said that before she went to work at DTC as a transfer agent, she had been an operations analyst for the Pacific Clearing Corp. She was surprised and flattered to find that she's important enough for DTCC to issue a release making the distinction between Depository officers and employees with special reference to her.
Challenge and Response
On the more substantive issues in dispute, a challenge to DTCC and its policies this week from a former Clinton administration economist, Rob Shapiro, has drawn a point-by-point reply from its target.
Mr. Shapiro's consultancy, Sonecon, issued the report Tuesday under the dramatic headline "500 Million Shares of Stock Are Missing." It contends that DTCC's settlement and clearing process "implicitly permits naked short sales by using bookkeeping entries and the holdings of members uninvolved in those sales to ‘clear and settle' short sales even when the short seller persists in failing to deliver the shares he has sold short." In quantitative terms, the report states that the consequences of FTDs are concentrated on a small number of issuers.
On any given day, it states, almost half of Nasdaq and NYSE threshold stocks—from 50 to 80—may account for as much as 95% of all fails in listed firms. The average fails for those 50 to 80 shares are between 1.5 million and 2 million shares each.
On any given day, also, about two thirds of over-the-counter threshold securities, 60 to 80 stocks, make for the vast majority of FTDs in OTC companies, with average fails at 4.3 million to 4.8 million each.
The report argues for the following conclusions:
• Designation as a "threshold security" doesn't necessarily reduce short sales, and has proven consistent with an increase in the number of fails-to-deliver in the case of many securities;
• DTCC's lack of transparency "undermines the efficiency of U.S. capital markets and could damage investor confidence;" and
• Data indicates that Reg SHO "has not created the market conditions or regulatory requirements needed to ensure that naked short sellers (and others) resolve any large, outstanding fails."
When asked for a response, DTCC prepared a statement Wednesday [March 15] listing what it saw as the flaws of the report, beginning with the bias of its author. Mr. Shapiro "has admitted to DTCC he is a paid consultant" for law firms that are pursuing claims against DTCC.
DTCC objects to the report's presumption that it possesses, but has failed to employ, buy-in authority—i.e., authority to purchase the necessary shares itself for delivery, while charging the account of the naked short seller's broker. DTCC said that the Securities and Exchange Commission has repeatedly said it doesn't have that authority.
DTCC said that Mr. Shapiro misleadingly speaks of naked short sales and FTDs as synonyms, which is a distortion. There are many reasons aside from short selling why a delivery may not occur on settlement date. "Many times the member will experience a problem that is either unanticipated or is out of its control, such as … delays in customer delivery of shares to the broker dealer," it said.
DTCC said that SHO has in fact reduced the number of outstanding fails. Within the first three months of the program, it produced a 10% reduction in aggregate fails, and a 32% reduction in fails regarding companies on the threshold list.
As to disclosure, DTCC said that it doesn't necessarily possess the data that Mr. Shapiro demands it disclose. "While we have data on the volume of fails, we have no information on the underlying causes of those fails. As noted above, there are many causes of fails," it stated.
There are good reasons, it also argued, for it to be less than transparent: Data on fails could be used for purposes of market manipulation.
CFaille@HedgeWorld.com |
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From: StockDung | 4/9/2008 10:31:38 AM | | | | Even though no one seems to be trying very hard to find him, Khashoggi is currently a fugitive from justice in the case.
At one time, Khashoggi's chief lieutenant and fellow Saudi swindler, Ramy El-Batrawi, former President of Jetbourne, a Miami CIA proprietary which flew Oliver North's TOW missiles to the Iranians during the Iran Contra Scandal, owned both DC9's later owned by SkyWay.
Small world.
madcowprod.com |
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To: anniebonny who wrote (103264) | 4/9/2008 11:33:08 AM | From: StockDung | | | Geoffrey Eiten used to promote criminal Marc Harris's stock fraud Juniper Group. Mad Cow Morning News has a interesting story about Marc Harris. Also stock fraud GenisisIntermedia which Geoffrey Eiten also promoted
here is the link madcowprod.com
From SHAME ON THE SEC by Christopher Byron:
rgm.com
This outfit, bearing the name OTC Financial Network, is headed by a stock promoter named Geoffrey Eiten, who has been the promotional muscle behind a long list of shaky penny stocks.
At the time he was taking on the Premier Enterprises account, Eiten was simultaneously promoting a Great Neck, L.I., company called Juniper Group.
An SEC filing shows that the largest shareholder of Juniper at that time was a Panamanian company called Bluffdale Corp., which Miami-based KYC News Inc., a leading newsletter publisher, has identified as a mail drop for an international crook named Marc Harris. That man was convicted last May by a federal jury in Miami and sentenced to 17 years in prison for his role in a freon gas smuggling ring. |
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To: magicrecall who wrote (88243) | 4/9/2008 1:07:50 PM | From: StockDung | | | JOHN L. SMITH: Diamonds boondoggle a testament to the power of public relations Urban Casavant has received news that not even he can spin into a positive press release.
Apr. 09, 2008 Las Vegas Review-Journal
The high-rolling front man of the Las Vegas-based CMKM Diamonds boondoggle and 13 of his colleagues have been hit with a civil injunction alleging they illegally issued and sold up to 662 billion shares of unrestricted stock and collected at least $64.2 million from investors who bought their story about the vast diamond fortune lying beneath the surface in far reaches of Saskatchewan, Canada.
The government alleges the proceeds generated from January 2003 to May 2005 were largely split between Casavant, who got $31.5 million, and the "scheme's mastermind," John Edwards, who got $26.4 million. The rest of the cash filtered down to various paperhangers, brokers and phone sales jockeys.
Casavant's diamond empire was initially run out of his home, where he generated a steady stream of press releases touting the promise of the vast deposits in the Canadian wilderness.
Like all good cons, there was a grain of truth to the promotional puffery. The behemoth DeBeers corporation has explored the Forte a la Corne region of Saskatchewan, which is believed to contain one of the larger diamond fields on the planet.
Not that Casavant found any, or used the millions his promotion generated to develop his claims. But he wisely left such details out of his dizzily optimistic media statements.
Meanwhile, our man Urban mostly stayed warm in Las Vegas, where he was known as a big casino customer and a promoter of the CMKM Racing team. From top-fuel dragsters to high-powered auto racers, Casavant ran fast and used the machines to market his stock. He even loaned a vehicle to weekend racing enthusiast and Nevada Secretary of State Dean Heller. Now a congressman, Heller distanced himself from the CMKM crowd several years ago.
Casino sources say Casavant made little secret of his big diamond promotion. For the record, I wouldn't for a moment suggest the Gaming Control Board step up and question how much Strip casino officials knew about Casavant's scam despite the press and SEC scrutiny. Our gaming moguls need all the good customers they can get these days.
Casavant's company is a testament to the power of public relations. With press releases, hyperbolic Internet chat rooms, and race event promotions across the country, he attracted more than 40,000 investors.
His glittering press releases not only promoted his worthless stock, but they also helped calm the fears of skeptical investors as they downplayed the SEC's criticism. And that often meant investors eventually poured good money after bad as they chased their dream of riches glittering from the Great White North like some penny stock aurora borealis.
They didn't, however, take a shine to my reporting. I long ago lost count of the number of CMKM investors who called to rip me to pieces after reading a column that dared to call into question Casavant's motives. And executives at Silver State Bank weren't too pleased when it was reported that millions floated through more than 100 accounts linked to Casavant.
As the SEC gathered evidence and began isolating the company, eventually suspending it, the calls of complaint slowed to a trickle.
Now the SEC has taken the next step. In addition to Casavant and Edwards, attorney Brian Dvorak, First Global Stock Transfer owner Helen Bagley, Kathleen Tomasso, Anthony Tomasso, James Kinney, Ginger Gutierrez, Anthony Santos, Sergei Rumyantsev, and Daryl Anderson also were named in the complaint.
Santos, Rumyantsev, and Anderson were employed at NevWest Securities Corp. They allegedly generated millions in sales, but I guess NevWest forgot to pay its phone bill. Its number has been disconnected.
CMKM's Pecos Road "home office" is closed, too. Casavant has supposedly returned to Canada, perhaps to be closer to his diamonds.
The Tomassos' reputation as Boca Raton, Fla., paperhangers is so well established they rate their own page on the Ripoff Report Web site. They helped promote and sell CMKM stock in a city known as a scammer's paradise. Attempts to reach the Tomassos via phone also were unsuccessful. You guessed it: The number is no longer in service.
I'd like to think we've heard the last of the CMKM Diamonds scam, but here's a twist the company's glittering impresario might appreciate.
After all these years, the SEC is writing press releases about Urban Casavant.
John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295. |
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From: StockDung | 4/9/2008 2:36:55 PM | | | | Feds Crack Down on Alleged Tax Fraud Schemes Justice Dept. Claims Promoters Ran a 'Smorgasbord of Tax Fraud at Sea' By JASON RYAN and PIERRE THOMAS April 8, 2008—
The Justice Department today announced a crackdown against a growing number of companies that are telling tens of thousands of customers they don't have to pay federal income tax, and took legal action against a company for allegedly promoting one such scheme.
In seeking a civil injunction, the government hopes to shut down Pinnacle Quest International, which allegedly made $54 million between 2002 and 2006 by sponsoring various tax avoidance schemes at trade shows and resorts in Mexico, France and several locations in the Mediterranean to customers who sought to avoid U.S. taxes.
According to the Justice Department, PQI, which employed 830 salespeople, organized a conference aboard a cruise ship in the Mediterranean to allegedly educate clients on how to avoid paying federal income tax.
The cruise, dubbed a "smorgasbord of tax fraud at sea" in the Justice Department's civil injunction papers, was allegedly held aboard the Celebrity Cruise Line ship Galaxy in May 2007 and included lectures by Sherry Peel Jackson, a former IRS agent who was at the time under indictment for tax crimes.
The government says Jackson earned an estimated $138,000 from working for PQI. A federal jury in Atlanta convicted her last year on charges that she failed to submit tax returns, and a judge sentenced her to four years in prison in February. Jackson is appealing her conviction.
The lawsuits, filed against PQI and several of its alleged promoters in three federal courts in Florida, Oregon and Washington State, allege that the company sold its products to more than 10,000 customers who paid a fee to learn how to convince the federal government that they were not required to pay taxes.
In the Oregon case, the government claims PQI promoted the use of false entities to hide taxable income, and promoted seminars that wrongly told customers they could avoid paying taxes by revoking their Social Security numbers.
The federal lawsuit filed in Florida alleged that PQI engaged in a marketing scheme with financial incentives to keep customers buying the companies products and lectures. Customers initially bought into the PQI tax shows for $7,500 and were invited to attend the next level seminar for $18,750 before being invited to attend the cruise.
Attempts to contact PQI by phone and fax were not successful, and e-mail messages from ABC News were not immediately answered.
Nathan Hochman, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's Tax Division said, "The size and sheer brazenness of the tax defier activities alleged in these complaints are staggering."
Justice announced the legal action, as well as the larger initiative to combat alleged tax fraud schemes, as millions of Americans finalize their tax returns before next week's April 15 deadline.
U.S. Attorney offices across the country are being told to target so-called "tax defier" companies, which often rely on the Internet to lure the gullible.
In recent years, the tax avoidance schemes have grown, especially on the Internet, with tax defiers asserting that they are not required to file federal tax returns for various reasons.
Some individuals claim they have renounced their U.S. citizenship, but "If they meet the minimum income requirement they absolutely have to pay their taxes," Hochman said at a press conference.
Other individuals claim they can avoid filing tax returns because they claim it is in violation of the 16th amendment, which limits Congress' authority to levy taxes. "The tax defier rejects the entire legal basis of our tax system," Hochman added.
As for the customers of the alleged sham organizations like PQI, the government says it's going to force them to pay their taxes, and in some cases, will prosecute them.
Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures |
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