SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 16559 / May 22, 2000

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Liberty Capital Group, Inc. and Jason A. Greig, Civil Action No. C98-1515C (USDC, WA).

On April 28, 2000, Jason A. Greig and Liberty Capital Group, Inc. were enjoined, by consent, from violating the anti-touting provision of the Federal securities laws [Section 17(b) of the Securities Act of 1933] and were ordered to pay a civil money penalty of $35,000. The Securities and Exchange Commission's complaint, filed October 27,1998, charged that Greig, a Bellingham, Washington publicist, distributed information regarding certain microcap companies on the Internet without disclosing compensation received from those companies. The order was issued by Chief Judge John C. Coughenour of the United States District Court for the District of Washington.

The complaint alleged that from April 1996 until April 1998, Greig, through Liberty Capital, published Jay Greig's Liberty Letter in which he provided general information on approximately twenty companies quoted on the Nasdaq Smallcap market, the Nasdaq Bulletin Board, and also traded on the Canadian Exchanges. During 1997, Greig developed a website for Liberty and began publicizing on the website, as well as through e-mails and postings on the Internet bulletin boards, three of the companies featured in the newsletter, as well as six other companies. Although the newsletter generally disclosed that Liberty received compensation from issuers for publicizing their stocks, it failed to disclose the existence of agreements between Liberty and certain of the publicized companies, and failed to disclose the actual amounts of compensation received from those companies. The Liberty website only made a vague, general disclosure about the receipt of compensation, and also failed to disclose the existence of the agreements and any specifics on past or agreed upon compensation.

See also Litigation Release No.15953 (October 27,1998).

http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/lr16559.htm