SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. LITIGATION RELEASE NO. 16017 / January 7, 1999 SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. JOSEPH DIMAURO, STEPHEN DILORENZO, MUJAHID BASHIR AND JOEL PENSLEY, No. 98 Civ. 6349 (LAP) (S.D.N.Y.) MICROCAP COMPANY ATTORNEY AND DIRECTOR SETTLE FRAUD CASES On December 29, 1998, Judge Loretta A. Preska of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York entered final judgments enjoining Joel Pensley, outside counsel for Visual Cybernetics Corp., a microcap, start-up company, and Stephen DiLorenzo, a director of Visual Cybernetics, from violating the antifraud and other provisions of the federal securities laws. The judgment against DiLorenzo also orders him to pay a $5,000 civil penalty and bars him from acting as an officer or director of a public company for ten years. The judgment against Pensley orders him to pay a $10,000 civil fine. DiLorenzo and Pensley consented to the entry of the final judgments without admitting or denying the allegations in the Commission’s complaint except as to jurisdiction. Today, based on the injunction, the Commission, with Pensley’s consent, instituted an administrative proceeding against Pensley pursuant to Section 102(e)(3) of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and issued an order barring him from practicing before the Commission, with a right to resume practicing after three years upon a showing that in the interim he has not engaged in improper conduct. The Complaint alleged that Pensley and DiLorenzo, together with others, implemented a scheme to circumvent the registration requirements for sales of securities to the public by improperly using employee benefit plan securities issued pursuant to Form S-8 registration statements to raise capital for Visual Cybernetics from public investors. The Complaint further alleged that DiLorenzo signed and Pensley prepared Visual Cybernetics filings, and Pensley prepared a private placement memorandum, that omitted any discussion of a material provision of an agreement by which Visual Cybernetics acquired Compass Rose Chartering Corp. Compass Rose was Visual Cybernetics’ primary source of revenue. The omitted provision enabled Compass Rose to rescind the acquisition if Visual Cybernetics filed for bankruptcy. The Complaint also alleged that DiLorenzo fabricated a supplemental agreement expanding the circumstances under which Compass Rose could rescind its acquisition by Visual Cybernetics. When Visual Cybernetics became insolvent in April, 1995, DiLorenzo filed this fabricated document with the Commission and used it to rescind the acquisition. The final judgment as to Pensley permanently enjoins him from future violations of Sections 5(a), 5(c), and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act"), Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange Act"), and Exchange Act Rule 10b-5; and orders him to pay a civil penalty of $10,000. The final judgment as to DiLorenzo (a) permanently enjoins him from future violations of Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act, Section 10(b), 13(a) and 13(b)(5) of the Exchange Act, and Exchange Act Rules 10b-5, 12b-20, 13a- 11, and 13b2-1; (b) bars him from acting as an officer or director of any issuer that has a class of securities registered pursuant to Section 12 of the Exchange Act or that is required to file reports pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act for a period of ten years; and (c) orders him to pay a civil penalty of $5,000. The civil action that Pensley and DiLorenzo settled also was brought against two other individuals, who were Visual Cybernetics officers and directors. One of the individuals previously agreed to settle the action. The litigation is continuing against the remaining defendant, Mujahid Bashir. See Litigation Release No. 15874. The Commission also brought enforcement actions against Visual Cybernetics’ auditors that have been settled. See Litigation Release No. 15873 and Release No. 33-7573. This Enforcement action is part of the Commission’s four- pronged approach to minimizing Microcap fraud: enforcement, inspections, investor education and regulation. For more information about the SEC’s response to Microcap fraud, visit the SEC’s Microcap Fraud Information Center at http://www.sec.gov/news/extra/microcap.htm.