SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 17685 / August 15, 2002

SEC, IN COORDINATION WITH FBI UNDERCOVER STING OPERATION, FILES CIVIL INJUNCTIVE ACTIONS AGAINST THIRTEEN DEFENDANTS INVOLVED IN FRAUDULENT SCHEMES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION V. RHINO ECOSYSTEMS, INC. ET AL., Case No. 02-80786-CIV-Hurley (S.D. Fla., filed August 15, 2002); SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION V. COI SOLUTIONS, INC., ET AL., Case No. 02-80767-CIV-Hurley (S.D. Fla., filed August 15, 2002); SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION V. UNCOMMON MEDIA GROUP, INC., ET AL., Case No. 02-80770-CIV-Hurley (S.D. Fla., filed August 15, 2002); and, SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION V. JEFFREY R. SENGER, BRAD M. NIRENBERG, AND NORMAN PIATTI, Case No. 02-80766-CIV-Hurley (S.D. Fla., filed August 15, 2002)

On August 15, 2002, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed separate lawsuits in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida arising from four schemes. According to the complaints, in three of the schemes, defendants made numerous materially false and misleading statements in reports filed with the Commission; the fourth scheme involves a pump-and-dump of a company's publicly traded stock. Most of these charges arise from a two-year undercover FBI sting operation and, simultaneously in related criminal prosecutions, the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida ("USAO") announced the indictments of fifty-eight defendants.

THE FRAUDULENT FILING SCHEMES

In three schemes related to proposed fraudulent sales of stock to a purported European-based investment fund ("the Fund"), the Commission alleges that Rhino Ecosystems, Inc., COI Solutions, Inc., and Uncommon Media Group, Inc., violated the federal securities laws by filing materially false annual reports or false registration statements with the Commission. Also named in these complaints were seven individuals: Charles Cini, Mark Wiertzema, Gordon Novak, Robert Wilder, Lawrence Gallo, Douglas Rasberry, and Melvin Levine.

The Commission alleges that in each scheme the individual defendants, most of whom are officers or affiliates of the issuer defendants, conspired to sell securities to the Fund in exchange for millions of dollars in kickbacks to be secreted in offshore accounts. The securities were to be issued either directly by the issuer defendant through bogus S-8 registration statements on file with the Commission or, in the Uncommon Media scheme, were to come from several offshore corporate nominees maintained by an undisclosed control person. In reality, there was no Fund and its purported representative was an undercover FBI agent. The sales of securities were never completed, but, in anticipation of the fraudulent sales, the issuer defendants made filings with the Commission that contained material misrepresentations and/or omissions in violation of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws. Certain defendants in the Rhino Ecosystems and Uncommon Media schemes are also charged with violating various filing requirements of the federal securities laws.

THE PUMP AND DUMP SCHEME

The Commission also filed suit against Jeffery R. Senger, Brad M. Nirenberg and Norman F. Piatti, alleging that they engaged in a scheme to pump-and-dump Lifekeepers International, Inc.'s ("Lifekeepers") common stock, which was publicly-traded until the Commission suspended its trading in February of 2000. The Complaint alleges that defendants attempted to inflate artificially the price of Lifekeepers' stock by issuing press releases and other public documents that contained materially false and misleading information concerning, among other things, Lifekeepers' operations and expected financial results. Defendants are charged by the Commission with violations of the anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws, and Senger has also been indicted by the USAO as part of the FBI's sting operation.

The Commission's complaints seek permanent injunctions and civil penalties against defendants alleging the following:

• Rhino, committed or caused violations of Sections 10(b) and 13(a) of the Exchange Act, and Rules 10b-5, 12b-20, and 13a-1 thereunder;

• Mark Wiertzema and Gordon Novak committed or caused violations of 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and caused violations of 13(a) of the Exchange Act, and Rules 12b-20 and 13a-1 thereunder;

• COI Solutions, Melvin Levine, Charles Cini, and Robert Wilder committed or caused violations of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act, and Rule 10b-5 thereunder;

• Uncommon Media committed or caused violations of Sections 10(b) and 13(a) of the Exchange Act, and Rules 10b-5, 12b-20, and 13a-1 thereunder; and

• Lawrence Gallo and Douglas Raspberry committed or caused violations of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act, and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and caused violations of Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act, and Rules 12b-20 and 13a-1 thereunder, and in addition, whether Rasberry committed or caused violations of Sections 13(d), and 16(a) of the Exchange Act, and Rules 13d-1 and 16a-3(a) thereunder.

• Jeffrey R. Senger, Brad M. Nirenberg, and Norman F. Piatti committed or caused violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act and Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act, and Rule 10b-5 thereunder.

These investigations are ongoing. The Commission would like to acknowledge the cooperation of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida.

	Complaint: SEC v. COI Solutions, Inc., Robert Wilder, and Melvin Levine in this matter.
	Complaint: SEC. v. Uncommon Media Group, Inc., a Florida corporation, Lawrence Gallo, and Douglas Rasberry in this matter.
	Complaint: SEC. v. Rhino Ecosystems, Inc., a Florida corporation, Charles Cini, Gordon Novak, Mark Wiertzema, and Melvin Levine in this matter.
	Complaint: SEC v. Jeffrey R. Senger, Brand M. Nirenberg and Norman F. Piatti in this matter.