ISSUES....
Inside, confidential, off the record

 

Shell's Con-artists

Con artists turn shell companies into cash. Oklahoma lawyer John Heskett logged onto his computer one day in late June, 2005, to check out an inactive shell company owned by his clients who were considering using it in a business deal. "I saw this wild trading going on, and I couldn't imagine why," he said. "I was in total disbelief. I knew there could not be that many shares in the market, not even close, not even 1/100th of those shares in the market ... I had to pinch myself and say, 'Am I crazy?' " After some online searching and a few phone calls to the company's transfer agent, Mr. Heskett contacted the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to report a bizarre crime: Someone, he said, had stolen his client's public company. Sixteen months later, the SEC and the British Columbia Securities Commission announced they had reached settlements with two Canadian men who admitted to illegally taking control of Greyfield Capital Ltd. and arranging to have 600 million new shares issued using the company's ticker symbol.

Janet Mcfarland / The Globe and Mail, Toronto/ December 27, 2007

Petroleumworld 12 27 07

ISSUES.... Is an independent journalist effort from Petroleumworld, on Inside, Confidential
and Off The Record Information, its views are not necessarily those of Petroleumworld

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