Ethos Update: Revised Financials and change of Management

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projectsho89

Ethos Update: Revised Financials and change of Management

Post by projectsho89 »

Been a long time lurker and decided to join and post since it doesn't look like anyone else reported the significant changes at this company.

I ran across a mention of ETEV last week in which is was compared to another stock in which I was interested (quite negatively, I might add). I dug up the most recent 10-KSB/A from http://www.secinfo.com filed on Nov 19th, 08. After all the usually boilerplate advertising fluff and bulls*it (probably carried over from previous reports' boilerplate) there was some interesting info to be found.

Looks like Enrique couldn't fire enough auditors to continue to hide whatever he was doing.

Highlights:

1) 2006 and 2007 financial reports were withdrawn and re-filed. Annual reported revenues for the periods were $1.5 and $1.3 million respectively, not the hundreds of millions previously bragged about.

2) Annual losses were simply staggering. $16.4M for 2006 and $24.5 for 2007.

3) Enrique and his two buddies who comprised the entire Board of Directors were forced to resign and were replaced by new management. All previous compensation plans including stock options and warrants were canceled.

This particular gem from ITEM 8A(T) - p. 50 ff:
On September 5, 2008, the Company accepted the resignations of Enrique de Vilmorin, Luis Willars, and Jose Manuel Escobedo from all positions with the Company. These resignations were precipitated by certain shareholders of the Company advising Mr. de Vilmorin that they would be formally requesting a shareholder vote to replace management, including the Company’s directors. Prior to receiving such a demand, Mr. de Vilmorin, Mr. Willars and Mr. Escobedo resigned from their positions with the Company.

Immediately following their resignations, the Company launched an internal investigation, led by the Audit Committee which was formed on September 25, 2008, to ascertain the extent of the financial statement items requiring restatement and other issues requiring disclosure to the Securities & Exchange Commission and to the investment community. On or about October 16, 2008, we concluded that sufficient support had been obtained that certain revenue transactions dating back to the year ended December 31, 2006 were unsupportable, and that certain personal expenditures were incurred on the Company’s accounts. Upon evidence of these transactions which were materially misstated for all periods dating back to December 31, 2006, the Company filed a Form 8-K on October 21, 2008 citing non-reliance on its issued financial statements since that time.

Among the materially misstated transactions noted were the following:


·

Sales invoices and transactions to companies that did not exist dating back to the fiscal year ended December 31, 2006;

·

Purchases of inventory that were not supportable dating back to the fiscal year ended December 31, 2006; and

·

Personal expenditures incurred by Mr. de Vilmorin dating back to the fiscal year ended December 31, 2006, including cash payments and purchases of personal assets that were recorded as Company assets.

The Company, through co-operation of its management and Board of Directors, has substantively reviewed all significant transactions and will be restating, to the extent not already done, all reported financial statements from December 31, 2006 to June 30, 2008 to reflect the Company’s true financial position for each of the reporting periods then ended.
There's plenty more if you'd like to check it out. http://www.secinfo.com/d18hJx.t62.htm

I guess all those want-to-be millionaires will have to move on - my guess is that newer one My Shopping Genie will catch some of them...

The Unsers had better find a new sponsor....

Regards,

Steve
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wserra
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Re: Ethos Update: Revised Financials and change of Management

Post by wserra »

Welcome to Quatloos, projectsho89. What do they call you for short?

That 8-K that the 10-KSB refers to is quite a document as well - one sentence in specific. That sentence: "On October 16, 2008, the Company concluded that all previously reported consolidated financial statements filed since, and including, our annual report for the year ended December 31, 2006 should no longer be relied upon." Allow me to translate: "Man, did we lie our asses off."

I'm sure they're about to tell you that now you should trust them, though.

BTW, I see that you're quite a contributor to various automotive boards. Ever had any contact with that "Jerry Lang" fellow from FFI who makes such an effort to avoid our friend Tony ("fuelsaving")? If you haven't seen it already, perhaps you'd be interested in the latest FFI thread.
"A wise man proportions belief to the evidence."
- David Hume
projectsho89

Re: Ethos Update: Revised Financials and change of Management

Post by projectsho89 »

wserra wrote:Welcome to Quatloos, projectsho89. What do they call you for short?
Steve
That 8-K that the 10-KSB refers to is quite a document as well - one sentence in specific. That sentence: "On October 16, 2008, the Company concluded that all previously reported consolidated financial statements filed since, and including, our annual report for the year ended December 31, 2006 should no longer be relied upon." Allow me to translate: "Man, did we lie our asses off."
..and we got caught...

I'm sure they're about to tell you that now you should trust them, though.

BTW, I see that you're quite a contributor to various automotive boards. Ever had any contact with that "Jerry Lang" fellow from FFI who makes such an effort to avoid our friend Tony ("fuelsaving")? If you haven't seen it already, perhaps you'd be interested in the latest FFI thread.
Yeah, I hang out on Ford-related boards. Never ran across the Jerry Lang guy except the mentions here.

BTW, Tony's stuff is very good. I'd like to see him more thoroughly debunk the HHO crap from a technical standpoint that was really prevalent this spring and summer, but the interest in that has died down along with the huge drop in energy prices.

Regards,

Steve
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wserra
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Re: Ethos Update: Revised Financials and change of Management

Post by wserra »

projectsho89 wrote:BTW, Tony's stuff is very good. I'd like to see him more thoroughly debunk the HHO crap from a technical standpoint that was really prevalent this spring and summer, but the interest in that has died down along with the huge drop in energy prices.
If you haven't already seen it, by all means take a look at Tony's site. Unlike ripoffs like Ethos and FFI, he's a wealth of accurate information (and, of course, isn't selling anything). That's probably why Lang won't answer him - as we've discussed on the FFI thread.
"A wise man proportions belief to the evidence."
- David Hume
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Re: Ethos Update: Revised Financials and change of Management

Post by wserra »

Yeah, we know that all these guys make completely unproven claims for fuel economy improvement. That's old news. But a recent Ethos shill does it so, well, articulately.
Ethos Environmental devotes a worth-effective reply to reduce skyrocketing gasoline prices and back up recede environmental regulatory pressures. Hundreds of millions of miles of channel appraisal has proven that commercial fleets on average add to fuel mileage between 7% and 19% and reduce emissions by more than 30%. Ethos FR addresses single affair that has two adjoining effects, engrossed fuel and air pollution. Fuel burns inprofessionally in an internal combustion engine and that inefficiency leads to wasted fuel shifted into toxic emissions. Ethos FR makes fuel burn more efficiently so it abundantly improves both of these adversarial effects. Most fundamental, the assign of Ethos FR ways out in fuel cost savings to the customer.
Don't you hate "inprofessional" fuel? Of course, the guy is a cash-gifter - check his url - so you can't expect intelligence.
"A wise man proportions belief to the evidence."
- David Hume
Nikki

Re: Ethos Update: Revised Financials and change of Management

Post by Nikki »

GoldAndSilverEagles should really take a look at Tony's site. for an excellent analysis of the on-board hydrogen generator which he was touting before he realized he had his feet stuffed too far down his throat.