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UNITED STATES SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
LITIGATION RELEASE NO.
16118 \ April 22,
1999
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Anthony J. Marino,
Gregory
C. Johnson, Richard Ames Higgins, Mousa
International, AJM Global, and Consortio
Intranacional,
Civil Action No. 99-CV-0259G (USDC Utah)
The Commission has obtained an order freezing the
assets
and temporarily restraining Anthony J. Marino
and
Gregory C. Johnson, Richard
Ames Higgins, Mousa
International, AJM Global and Consortio
Intranacional from
making fraudulent sales of unregistered
interests in "prime
bank" trading programs.
It was alleged that the defendants
have
sold over $15 million in such interests by representing
to
investors that:
they
could expect guaranteed returns of
20% per month; the trading program
had been approved by the
Federal Reserve Board; and investments
in the program were
insured against loss through a policy
issued by Lloyds of
London.
The Order was entered April 20, 1999 by the
Honorable
J. Thomas Greene, United States District Judge
for
the
District of Utah and included a clause requiring
the
defendants
to repatriate any assets which had be transferred
out of the United States.
The complaint named as defendants Anthony J. Marino and
Gregory
C. Johnson, both of Las Vegas, Nevada, and Richard
Ames Higgins, a Sandy, Utah
attorney.
The complaint also
names
Mousa International, AJM Global and Consortio
Intranacional, entities controlled
by one or more of the
individual defendants.
The complaint alleged that since at
least
January of 1998, the defendants had engaged in
fraudulent sales of interests
in a "prime bank" scheme in
which they guaranteed a high
return to be generated by
repeated purchases and sales of financial
instruments issued
by the world’s "prime banks."
Among
other
misrepresentations, the defendants asserted the investors’
principal
was insured through Lloyds of London.
The
defendants
also represented that the Federal Reserve Bank
had approved the investment
scheme.
Further, the Commission
alleges
that Anthony J. Marino did not disclose to investors
that
he has been convicted of securities fraud by the
State
of
Nevada and ordered to cease and desist from fraudulently
soliciting investments in
securities by the State of New
Mexico.
The Commission alleged that through their false and
misleading
statements, the defendants violated the antifraud
provisions, Section 17(a)
of the Securities Act of 1933 and
Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934 and
Rule 10b-5 thereunder.
The Commission also alleged that the
securities
sold by the Defendants were investment contracts
which should have been registered
pursuant to Sections 5(a)
and (c) of the Securities Act of
1933.
The Commission wishes to thank the United States Secret
Service,
the State of Utah Securities Division and the
County Attorney’s Office for
Utah County, Utah for their
assistance in this matter.
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