CFTC News Release 4417-00

For Release July 5, 2000

**COURT PRELIMINARILY ENJOINS DEFENDANTS FROM CONTINUING TO OPERATE IN    A CASE ALLEGING AN $18 MILLION FRAUDULENT PRECIOUS METALS SCHEME**

**Court Found that Defendants, Including IBS Inc. and IMC Trading Inc.,    Fraudulently Solicited Customers From Offices In Four States**

WASHINGTON -- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced    today that on June 20, 2000, the Honorable Judge Richard L. Voorhees,    United States District Judge for the Western District of North Carolina,    issued a preliminary    injunction against defendants charged with engaging in an $18 million    commodities scheme. The complaint filed by the CFTC on March 13, 2000,    charged the defendants with fraudulently telemarketing illegal futures    contracts in such commodities as silver, palladium, and heating oil    (seeCFTC News Release 4382-00, March 20,    2000).

The preliminary injunction enjoins the following defendants from    soliciting customers or accepting funds for commodities trading: **IBS,    Inc.,** a North Carolina corporation; **IMC Trading, Inc.**,    separately incorporated in North Carolina, Nevada, and Arizona; **Joe    Miller Company d/b/a IMC Trading**, a California corporation; **Mazuma    Trading Group, Inc. d/b/a Pinpoint Marketing, Ltd.**, a Florida    corporation (corporations collectively referred to as the IMC Common    Enterprise); and three individuals -- **Alan Stein**, **Joseph    Finateri** and **Michael Temple**.

The preliminary injunction also continued an asset freeze against these    defendants that the court had issued as part of a March 13, 2000, ***ex    parte*** statutory restraining order and appointed a receiver to take    control of the corporate defendants.

In his opinion supporting the issuance of the preliminary injunction,    Judge Voorhees found, based on the evidence currently before the court "a    clear and long-standing scheme on the part of Defendants to cheat and    defraud customers through the use of various corporate entities designed to    put an apparently legitimate face on their conduct."

In pursuing this scheme, the court found that "Defendants have solicited    members of the general public to purchase futures contracts for precious    metals and other commodities upon highly deceptive and misleading    representations as to huge potential profits while failing to disclose the    significant costs of associated account, storage, and other up-front fees    or otherwise disclose in an appropriate and timely manner the substantial    risks involved in speculating on commodity prices."

Additionally, the court concluded that the corporate defendants operated    as a "common enterprise" and sold futures contracts that were not subject    to the rules of properly designated contract markets.

According to the court, IMC Trading, Inc. in Nevada and North Carolina    offered customers "the ability to invest in precious metals with a    20-percent down payment and a loan for the remaining balance, first through    Amitex Investment Services and later through International Bullion    Services, Bahamas."

The court noted that once customers made their initial investments, they    received calls from the two IMC Trading entities "on a regular basis    encouraging them to invest additional money in silver, upon representations    that silver was at or near historic lows and would rebound sharply over a    short period of time, that the stock market was extremely overpriced and    that a correction would occur soon, that dollar and interest rate fears    would drive silver prices higher, that the company representative had just    purchased silver for his own account, and that Warren Buffet's interest in    silver would drive up prices significantly." When an equity call was issued    on a customer's account, requiring the customer to send additional funds or    liquidate the position, IMC Trading, Inc. in Nevada, and later in North    Carolina, urged customers to invest additional funds to capitalize on    imminent spikes in the market forecast by the firms' telemarketers,    according to the court.

The court also found that the CFTC's evidence established that several    million dollars in customer funds were transferred between a number of    foreign and domestic bank accounts held by the various defendants and other    parties named in the CFTC's complaint as "relief" defendants: **International Bullion Services, Inc.**, a Bahamas Corporation; **Kimberlynn Creek Ranch, Inc.;****Kingsfield Racing, Inc.;****F. X.    & B, L.L.C.;****A. J. S. Enterprises, Inc.; Samuel Kingsfield;**    and **Pamela Kingsfield.** According to the court, the CFTC's evidence    established that "various Defendants and Relief Defendants diverted    customer funds to pay for personal expenses and that several persons held    credit cards drawn off IMC accounts."

**CFTC Is Seeking Permanent Injunctions in its Continuing Litigation of    this Case**

In its continuing litigation against the defendants, the CFTC is seeking    permanent civil injunctions in addition to other remedial relief including    restitution to customers. The CFTC is further seeking disgorgement of funds    transferred to International Bullion Services, Inc., Kimberlynn Creek    Ranch, Inc., Kingsfield Racing, Inc., F. X. & B L. L. C., A. J. S.    Enterprises, Inc., Samuel Kingsfield, and Pamela Kingsfield.

**CFTC Issues Consumer Alert Regarding    Precious Metals Investment Schemes**

In a separate matter, the CFTC also announced today that it filed a    complaint charging **National Bullion and Coin, Inc., d/b/a/ National    Bullion & Coin Services, Inc.**, **Capital Credit Management &    Finance, Inc**., **Joseph B. Flanigan** and **Lawrence Colman**    with fraudulently telemarketing illegal futures contracts in precious    metals and other commodities (seeCFTC News    Release 4415-00, July 5, 2000). In light of its recent enforcement    activity in this area, the CFTC also issued today a consumer advisory alerting    consumers to be wary of claims of high profits and low risk from such    precious metals investments and providing warning signs of phony sales    pitches and other commodity "come-ons" (see CFTC News Release    4416-00, July 5, 2000).