SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release. No. 16921 / March 1, 2001

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION V. JARED RAY LEISEK AND BYRON JOHN LEISEK, Civil Action No. CV 01-6084 (AA) (D. Or.)

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil action in federal district court in Eugene, Oregon against Jared R. Leisek, age 25, and his brother Byron J. Leisek, age 22. The Complaint alleges that the defendants operated a "momentum" stock picking website called TnTStock.com ("TnT"), through which the brothers issued stock recommendations on the website and via e-mail newsletter to more than 13,000 TnT subscribers. After the recommendations were released, the price and trading volume of the profiled stocks rose dramatically, often more than doubling the pre-recommendation levels. The Complaint alleges that the defendants posted false information on a Yahoo! Club message board frequented by TnT's subscribers. The Complaint further alleges that the defendants falsely claimed, among other things, that TnT's representatives held no more than 5,000 shares of any stocks profiled on the website and that TnT's representatives would never sell shares until thirty minutes after issuing a recommendation. In fact, the Complaint alleges the defendants usually held more than 20,000 shares and sold most of their shares within thirty minutes of the release of the recommendations.

The Complaint alleges that the defendants would typically buy shares in the profiled companies, place limit orders to sell the shares at progressively higher than then-current market prices, and only then issue the recommendations. The defendants are alleged to have made $195,994.50 in profits from the scheme. The Complaint alleges that the defendants' conduct violated Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange Act") and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 prohibit fraud in connection with the purchase or sale of securities. The Complaint seeks permanent injunctions, disgorgement, prejudgment interest, civil penalties, and other relief.