In the Matter of Icon International Holdings, Inc., Interchange Medical, Inc., Outsource International, Inc., and Smart Choice Automotive Group, Inc.; Order of Suspension of Trading, 5090-5091 [07-473]
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5090
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 22 / Friday, February 2, 2007 / Notices
For the Commission, by the Division of
Investment Management, pursuant to
delegated authority.
Florence E. Harmon,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. E7–1718 Filed 2–1–07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8010–01–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES
Sunshine Act Meetings
Notice is hereby given, pursuant to
the provisions of the Government in the
Sunshine Act, Pub. L. 94–409, that the
Securities and Exchange Commission
will hold the following meetings during
the week of February 5, 2007:
An Open Meeting will be held on
Wednesday, February 7, 2007 at 10 a.m.
in the Auditorium, Room LL–002, and
Closed Meetings will be held on
Wednesday, February 7, 2007 at 11 a.m.
and Thursday, February 8, 2007 at 2
p.m.
Commissioners, Counsels to the
Commissioners, the Secretary to the
Commission, and recording secretaries
will attend the Closed Meetings. Certain
staff members who have an interest in
the matters may also be present.
The General Counsel of the
Commission, or his designee, has
certified that, in his opinion, one or
more of the exemptions set forth in 5
U.S.C. 552b(c)(3), (4), (5), (7), (8), 9(B)
and (10) and 17 CFR 200.402(a)(3), (4),
(5), (7), (8), 9(ii) and (10) permit
consideration of the scheduled matters
at the Closed Meetings.
Commissioner Nazareth as duty
officer, voted to consider the items
listed for the closed meetings in closed
session.
The subject matter of the Open
Meeting scheduled for Wednesday,
February 7, 2007 at 10 a.m. will be:
The Commission will hear oral
argument on an appeal by John A.
Carley, Eugene C. Geiger, Thomas A.
Kaufmann, Edward H. Price, and
Christopher H. Zacharias from an initial
decision of an administrative law judge.
Carley and Zacharias were officers
and directors of Starnet
Communications International, Inc.
Geiger and Kaufmann were associated
persons of Spencer Edwards, Inc., a
registered broker-dealer. Price was
president, chief executive officer, and
chief compliance officer of Spencer
Edwards and supervised Geiger and
Kaufmann.
The law judge found that Carley and
Zacharias violated, and Geiger and
Kaufmann willfully violated, Sections
5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act of
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1933 by offering to sell, selling, and
delivering to members of the public
shares of Starnet common stock when
no registration statement was filed or in
effect with respect to those securities
and no exemption from registration was
available. The law judge found that
Price failed reasonably to supervise
Geiger and Kaufmann. The law judge
found further that Carley and Zacharias
violated the antifraud provisions of the
securities laws by filing with the
Commission false and misleading
current and annual reports. The law
judge also found that Zacharias violated
Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934 and Exchange Act Rule 16a–
3 by failing to file a required Form 4.
The law judge imposed cease-anddesist orders on Carley, Zacharias,
Geiger, and Kaufmann, barred Geiger
and Kaufmann from associating with
any broker or dealer, and barred Price
from associating with any broker or
dealer in a supervisory capacity. The
law judge ordered Carley and Zacharias
each to disgorge an amount representing
payments made to them in connection
with their unregistered sale of shares of
Starnet common stock. The law judge
also ordered Geiger and Kaufmann each
to disgorge fifty percent of the net
commissions that they earned on all
Starnet trades attributable to their joint
account number at Spencer Edwards
from January 1999 through February
2001. The law judge imposed penalties
of $400,000 against Geiger, $300,000
against Kaufmann, and $150,000 against
Price.
Carley, Zacharias, Geiger, Kaufmann,
and Price appeal the law judge’s
findings of violation and the sanctions
imposed by the law judge.
Among the issues likely to be
considered are:
(1) Whether respondents committed
the alleged violations; and
(2) If so, whether sanctions should be
imposed in the public interest.
The subject matter of the Closed
Meeting scheduled for Wednesday,
February 7, 2007 at 11 a.m. will be:
post-argument discussion.
The subject matter of the Closed
Meeting scheduled for Thursday,
February 8, 2007 will be: regulatory
matter regarding financial institution;
formal orders of investigation;
institution and settlement of injunctive
actions; institution and settlement of
administrative proceedings of an
enforcement nature; resolution of
litigation claims; an adjudicatory matter;
and other matters relating to
enforcement proceedings.
At times, changes in Commission
priorities require alterations in the
scheduling of meeting items.
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For further information and to
ascertain what, if any, matters have been
added, deleted or postponed, please
contact:
The Office of the Secretary at (202)
551–5400.
Dated: January 31, 2007.
Nancy M. Morris,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 07–474 Filed 1–31–07; 11:02 am]
BILLING CODE 8010–01–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[File No. 500–1]
In the Matter of Icon International
Holdings, Inc., Interchange Medical,
Inc., Outsource International, Inc., and
Smart Choice Automotive Group, Inc.;
Order of Suspension of Trading
January 31, 2007.
It appears to the Securities and
Exchange Commission that there is a
lack of current and accurate information
concerning the securities of Icon
International Holdings, Inc. because it
has not filed any periodic reports since
the period ended March 31, 2001.
It appears to the Securities and
Exchange Commission that there is a
lack of current and accurate information
concerning the securities of Interchange
Medical, Inc. because it has not filed
any periodic reports since the period
ended September 30, 2002.
It appears to the Securities and
Exchange Commission that there is a
lack of current and accurate information
concerning the securities of Outsource
International, Inc. because it has not
filed any periodic reports since the
period ended April 1, 2001.
It appears to the Securities and
Exchange Commission that there is a
lack of current and accurate information
concerning the securities of Smart
Choice Automotive Group, Inc. because
it has not filed any periodic reports
since the period ended January 31,
2002.
The Commission is of the opinion that
the public interest and the protection of
investors require a suspension of trading
in the securities of the above-listed
companies.
Therefore, it is ordered, pursuant to
Section 12(k) of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934, that trading in the abovelisted companies is suspended for the
period from 9:30 a.m. EST on January
31, 2007, through 11:59 p.m. EST on
February 13, 2007.
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02FEN1
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 22 / Friday, February 2, 2007 / Notices
By the Commission.
Nancy M. Morris,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 07–473 Filed 1–31–07; 11:25 am]
BILLING CODE 8010–01–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[Release No. 34–55179; File No. SR–Amex–
2007–08]
Self-Regulatory Organizations;
American Stock Exchange LLC; Notice
of Filing of Proposed Rule Change To
Establish a Passive Price Improvement
Order for Specialists and Registered
Traders
January 26, 2007.
Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(‘‘Act’’) 1 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder 2
notice is hereby given that on January
19, 2007, the American Stock Exchange
LLC (‘‘Amex’’ or ‘‘Exchange’’) filed with
the Securities and Exchange
Commission the proposed rule change
as described in Items I, II, and III below,
which Items have been substantially
prepared by the Exchange. The
Commission is publishing this notice to
solicit comments on the proposed rule
change from interested persons.
sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES
I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement of the Terms of Substance of
the Proposed Rule Change
The Amex proposes to amend its rules
with respect to its new AEMISM trading
platform and hybrid market structure for
equity products and exchange-traded
funds (‘‘ETFs’’), recently approved by
the Commission,3 to add a new Passive
Price Improvement (‘‘PPI’’) order type to
encourage Specialists and Registered
Traders to provide aggressing orders
with increased opportunities for price
improvement. PPI orders would be the
only method by which Specialists and
Registered Traders could offer price
improvement electronically and would
provide undisplayed liquidity that
reacts to aggressing orders according to
criteria met at the time of order entry.
PPI orders are intended to replicate in
part the dynamics of floor-based trading
in an electronic environment, and the
Exchange believes that they would act
as an incentive for the Exchange’s
Specialists and Registered Traders to
quote more aggressively and add
liquidity to the market. This should
1 15
U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
CFR 240.19b–4.
3 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 54552
(September 29, 2006), 71 FR 59546 (October 10,
2006).
2 17
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serve to assist the specialists and market
makers in maintaining the continuity
and depth of the marketplace, increase
the quality of the market, and dampen
volatility.
The text of the proposed rule change
is available on Amex’s Web site at
https://www.amex.com, at Amex’s Office
of the Secretary and at the
Commission’s Public Reference Room.
II. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement of the Purpose of, and
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule
Change
In its filing with the Commission, the
Exchange included statements
concerning the purpose of and basis for
the proposed rule change and discussed
any comments it received on the
proposed rule change. The text of these
statements may be examined at the
places specified in Item IV below. The
Exchange has prepared summaries, set
forth in sections (A), (B), and (C) below,
of the most significant aspects of such
statements.
A. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement of the Purpose of, and the
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule
Change
(1) Purpose
To encourage Specialists and
Registered Traders to provide aggressing
orders with increased opportunities for
price improvement, the Exchange is
proposing to adopt a new Passive Price
Improvement (‘‘PPI’’) order type. This
would be the only method by which
Specialists and Registered Traders could
offer price improvement electronically.
This interest would be undisplayed and
reside inside the APQ, and its purpose
is to offer price improvement to an
aggressing order. The ability to offer
price improvement would be linked to
the competitiveness and size of the
Amex liquidity provider’s own
displayed quote. PPI orders are intended
to replicate in part the dynamics of
floor-based trading in an electronic
environment and the Exchange believes
that they would act as an incentive for
the Exchange’s Specialists and
Registered Traders to quote more
aggressively and add liquidity to the
market. This should also serve to
maintain continuity and depth in the
marketplace as well as to increase the
quality of the market and dampen
volatility.
A Specialist or Registered Trader
could have only a single, undisplayed
PPI order per side in a particular
security on the AEMI Book at any point
in time, which must be inside the APQ
and would be permitted only if the user
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5091
has at least one quote for that side in the
AEMI Book. A PPI order would not form
part of the APQ and would be visible
only to the entering Specialist or
Registered Trader or his firm or group.
A PPI order on the AEMI Book could be
of any size, but its eligibility for
execution would be assessed at the time
of execution against an incoming order,
and would be based on the
competitiveness of the participant’s
quote at that time.
AEMI would make a PPI order eligible
for execution if at least one of the
following two conditions is met;
otherwise AEMI would ignore the PPI
order:
1. The Specialist’s or Registered
Trader’s displayed quote is at the APQ
on the side of the PPI order that would
be executed. In this case, the PPI order
would be executed up to (a) the size of
the Specialist’s or Registered Trader’s
displayed quote or (b) the size of the
incoming order, whichever is smaller.
Any balance of the PPI order would be
considered ineligible to trade against the
incoming order and will be ignored.
2. The Specialist’s or Registered
Trader’s displayed quote is (i) one tick
away from the APQ on the side of the
PPI order that would be executed, and
(ii) at least double the size of the APQ
on the side of the PPI order that would
be executed. In this case, the PPI order
would be executed up to (a) half of the
size of the Specialist’s or Registered
Trader’s displayed quote or (b) the size
of the incoming order, whichever is
smaller. Any balance of the PPI order
would be considered ineligible to trade
against the incoming order and would
be ignored.
In both cases, as with other aggressing
orders, intermarket sweep orders would
be generated to clear any better-priced
protected quotations at other markets.
The two conditions above balance the
need to provide meaningful price
improvement opportunities in the form
of undisplayed liquidity with the need
to ensure the competitiveness of
displayed quotations.
The AEMI platform would ignore (i.e.,
make ineligible for execution against an
aggressing order, without canceling) a
PPI order on the AEMI Book that locks
or crosses the automated NBBO or APQ
as a result of a change in the automated
NBBO or APQ or equals the APQ on the
same side of the market. If there are
multiple PPI orders at the same price,
the Specialist’s PPI order would take
priority over a Registered Trader’s PPI
order. This provision recognizes the fact
that Specialists have higher capital
requirements, more stringent quoting
obligations, and more trading
obligations (both negative and
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Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 22 (Friday, February 2, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5090-5091]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 07-473]
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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[File No. 500-1]
In the Matter of Icon International Holdings, Inc., Interchange
Medical, Inc., Outsource International, Inc., and Smart Choice
Automotive Group, Inc.; Order of Suspension of Trading
January 31, 2007.
It appears to the Securities and Exchange Commission that there is
a lack of current and accurate information concerning the securities of
Icon International Holdings, Inc. because it has not filed any periodic
reports since the period ended March 31, 2001.
It appears to the Securities and Exchange Commission that there is
a lack of current and accurate information concerning the securities of
Interchange Medical, Inc. because it has not filed any periodic reports
since the period ended September 30, 2002.
It appears to the Securities and Exchange Commission that there is
a lack of current and accurate information concerning the securities of
Outsource International, Inc. because it has not filed any periodic
reports since the period ended April 1, 2001.
It appears to the Securities and Exchange Commission that there is
a lack of current and accurate information concerning the securities of
Smart Choice Automotive Group, Inc. because it has not filed any
periodic reports since the period ended January 31, 2002.
The Commission is of the opinion that the public interest and the
protection of investors require a suspension of trading in the
securities of the above-listed companies.
Therefore, it is ordered, pursuant to Section 12(k) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, that trading in the above-listed
companies is suspended for the period from 9:30 a.m. EST on January 31,
2007, through 11:59 p.m. EST on February 13, 2007.
[[Page 5091]]
By the Commission.
Nancy M. Morris,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 07-473 Filed 1-31-07; 11:25 am]
BILLING CODE 8010-01-P