UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 15391 / June 24, 1997 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Nicholas F. Coscia, United States District Court, District of Nevada, Civil Action No. CVS-97-0074-PMP (RLH) The Commission announced that on June 18, 1997 Nicholas F. Coscia ("Coscia") a California attorney, was permanently enjoined by consent from future violations of the antifraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act") and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange Act"). Coscia's consent was without admitting or denying the allegations in the Commission's complaint. The Commission's complaint alleged that in May 1988 Carl E. Lovell ("Lovell"), a Las Vegas Attorney, and Danna Wale ("Wale"), incorporated Triste Corporation ("Triste") in the State of Nevada and then conducted a controlled initial public offering and sale of Triste securities by having all of the shares purchased by a group of investors acting in concert under their instructions creating a "box job". Philip Sindler ("Sindler"), a southern California stock promoter, learned that Lovell could provide him with public shell corporations whose securities he could control. In late 1988, Sindler and Coscia met with Lovell and Wale. At that meeting Lovell committed that he could provide one hundred percent of the purportedly publicly owned shares of Triste at a price of five cents per share. According to the complaint, Lovell told Sindler and Coscia that he could deliver all of the stock through accounts in the names of his controlled shareholders at the Las Vegas branch office of Fitzgerald- Talman, Inc., a now defunct securities firm formerly based in Denver. Robert Glau ("Glau") was the broker on each of those accounts. The complaint further alleged that, pursuant to this agreement, in November 1988, all of the purportedly publicly owned shares of Triste were "sold" from Lovell's controlled shareholder's accounts at Fitzgerald Talman to Sindler's controlled accounts at Adams Securities at the pre-agreed prices, including 83,000 shares to the trading account of Ansantawae, Inc. controlled by Coscia. Sindler then merged Triste with another corporation. Adams Securities later sold the stocks to the public at prices in the $1 to $3 range. On October 27, 1993 Coscia, Lovell and Wale were indicted by a federal grand jury in Las Vegas on charges of conspiracy, securities fraud and money laundering based upon their conduct in the scheme. Coscia and Lovell, as well as Sindler, Glau, and James - 2 - S. Adams, former principal of Admas Securities, all pled guilty to various criminal charges. In addition, Lovell, Wale, Sindler, ======END OF PAGE 1====== Adams and Glau were permanently enjoined and sanctioned in administrative proceedings. ======END OF PAGE 2======