SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 16965 / April 17, 2001
SEC v. Sunset Investment Group, Inc., James Brown, Pinnacle Capital Advisors, and Austin Tanner, Civ. No. 01-M-0358 (District of Colorado)
Today, the Commission announced the entry of a consent order by the U.S. District Court (District of Colorado) enjoining Pinnacle Capital Advisors ("Pinnacle") and Austin Tanner from future violations of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws. The Commission sued Pinnacle and Tanner in February 2001 for making false and misleading performance claims and testimonials appearing on three different websites, namely OptionInvestor.com, SplitTrader.com, and NetBulls.com, and in press releases. See Litigation Release No. 34-16913/March 1, 2001. Tanner, from Westchester, Illinois, and his company Pinnacle, created the homepages of the websites and drafted the performance claims and testimonials.
Without admitting or denying the allegations in the Complaint, Pinnacle and Tanner consented to the entry of the Order that permanently enjoins them from violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and orders them to pay a civil money penalty of $20,000.