U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 19836 / September 15, 2006
SEC v. Mobile Billboards of America, Inc., International Payphone Company, Reserve Guaranty Trust, Michael A. Lomas and Michael L. Young, Civil Action No. 1:04-CV-2763 (NDGA)
The Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") announced that on September 6, 2006, it filed a second application for an order to show cause why defendant Michael A. Lomas should not be held in civil contempt for his violation of the Court's September 21, 2004, and December 9, 2005, orders. The application alleges that Lomas withdrew over $382,800 from accounts that he controlled after the Court entered an Order freezing his assets on September 21, 2004, and that he failed to turn over his assets after the Court entered a Contempt Order on December 9, 2005. The application seeks to have Lomas held in civil contempt for his violation of the court orders, and for the Court to compel Lomas to testify about his assets and to return the funds to the frozen accounts.
The Commission filed a civil injunctive action against Mobile Billboards of America, Inc. ("Mobile Billboards"), International Payphone Company itself and doing business as Outdoor Media Industries, Reserve Guaranty Trust, Michael L. Young, and Lomas on September 21, 2004. The complaint alleged that from 2001 through September 2004, Lomas, the chairman of the board of Mobile Billboards, and others operated a Ponzi scheme involving the sale and leaseback of mobile billboards, selling more than $60.5 million of mobile billboard investments to more than 700 investors nationwide in violation of the federal securities laws.
See also: L.R. No. 18893, September 20, 2004; and L.R. No. 19354, August 31, 2005.