Christopher Wolf

LITIGATION RELEASE NO. LR-16189 / June 16, 1999

SEC SUES CHRISTOPHER WOLF FOR FRAUD INVOLVING SALES OF AUXER STOCK

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION V. CHRISTOPHER WOLF, 99-CIV- 3377 (E.D.N.Y)

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the filing of a complaint on June 16, 1999 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, alleging that Christopher Wolf orchestrated the fraudulent sale of stock in Auxer Industries, Inc. ("Auxer"), from a New York City branch office of Vision Investment Group, Inc. ("Vision"), a now defunct, registered broker-dealer.

The Complaint alleged as follows:

From approximately July through December 1995, Wolf, and registered and unregistered salespeople under his direction defrauded customers of Vision in connection with their purchase of stock in Auxer. Wolf owned and operated a branch office of Vision, even though he was never registered with Vision in any capacity. Wolf and the salespeople under his control (1) made misrepresentations to customers about Auxer and its future prospects; (2) made price predictions for the Auxer stock without having a reasonable basis for making those predictions; (3) purchased Auxer stock for customers without those customers' authorization to do so; and (4) failed to disclose that they were receiving cash compensation for selling Auxer stock. In addition, those salespeople who were not registered with Vision falsely identified themselves as one of the people actually registered. The customer purchases were filled with stock Wolf held in two accounts at Vision, also without the customers' knowledge. The total proceeds from the stock sales were approximately $7 million.

As a result of the conduct described above Wolf violated Sections 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933; Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The Complaint seeks permanent injunctive relief; disgorgement of Wolf's ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest; and civil penalties.

The SEC wishes to acknowledge the assistance of the New York Stock Exchange and the Swedish securities regulator, Finansinspektionen, in connection with this case.