Charles D. Ledford

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 16381 / December 8, 1999

FINAL JUDGMENT OF PERMANENT INJUNCTION ENTERED AGAINST CHARLES D. LEDFORD

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. CHARLES D. LEDFORD, Case No. 99-CV-27 SPM (N.D. Fla.)

The Commission announced that on September 23, 1999, the Honorable Stephen P. Mickle of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida entered a permanent injunction against Charles D. Ledford, with his consent, permanently enjoining him from violations of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act, and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and directing him to pay a civil penalty in the amount of $25,000. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Charles D. Ledford , Civil Action No. 99-CV-27 SPM (N.D. Fla.).

The Commission's Complaint alleged that from at least March 1995 through early 1997, Ledford caused ECO2, Inc. ("ECO2"), to issue false and misleading press releases designed to attract new investors to ECO2 and artificially inflate the price of ECO2's publicly traded stock, a penny stock within the meaning of Sections 15(b)(6) and 3(a)(51) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange Act"). ECO2, a Delaware company formerly headquartered in Hawthorne, Florida, established to provide solid waste tire management services to governmental, commercial and industrial entities through sales of a "tire recovery system" that purportedly utilized a pyrolysis process to recycle scrap tires into oil, carbon black, steel and methane gas by-products. According to the Commission's complaint, Ledford violated Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder by issuing press releases regarding negotiations between ECO2 and various entities for the purchase of ECO2's tire recovery systems, and at least one press release regarding present and future revenues of an ECO2 subsidiary, ECO Jet Systems, Inc.