SEC sues over promotions by Las Vegas firm

Grace Leong

Friday, Nov. 1, 2002 | 11:11 a.m.

The Securities and Exchange Commission sued two former Las Vegas men in U.S. District Court for Nevada on Thursday, alleging they violated federal securities laws by issuing false public statements about a publicly traded but defunct Las Vegas entertainment development company called Greater Northwest Research & Development Co.

Homer Langrill, whom the SEC described as a recidivist securities violator with multiple felony convictions, and Thomas Becker, a former Greater Northwest chairman and chief executive, were accused by the SEC of selling restricted company stock in unregistered transactions for profits of at least $24,537 and $46,400 respectively.

The defendants were accused of making false statements between Jan. 30 and late June in several press releases, on the Internet and in a television infomercial about the identity of its directors, its legal status, financial condition, acquisition of other companies, future financial performance and eligibility for quotation on the OTC Bulletin Board.

The SEC said the defendants failed to disclose in the public statements that Langrill, a convicted felon, was "a control person" at Greater Northwest, failed to report their ownership and sales of Greater Northwest stock and failed to file six annual reports and 19 quarterly reports since August 1996.

Langrill, whom the SEC said is serving a two-year prison term in the Federal Detention Center in Seattle, was convicted in September 1998 on charges of passing fictitious checks in Oregon and sentenced to 30 months in prison and five years of supervised release. He was also convicted on two separate charges of wire fraud in June 1988 in Virginia and sentenced to three years and 16 months in prison.

He was also convicted in Guatemala in 1985 for grand theft and fraud and served 12 months in a Guatemalan prison and is wanted in Switzerland for leaving the country without paying $15,000 in rent and telephone bills, the SEC suit said.

The SEC wants a court order requiring the defendants to disgorge all "ill-gotten" gains and pay civil penalties for the alleged securities law violations. They also want an order prohibiting the defendants from serving as officers and directors of a public company and participating in any penny stock offering.

The defendants could not be reached for comment.