More background on Lieberman and his companies.
( BOPT ) was not seemingly born to be a scam, and until 2005 looked to be a legitimate, if not shortsighted and mismanaged business. Originally a NASDAQ listed company, ( BOPT ) began life as Hungarian Teleconstruct Corporation, with the purported intent of constructing telephone exchanges in then newly free Hungary and the building of condominium units there. The progression of the communications world naturally led the company towards the internet and it reinvented itself as EuroWeb International Corporation with the announced purchase of 3 Internet Service Providers.
In April 2005, the company elected Moshe Schapp as a director and named him President. It was here that that the future BOPT set out on its true mission: to sucker suckers out of their money.
Previously profiled in a piece we did on Forex International Trading Corp ( FXIT ) , in which we correctly foresaw the unavoidable demise of that company, Moshe Schnapp is an Israeli national who left his native land to escape creditors, among them the Israeli Discount Bank, from whom he and his co-conspirators absconded with the equivalent of about $13 million. Since then, the bank has made efforts to collect the judgment in California, including having the judgment domesticated. Since his arrival in the USA, Mr. Schnapp has been a defendant in no less than a dozen lawsuits, almost all of which accuse him of having committed some sort of fraud in order to enrich himself. It is not coincidental that the slew of lawsuits that BOPT has since been named in as a defendant, largely began with the start of Mr. Schnapp's tenure. Having seen the writing on the wall, the company's CEO, Csaba Toro, resigned his positions as CEO and a director, soon after Mr. Schnapp's arrival.
Within months of Mr. Schnapp's assumption of the reigns of the company, he sold off the revenue generating assets and pointed the company towards real estate development. This is key, as over the years, Mr. Schnapp has been identified as a defendant in several court actions alleging real estate fraud. In other words, the newly named, EuroWeb, destined to be subject of several Pump & Dump operations, was heading in the direction Mr. Schnapp knew best: real estate schemes. In order to carry out his devious plans, Schnapp named his long time associate,Yossi Attia, as a director of the company, and soon after, President. Mr. Attia is also an Israeli national, who himself has been a defendant in dozens of lawsuits alleging fraud and/or unjust enrichment, including real estate fraud. A well established partnership with a history of alleged real estate frauds, Schnapp and Attia have been co-defendants in numerous lawsuits. As just one of many examples, a complaint filed by Wachovia Bank accuses the pair and their partners of defrauding the bank of over a million dollars in a fraudulent real estate scheme.
During the company's life as a real estate developer, it merged with Emvelco Corporation, headed by future Schnapp-Attia wonder boy, Darren Dunckel, the husband of actress Erin Murphy (Tabitha of the "Bewitched" series). EuroWeb took on the Emvelco name, and under its new moniker, took on a number of money losing real estate ventures, including the infamous Verge Living project in Las Vegas, now bankrupt and for which lawsuits alleging fraud, were filed all over the place. The failure of Emvelco as a real estate developer did not prevent the Schnapp-Attia-Dunckel triumvirate from pocketing the significant benefits of stock sales.
Having maxed out the ability to sucker investors into buying shares of Emvelco, the company was reinvented into Vortex Corporation, this time purporting to be producing natural gas wells in Texas, and even having the nerve to compare itself to Chesapeake Energy ( CHK ). The boys were able to con international energy industry executive, Michael Mustafoglu, to represent the company as its President, but Mr. Mustafoglu only stuck around for the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee, as he quickly realized that his sole mission was to act as a figurehead in order to give the sham some credibility, while Schnapp and Attia pulled the strings. To his credit, Mr. Mustafoglu quickly got out of Dodge. Having already turned their names to mud as a result of their numerous cons, the boys found Dunckel willing to pretend to be in charge of the Vortex scheme.
The Vortex scheme lasted only a few months, just enough time for the powers-that-be to benefit from a few phony press releases and an accompanying Pump & Dump campaign, followed up by a "screw the public", 1 for 100 reverse split. Within 8 months of its change of name, the company announced another change in direction and name. This time, the company was to be known as Yasheng Eco-Trade Corporation, and purported to be engaging in the development of a logistics center. An explanation of the whereabouts of the "valuable" gas and oil assets the company previous claimed to own was never proffered. Another Pump & Dump campaign commenced, with this new 180 degree turn as the catalyst, and again the boys were able to pocket some nice profits.
The Yasheng Eco-Trade con job did not survive a year. Management of Yasheng Group ( YHGG ), the real, revenue producing, Chinese company that the boys hoped to partner with their reborn stock scheme, figured out whom they were dealing with and quickly informed Schnapp et al. that they wanted no part of any of their schemes. Adding to the boys' problem, was a lawsuit brought by Trafalgar Capital, who had been convinced that they were financing (to the tune of $2 million) the development of gas wells. Under the financing agreement, proceeds from the producing wells were to be submitted to Trafalgar in repayment of the loan. The negotiated (and then failed) merger with Yasheng Group would mean that Vortex (now Yasheng Eco-Trade) would become a logistics company, even though it had recently extracted $2 million from Trafalgar to produce gas wells. What it really meant was that Vortex/Yasheng Eco-Trade never actually owned any gas wells and the Trafalgar Capital had been had. While the boys were misrepresenting themselves to Trafalgar, they also misrepresented themselves to the shareholders by announcing a never executed stock repurchase program, in order to support the ongoing Pump & Dump. In fact, instead of buying back shares, the boys decided to execute a 1 for 100 reverse split of the stock stock without ever telling anyone. Shareholders woke up one morning to find that their holdings had been cut by 99%.
In a settlement of the Trafalgar Capital lawsuit, the Schnapp-Attia-Dunckel triumvirate got off easy by giving up control of the shell to Trafalgar, who in turn handed it off to William Lieberman. After changing the name of the company to its current Eco-Trade Corporation, Lieberman put the shell into hibernation for a couple of years in an attempt to rid the company of its smelly past, distribute stock to his cronies, and mature some phony debt.
THE MANY SCAMS OF WILLIAM LIEBERMAN
Public companies under the leadership of William Lieberman have created almost $100 million in losses to the public. His last debacle was Fox Petroleum ( FXTP ), currently assigned "caveat emptor" status by OTC Markets, and an issue we tracked in several advisories, which can be retrieved by clicking here , here and here . During its Pump & Dump campaign, FXPT claimed to be involved in the acquisition of oil and gas assets, specifically Renfro Energy, a popular pretend asset, which was previously claimed to be acquired by Brazos International Exploration ( BRZL ), during its own Pump & Dump campaign a year before. Once the scam was played out and the public was relieved of no less than $15 million, and as is typical with Lieberman cons, the FXPT press releases came to a screeching halt.
Still, FXPT bag holders have not taken the beating that those that got stuck with Trilliant Exporlation ( TTXP ) shares took, during Lieberman's last manipulation of that stock. At that time, Lieberman pretended that TTXP was producing gold and other non-existent minerals. Curiously, through all the time that the company claimed to be a producer, it never registered a dime in revenues. Once the TTXP pumping and press releases stopped, bag holders began to enjoy about $60 million in losses. Nice job, Bill. It appears that TTXP is now ramping up a new con job after two years of quiet time. It should surprise no one if Lieberman stands to benefit from another TTXP Pump & Dump.
Lieberman also continues to be involved with Mammoth Energy ( MMTE ), this one pretending to be in the lithium exploration game. Since Lieberman took over the reigns of the company, its stock has been diluted by no less than 500% and investors have lost a minimum of $20 million. With 13 billion shares outstanding, this one is extremely likely to add insult to injury with a significant reverse split, before becoming serious about a new Pump & Dump. Interestingly, MMTE shares the same mail box address with TTXP .
Needless to say, Mr. Lieberman's name has become mud in the penny stock investment community, so it is no surprise that he pretended to remove himself from the management of BOPT , now that it looks like it is about to make a serious run at stealing more money from the public's pockets.
THE NEW SCAM
Perhaps no purported asset has been more utilized in Pump & Dump schemes than worthless properties existing on the Montana side of the Williston Basin. The basin itself is a real producing oil and gas bonanza, the majority of which has been on the Saskatchewan-South Dakota or east side of the basin. Montana has provided a few producing wells, but almost anything with serious production levels has already been claimed by the majors. The Montana side of the basin has produced plenty of cash for those unscrupulous people looking to benefit from the hype they can create promoting visions of grandeur for ignorant investors.
Of course the dubious history of the Montana side of the Williston Basin does not, in itself, mean that these particular leases are worthless. But let's look at some red flags which point towards the reality that this deal is a sham.
Aside from the history of BOPT , which is red flag enough on ts own, the company claimed in an 8-K filing , that it acquired its oil lease rights through the purchase of BakkenQuest, LLC from Lanin Group Corp. We could not find any such corporation (Lanin Group) anywhere, nor could we find that it had previously done business with anyone else. But let's pretend that that doesn't matter. According to Bizapedia.com , BakkenQuest, LLC was formed on December 2, 2011. That means that BOPT is purchasing a company that is just over a year old.
12 days after BakkenQuest, LLC was formed, it purchased the lease rights to the State owned acreage that BOPT is pounding its chest over. According to the Fairfield Sun Times , BakkenQuest purchased the lease rights as 29 parcels, with a 480 acre parcel "taking top dollar" of $52.00 per acre. Now we don't know what was paid for the remainder of the 5800 acres, but even if we assume that they all went for $52 per acre, that would mean that the lease rights to the entire 5800 acres went for $301,600.
One year after BakkenQuest purchased the oil and gas rights, and according to the 8-K filed by BOPT , the company purchased BakkenQuest from Lanin Group for $1,500,000 and 150 million shares of BOPT , currently worth $60 million. Nice rate of return, wouldn't you agree?
Furthermore, BOPT claims to have fulfilled the the $1.5 million payout to Lanin Group on December 3, 2012. We see zero assets on the company's latest 10-Q filing , nor do we see any filings which would suggest that BOPT received funds to fulfill the purchase agreement, making the likelihood of a cash transaction seem remote.
Finally, should BOPT not spend $5.5 million on the development of the land by the end of 2013, Lanin has the right to take back 60% of BakkenQuest, LLC. Not where do you suppose that BOPT , with its history of scams and the dubious record of Mr. Lieberman, is going to get $5.5 million? It's not. No money was exchanged. The purchase agreement was designed with numbers geared towards creating a facade, thus over-inflating the value of the lease rights. The whole thing is obviously a sham.
BOPT is another typical Lieberman deal, destined to head to a value of zero.
http://www.pumpsanddumps.com/2013/04/bopt-pro....html#more
