SEC suspends trading in 26 companies

WASHINGTON - The Securities and Exchange Commission suspended trading in shares of 26 small companies, including a health Web site named for former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, on Wednesday because they failed to file required periodic financial reports.

The SEC began last June halting trading in companies for delinquent reporting, as a way to protect investors by preventing stock manipulation. The agency said the companies' failure to submit the reports means there is a lack of current and accurate information about them.

The halts began at the start of trading Wednesday. The shares will be allowed to resume trading on Dec. 15 if the companies file the required reports. Most of the companies' shares are traded on the National Association of Securities Dealers' OTC Bulletin Board, an electronic trading system for small stocks that are thinly traded.

The SEC suspends trading in stocks from time to time, but a suspension of numerous companies at the same time is fairly rare. The agency suspended trading in another batch of 26 small companies in June for delinquent reporting.

The company operating the site named for Koop, DrKoop.Com Inc., was once worth more than $1 billion but collapsed a few years after going public. It was sold in bankruptcy court for $186,000 to vitamin retailer Vitacost in the summer of 2002.

Koop originally was paid $10,000 for the right to use his name on the site.

The other 25 companies affected by the SEC's action are: 1st Miracle Entertainment Inc., Abacan Resources Corp., Advanced Solutions and Technologies Inc., American Multiplexer Corp., Amitelo Communications Inc., Asset Equity Group Inc., Comparator Systems Corp., Digi Link Technologies Inc., DMT Energy Inc., Emerging Enterprise Solutions Inc., First Pacific Networks Inc., Gemz Inc., Heroes Inc., Homeland Security Technology Inc., Household Direct Inc., Infotopia Inc., International Brands Inc., JTS Corp., Interspace Enterprises Inc., Mega Micro Technologies Group Inc., Shaman Pharmaceuticals Inc., United States Crude International Inc., Vertical Computer Systems Inc., Webvan Group Inc. and Whitehall Enterprises Inc.

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Securities and Exchange Commission: http://www.sec.gov