Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Donald Lines Awarded US$3.3 Million; Court Finds SEC Process Server Committed Fraud

Hamilton, Bermuda – June 11th, 2008 - LOM (Holdings) Limited (“ LOM”) announced that the Superior Court of Massachusetts has ruled in favor of LOM’s chairman, Donald P. Lines, in his suit against Stokes & Levin, Inc. (“Stokes”), a Massachusetts process serving company, awarding Mr. Lines damages in excess of US$3 million. The Court found that Mr. Lines was never served administrative subpoenas issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) in November 2005, contrary to repeated claims by Stokes and the SEC in court documents and in the media.
Judge Robert Cosgrove referred to the “shadow this incident has unfairly cast over his [Mr. Lines] good name,” and added, “To the extent that I can give him that back on behalf of this court, I’m happy to do so.”
In its June 6, 2008 ruling, the court found that “Stokes & Levin did not serve the SEC subpoenas on Mr. Lines in November 2005, that Stokes & Levin willfully, deceptively and unfairly generated a false Return of Service…”. Among other things, the Court found that Stokes & Levin committed fraud and unfair and deceptive acts and practices by falsely certifying that it served Mr. Lines.
The lawsuit arose out of a representation made by the SEC to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in December 2005, claiming that the “SEC staff personally served Donald Lines” with administrative third party witness subpoenas. The SEC further represented that Mr. Lines and LOM were “flouting” those subpoenas. The SEC made similar representations to the press. The SEC has, to date, failed to correct these false statements.
“An egregious wrong was committed against Mr. Lines. Contrary to the strident public statements made by the SEC suggesting Mr. Lines had been served with SEC formal process, the Court has made an express finding that he was not,” said Henry Sullivan, Mr. Lines’ attorney. “The award to Mr. Lines is exceptional and reflects the seriousness of the injustice done to him. We believe this ruling will restore Mr. Lines' reputation in the business community.”
About LOM
LOM is a publicly-held, international financial services company, providing a complete range of investment services and products through its regulated subsidiaries in Bermuda, Bahamas and Grand Cayman. In business for 15 years, LOM today has over $1 billion in client assets under administration and provides brokerage, asset management, and corporate finance services to its high net-worth individual and institutional customers in over 75 countries around the world. The parent company, LOM (Holdings) Limited, is publicly listed on the Bermuda Stock Exchange (symbol LOM BH). The consolidated group is debt-free and has shareholder's equity of over $21 million.
Contact: media@lom.com

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