Actualización 2 de Mayo de 2008

Con el fin de facilitar su localización y posterior lectura, incorporamos las últimas actualizaciones llevadas a cabo en el Blog:

* Artículo de la OCU publicado en el número 81 de su revista "Dinero y Derechos" (Marzo-Abril 2004), en el que cuestionaba las prácticas empresariales de AFINSA, Bienes Tangibles, S.A.

* Rectificación a dicho artículo realizada a través del mismo medio (Revista Dinero y Derechos), nº 83 Julio-Agosto 2004).

* Carte remitida a Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer, LLP por D. José María Sempere, en la que exige una inmediata rectificación a las declaraciones realizadas por elpropio Robert Kaplan tras la suspensión cautelar de AFINSA, en las que realizaba graves acusaciones coontra ambas compañías: Escala Group y AFINSA, Bienes Tangibles tal y como recoge el siguiente artículo:

Judge: OK to sue scandal-scarred Escala
BY ROBERT E. KESSLER
robert.kessler@newsday.com

A federal judge has ruled that a shareholders' civil fraud lawsuit can proceed against Escala, a major stamp-and-coin dealer that has become embroiled in the collapse of a Spanish pension fund and whose key officers included two Saltaire residents.

The residents are Gregory Manning, the company's founder, and Scott Rosenblum, the mayor of the Fire Island community. However, in his ruling Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan said the shareholders could not, as they also wished, sue Manning or Rosenblum as individuals at this time.

Manhattan-based Escala, which, along with Sotheby's and Christie's, was one of the world's biggest dealers in rare stamps and coins, admitted in June that it is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, following the collapse of its stock in the wake of the Spanish government closing one of its major customers, Madrid-based Afinsa, amid allegations of a massive criminal fraud.

Afinsa was one of the largest pension funds in Spain. But that country's government raided the firm's offices in May, saying the business was nothing more than a Ponzi scheme with its assets based on overvalued stamps that mainly had been sold to it by Escala.

In the aftermath, Afinsa collapsed, leading to 300,000 Spaniards losing several billion dollars in pension funds. Afinsa also owned a majority interest in Escala while buying stamps from it in a series of complicated transactions.

A number of Afinsa officials have been arrested on criminal fraud charges by Spanish officials. Escala officials in the United States, including Manning and Rosenblum, have not been charged criminally in either this country or Spain.

Manning and Rosenblum did not return calls Wednesday seeking comment. Attorneys for Escala and company's officers and directors, including Manning and Rosenblum, have denied they were involved in any wrongdoing.

After the scandal broke in Spain, the value of Escala stock dropped from a high of $35 a share to $4.34 in May. Escala was delisted by Nasdaq stock market in January for failure to file adequate financial reports and now only trades as an over-the-counter stock.

In court papers, Robert Kaplan, the attorney for the shareholders, said of the alleged fraud: "Escala participated in a scheme with Afinsa under which stamps with little or no value were given artificially inflated values through various means, including sham auctions, auctioning parts of collections and valuing the remainder of the collections at the high price of the few valuable stamps that were auctioned, selling stamps at artificially inflated prices with related parties and manipulating the alleged value of stamps in published catalogs."
As a result of these activities, Escala overstated its actual income 67 percent to 91 percent, Kaplan said in the suit. In the third quarter of 2004, for example, he claimed, Escala reported a net income of $5.134 million, while its actual income was $440,000.

In court Tuesday, attorneys for Escala and its officers said none of the officials of the company was aware what was occurring at Afinsa.

In allowing the stockholders' suit to go forward, Hellerstein said the shareholders had not shown any actions on the part of the officers and directors, including Manning and Rosenblum, that could implicate them in any fraudulent scheme.

Hellerstein gave the shareholders until the end of May to gather evidence to persuade him to change his decision.

Manning, who also has a home in Far Hills, N.J., turned Escala into a major figure in the stamp and coin world, buying up smaller companies around the globe. The company name is Spanish for ladder.

Manning resigned from the company in December, saying, "I have greatly enjoyed my many years at the Escala group, and I now look forward to having the time and ability to pursue other opportunities."

Escala director Rosenblum is a well-known Manhattan attorney with the firm of Kremer, Levin, Naftalis & Frankel.

Hellerstein, in his ruling, noted he had worked with Rosenblum while in private practice, but did not believe that should cause him to have another judge appointed to the case. The attorneys for both sides agreed.

After the hearing, Kaplan, the attorney for the stockholders, declined comment, as did Arthur Aufses, attorney for Escala, and Scott Reynolds, attorney for Manning, Rosenblum and several other company directors and officers. An SEC spokesman also declined to comment on the investigation.