American Energy Announces Settlement of SEC Lawsuit.HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 18, 1999--The American Energy Group, Ltd. (OTC OTC See: Over-the-counter. OTC See over-the-counter market (OTC). :BB "AMEL") announced today that it has reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a civil lawsuit filed by the SEC on April 24, 1997, against the company and its President, Bradley J. Simmons. In the lawsuit, the SEC sought civil penalties, injunctive relief injunctive relief n. a court-ordered act or prohibition against an act or condition which has been requested, and sometimes granted, in a petition to the court for an injunction. and a bar against Mr. Simmons from serving as an officer and director of any publicly traded company publicly traded company A company whose shares of common stock are held by the public and are available for purchase by investors. The shares of publicly traded firms are bought and sold on the organized exchanges or in the over-the-counter market. based on allegations that specific press releases issued and filings made by the Company in 1995 contained misleading statements or omitted material information and thereby violated certain provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Company and Mr. Simmons agreed to the settlement without admitting or denying the allegations in the SEC's lawsuit in order to avoid further costs of protracted pro·tract tr.v. pro·tract·ed, pro·tract·ing, pro·tracts 1. To draw out or lengthen in time; prolong: disputants who needlessly protracted the negotiations. 2. litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. and disruption to the Company. The terms of the settlement were incorporated in a final judgement entered by the Court on January 15, 1999. Under the terms of the final judgement, the Company and Mr. Simmons agreed to a permanent injunction permanent injunction n. a final order of a court that a person or entity refrain from certain activities permanently or take certain actions (usually to correct a nuisance) until completed. prohibiting them from engaging in violations of certain specified anti-fraud and reporting provisions in the federal securities laws. Although Mr. Simmons agreed to pay a civil penalty in the amount of $60,000.00, the final judgement imposes no bar upon Mr. Simmons and he remains the President and Chairman of the Board of the Company. The final judgement imposes no civil penalty on the Company. Moreover, it adopts a remedy previously implemented by the Company on its own initiative to insure the accuracy and adequacy of its public disclosures, namely, the establishment of an independent Disclosure Committee to oversee all such public disclosures in the future. The function of the Disclosure Committee is to monitor and review the content of each proposed public disclosure in light of the nature and materiality MATERIALITY. That which is important; that which is not merely of form but of substance. 2. When a bill for discovery has been filed, for example, the defendant must answer every material fact which is charged in the bill, and the test in these cases seems to of the information being published. The composition of the Disclosure Committee is subject to strict criteria and the Company is required to continue its existence for a minimum of four years. The parties agreed that this was an appropriate remedial effort to enhance the quality of the Company's public disclosures. The Company emphasized the importance of resolving this matter in order to continue to focus its efforts and resources on current exploration projects, including the further development of its Pakistan Concession. The American Energy Group, Ltd. is an independent oil and gas exploration, drilling, and production company based in Houston, Texas “Houston” redirects here. For other uses, see Houston (disambiguation). Houston (pronounced /'hjuːstən/) is the largest city in the state of Texas and the , involved with both domestic and international exploration projects. |
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