Carnegie International Corporation Files Suit Against 'Internet Interlopers'.

Business & Technology Editors, Legal Writers

BALTIMORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 29, 2000

The following is an announcement by Carnegie International Corporation:

Carnegie International Corporation said today it has initiated a lawsuit against individuals who have used Internet chat rooms to publish and propagate "false and misleading statements about the company, its executives and its employees."

The individuals, whose legal identities are unknown, used the screen names "Centralscrutinzer999," "Devilsdunce," and "Fagnum_p_i," to post what Carnegie called defamatory messages regarding the company.

E. David Gable, Carnegie's chairman, said "Yahoo and other Internet services will be subpoenaed to identify and release names of the Internet interlopers who posted malicious messages," noting that Carnegie will pursue legal actions against all concerned. In similar cases, Gable said Yahoo and other Internet service providers (ISPs) have cooperated with authorities.

The action was filed by Carnegie in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland in response to what Gable termed "blatantly false and inflammatory messages" that have appeared since the company filed its Form 10-KSB/A with the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 25, 2000.

D. Christopher Ohly, an attorney at Blank Rome Comisky & McCauley, LLP, which is representing Carnegie in the action, said "companies such as Carnegie are left with virtually no other recourse then to sue when unidentified persons, acting in a cowardly and anonymous manner, misuse the Internet to publish false and damaging statements and material.

"Persons who broadcast false statements for the purpose and effect of harming a company's reputation and the market value of its shares must be held legally accountable for their malicious actions," Ohly said. "Carnegie's lawsuit demonstrates that it is not sitting by while libelous and damaging statements about the company and its executives are being broadcast on the Internet."

Carnegie also said it intends to reapply for a NASDAQ/AMEX listing, or may trade on the NASDAQ OTC Bulletin Board in the interim. The company said it is nearing completion of an internal committee review concerning its relationship with its former auditor, Grant Thornton LLP, and that a statement relating to that review will be made shortly.

Carnegie International Corporation is an Internet support and computer telephony holding company with specialization in telecommunications products, services and distribution, and in E-Commerce and EDI.

Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for forward-looking statements. Certain information included in this Press Release (as well as information in oral statements or other written statements made or to be made by Carnegie International Corporation) contain statements that are forward-looking, such as statements relating to the future anticipated direction of the telecommunications industry, plans for future expansion, various business development activities, planned capital expenditures, future funding sources, anticipated sales growth, and potential contracts. Such forward-looking information involves important risks and uncertainties that could significantly affect anticipated results in the future, and accordingly, such results may differ from those expressed in any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of Carnegie International Corporation. These risks and uncertainties included, but are not limited to, those relating to development and expansion activities, dependence on existing management, financing activities, domestic and global economic conditions, change in Federal or state laws, and market competition factors.