A Kiwi entrepreneur has been accused in United States courts of inventing stories about an anti-anthrax drug and making a fortune by duping investors.
George Russell Taylor, 67, has been extradited from his home in Scotland to the US to answer charges that he and six others made
money by peddling worthless shares to gullible buyers.
Taylor is accused of manufacturing stories about a wonder cure that fought dangerous bacteria, driving the share value of his company, 2DoTrade, to a stock market valuation of $30 million.
It emerged that the company's only asset was $33 in a bank account.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission alleged the "pump and dump" scheme centred on the businessmen claiming their company had $300 million in contracts, including the anthrax vaccine.
Much of the case has already been heard - without Taylor. As his co-defendants have appeared and been found against, he has spent four years fighting extradition, claiming his health was too poor to fly, or even travel by ship to the US.
Even though hearings have gone ahead without him, the commission found Taylor was instrumental in setting up 2DoTrade and bringing the group of accused men together.
Further, he arranged the press release system which was used to ramp up the company's share price.
Taylor has been living in Britain for about 15 years, and was imprisoned there for two years in 1992 after being convicted of conspiracy to commit theft.
The commission claimed the defendants "exploited the nation's fear of terrorism with false and misleading claims about an anti-anthrax compound".
The claims were made in press releases sent out by the company soon after the September 11 attacks, as businesses and politicians became targets for real and hoax anthrax scares.
In the month before the press releases went out, the value of the company's shares ranged between 9c and 20c. Afterwards, share prices rose to 58c. The accused then dumped their stakes in the company, making about $1 million.
