Bermuda Stock Exchange Delists Equity Broking Company

by Mike Godfrey, Investors Offshore, New York

25 November 2002

The Bermuda Stock Exchange has announced the de-listing of Mezzanine Capital Ltd. In a press release dated November 12, 2002, the BSX stated: "The Bermuda Stock Exchange today announced the voluntary withdrawal from listing of Mezzanine Capital Ltd. (MEZZ BH). The withdrawal from listing was made at the request of the Company."

On-line information service Offshore Alert says it has often exposed Mezzanine Capital's involvement in fraudulently-operated, publicly-traded firms in the United States.

'Mezzanine,' says Offshore Alert, 'seems to exist to provide capital of questionable value to loss-making, publicly-traded firms in the US, whose insiders, including Mezzanine shareholders, make money from stock manipulation, related party transactions and other activity.'

Mezzanine Capital describes itself as 'a publicly held Bermuda closed-end investment holding company specializing in equity investments, bridge financing, and investment banking services to publicly traded, or to be publicly traded, small-cap companies. In order to enhance Mezzanine's net asset value and provide sustained growth,while minimizing risk, Mezzanine will accumulate and maintain an internationally diversified portfolio of long term equity investments.'

The company also advertises its affiliate Mezzanine Fund Management, Ltd in Nassau, The Bahamas, and has a US mailing address at 3857 Birch Street, Suite 606 Newport Beach, CA 92660.

According to Offshore Alert, the principal officer of Mezzanine Capital is Eric Chess Bronk, a California-licensed attorney, who paid $1.1 million in 1991 to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to settle an investigation into his role in a failed savings and loan institution in which regulators suspected fraud and embezzlement. Bronk denied any wrongdoing.

Bronk, says Offshore Alert, has been a defendant in two federal civil lawsuits alleging racketeering, one in Kansas City in 1988 and another filed in California in 1999, although it appeared that neither resulted in a judgment against him.

The Bermuda Stock Exchange is regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority, and was recognised by the SEC in 1996 as a 'designated offshore securities market'. It is not bound by EU listing directives or by SEC or FSA regulations. The BSX lists a total of 386 securities, of which the majority are investment funds.

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