Release:#3955-96 (Civ. No. 94-1256)

For Release:October 15, 1996

CALIFORNIA COURT ISSUES PERMANENT INJUNCTIONS AGAINST LIDA INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL DATA AND WORTH FINANCIAL DATA IN CONNECTION WITH ILLEGAL OFF-EXCHANGE FUTURES CASE, ALSO INVOLVING TOPWORTH INTERNATIONAL OF HONG KONG AS A DEFENDANT

Lida and Worth Agree to Pay a Total of $900,000 in Disgorgement

WASHINGTON - The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today that U.S. District Court Senior Judge A. Andrew Hauk (Central District of California) entered consent orders of permanent injunction against Lida International Financial Data, Inc. (Lida) of San Gabriel, California, and Worth Financial Data, Inc. (Worth), of San Francisco, California. The court's action stems from a three-count civil injunctive action filed on February 28, 1994, jointly by the CFTC and the California Department of Corporations against Lida, Worth, and Topworth International, Ltd. (Topworth) -- a Hong Kong corporation. None of the defendants has ever been registered with the CFTC in any capacity. (See CFTC News Release #3746-94, March 3, 1994.)

The complaint alleged that, since at least May 1991 to March 1994, the three defendants violated the off-exchange futures provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and provisions of California commodities law by offering and selling to the general public illegal off-exchange commodity futures contracts for the purchase and sale of gold, silver, and various foreign currencies. On March 1, 1994, the court entered an ex parte restraining order against the defendants, which, among other things, froze their assets and appointed a receiver.

The permanent injunctive orders require that Lida and Worth disgorge $800,000 and $100,000 of ill-gotten gains, respectively, and enjoin them from further violating Federal commodity law, as charged.

In 1995, Topworth Was Ordered to Disgorge About $5.9 Million of Ill-Gotten Gains

On November 6, 1995, the court entered a default order of permanent injunction against defendant Topworth, prohibiting further violations of the CEA and ordering Topworth to disgorge $5,947,401.32 to the receiver for the benefit of customers.