
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 10, 1995                   TAG: 9508100060
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Short

SEC NABS INTERNET EEL SCAM

Internet surfers at the Securities and Exchange Commission shut down a\ scheme that offered a ``whopping'' 20 percent return for investing in a start-up eel farm.

The SEC said 19-year-old Daniel Odulo of San Jose, Calif., agreed to settle securities fraud charges resulting from a misleading investment offering on the Internet, the global public data network.

Odulo wanted to raise $500,000 earlier this spring to raise 5 million baby eels for sale in Europe and elsewhere, the SEC's lawsuit said.

He posted messages on Internet investment discussion groups soliciting readers to buy bonds from ``Golden Waters Productions.'' The messages offered investors a ``whopping 20 percent rate of return,'' the SEC lawsuit said.

``A 20 percent annual return - that piqued our interest,'' said Joseph Cella of the SEC.

The agency halted the operation before investors sent money.

by CNB