According to the Vancouver Sun, Marylin Star's fiance Michael Gilley was the former chief financial officer of a Vancouver company that was at the centre of financial controversy in the mid-1990s.
Gilley, 43, was chief financial officer of Cam-Net Communications Network Inc., a re-seller of long-distance telephone services. It was listed on the Vancouver Stock Exchange and enjoyed a lofty share price even though it was a chronic money-loser. Gilley, according to The Sun, was named in a related joint-action suit but was never charged with any wrongdoing.
Last Tuesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission launched a civil suit against Star, alleging she traded shares of bank stocks in 1996 and 1997 on the basis of inside information provided by New York investment banker James McDermott, with whom she was having an affair. Star was also accused of passing that information to New Jersey businessman Anthony Pomponio, whom she met at a trade show for the adult entertainment industry in Atlantic City. The SEC alleges she netted $88,000 (US) on her trades and Pomponio $86,000. All three are facing criminal charges in New York of insider trading and conspiracy.
Star, according to The Sun, is now hiding in an $800,000 Vancouver penthouse with Gilley, who has persuaded her to quit the porn business and become a homemaker.
In early 1994, the B.C. Securities Commission cited Robert Moore, Cam-Net president, for alleged securities infractions, including his failure to report the sale of $2.7-million worth of Cam-Net shares.
The stock price plunged, prompting shareholders to file a class-action lawsuit in Pennsylvania. The suit alleged that Moore, Gilley and Daryl Buerge, Moore's successor, had withheld material facts and artificially inflated the company's stock price.
Cam-Net eventually settled the matter by paying $2.2-million (US) worth of stock and $175,000 (US) cash to the plaintiffs.
Despite the cloud over the company, the commission's executive-director, Dean Holley, in late 1994 allowed the company to issue more stock in B.C. But in 1997, the commission banned Moore from the B.C stock market for five years for securities violations.
Buerge, according to The Sun, was caught in an FBI sting operation in New York for allegedly bribing brokers, but charges were eventually dropped. Meanwhile, the company raised and lost more than $100-million of shareholders' money, making it one of the biggest money-losers in VSE history.
Gilley occupied a key position in the company, but was never charged with wrongdoing.
