From time to time, I provide updates on one of my other major cases in this space - the high profile tax fraud and money laundering case we have been fighting against two of Central America's most wealthy and powerful businessmen, Juan Luis Bosch and Dionisio Gutierrez Mayorga, the owners of the Pollo Campero restaurant empire. As my regular readers know, we received a favorable landmark ruling from a court in Bermuda recently, which found that companies owned by these two men are liable for orchestrating a conspiracy to defraud their minority shareholders and withhold millions in tax revenue from the Guatemalan government - one of the poorest nations in Latin America. Nevertheless, Dionisio Gutierrez Mayorga (photographed) is poised to give a keynote address at a prestigious conference in Costa Rica to talk about "corporate social responsibility," ...

History of Zinc (from International Zinc Association, (http://www.iza.com/uses.html) Centuries before zinc was discovered in the metallic form, its ores were used for making brass and zinc compounds, its ores were used for healing wounds and sore eyes. It is believed that the Romans first made brass in the time of Augustus (20 B.C. - 14 A.D.). In the 13th century Marco Polo described the manufacture of zinc oxide in Persia. At Zawar, India, both zinc metal and zinc oxide were produced from the 12th to the 16th century. From India, zinc manufacturing moved to China in the 17th century where it developed as an industry to supply the needs of the brass industry. In 1743, the first European zinc smelter was established in Bristol in the United Kingdom. A major technological improvement was achieved in Germany which led to the erection of ...

Trading on the NASDAQ Capital Market, New Generation Biofuels Holdings Inc. is a renewable fuels provider. Established in 2006, the Company has an exclusive license for North America, Central America, and the Caribbean to commercialize proprietary technology to manufacture alternative biofuels from vegetable oils and animal fats. As part of the Specialty Chemicals industry, New Generation has a current market capitalization of $54.73 million. Formerly H2Diesel Holdings, Inc., the Company changed their name to New Generation Biofuels Holdings Inc. in March of this year. Their headquarters are in Houston, Texas with an additional office in Boca Raton, Florida.

The Company’s mission is to market a new class of biofuel for power generation, heavy equipment, marine use, and commercial heating. They are marketing their proprietary biofuel as a lower cost, renewable alternative energy source with significantly lower emissions than traditional fuels. They are working on establishing direct sales from manufacturing plants that

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Collective Brands keeps selling shoes despite the economic downturn as it focuses on designer brands. The company has surprised 3 out of 4 quarters by an average of 28.14%. Collective Brands has a forward P/E of 12.87.

Company Description

Collective Brands Inc. (PSS) is a national shoe retailer that is the largest non-athletic footwear company in the Western Hemisphere. The company has three divisions: Payless Shoesource, Stride Rite and Collective Licensing International.

Payless ShoeSource was founded in 1956 and has 4,600 retail stores in all 50 U.S. states, as well as in Puerto Rico, Guam, Saipan, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Canada, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America.

Payless' brands include Dexter, Disney, Champion and designer collections: Abaeté for Payless, Lela Rose for Payless and alice + olivia for Payless. The company now has a footwear and accessory design team in New York City. The

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Pioneer Drilling is taking advantage of the push to "drill, drill, drill" as revenues spiked 48% in the second quarter. The company has surprised on estimates 2 out of the last 4 quarters. Pioneer Drilling is cheap, trading at only 7x projected earnings.

Company Description

Pioneer Drilling Company (PDC) provides two services to companies in the energy sector: contract drilling and workover rig, wireline and fishing and rental services.

The company, a Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy), engages in Contract Drilling Services for both the major oil companies and the independent operators in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, the Rocky Mountain Region and in Central America, in Colombia.

The Production Services Division, which supplies energy producers along the Gulf Coast, Mid-Continent and Rocky Mountain regions, has a fleet of 69 land drilling rigs that drill in depth ranges between 6,000 and 18,000 feet, 66 workover rigs, 51 wireline units

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In a move designed to enhance its intellectual property access in the United States, Action Products International, Inc. (NASDAQ: APII) completed acquisition of B.E. Overseas Investment Group LLC.

Action Products is a global manufacturer and distributor of educational and non-violent children’s products. B.E. Overseas is a merchant bank and consulting company focused primarily on the medical field that provides capital to foreign companies.

“Through the B.E. Home Medical Products Group, B.E. has agreements to release several electronic home health products from overseas companies,” a company news release said. “Bunch of Expressions is a uniquely modeled import and distribution company selling fresh flowers from South and Central America in the United States.”

In the move, Neil Swartz was named the company’s next CEO and Chairman, to start Sept. 2. He served on APII’s board of directors from 2002 to 2006. Ronald Kaplan, currently in those positions, will become Action Products’ President and

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We are keeping our Hold recommendation on Companhia de Bebidas das Americas, or AmBev (ABV). The company posted slightly positive results for the second quarter of 2008 with excellent results in Brazil and in Argentina.

However, consolidated net income declined due to continued appreciation of the Brazilian real against the U.S. dollar. Nevertheless, parent company InBev's desire to acquire Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. (BUD) appears to be positive for the company.

However, the tighter monetary policy in Brazil, growing inflation in Argentina, the strength of the Brazilian real and its effect on the company's international sales, weak results in Central America, commodity costs and the difficult economic environment in the U.S. are matters of high concern.

We believe AmBev's strategy to focus on a few premium brands with higher quality and higher margins is already delivering strong results and will continue to boost revenues and earnings. This strategy enabled the

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South Korea's exports accelerated sharply in March on the back of rising shipments of oil products, cars and mobile phones to Asia and Latin America. Overseas shipments rose 19.1 percent from a year earlier, quickening from February's 18.8 percent gain, the economics ministry said in Gwacheon today. Increased shipments to China and emerging markets have helped exporters to withstand faltering sales to the U.S., where the economy may be in a recession. Still, South Korean factory output fell in February and manufacturers' confidence for April deteriorated, reports showed yesterday, signaling companies expect demand may slow. Commenting on the general situation in South East Asia, Vikram Nehru, the World Bank’s chief economist for east Asia and the Pacific (ie not including Japan and Australia), said on Tuesday the shift in export orientation was taking place faster than expected. ...