Xethanol Corp. has replaced Christopher d’Arnaud-Taylor as chief executive officer.
The new boss is Louis B. Bernstein, a member of Xethanol’s board and a retired assistant general counsel at Pfizer Inc. Xethanol said Bernstein would run the company on an interim basis while it searches for a permanent CEO, as well as a chief operating officer.
A spokesperson for Xethanol (XNL: AMEX) told Reuters that d’Arnaud-Taylor will remain an adviser to the company.
A standard background check shows that Bernstein has been a Xethanol director since June 2005, a few months after the company went public through a reverse merger with Zen Pottery Equipment Inc. of Denver. He recently retired from Pfizer after 30 years of service.
Bernstein also is a director at United Energy Corp., a New Jersey company that sells specialty chemicals used in oil and gas production, photo finishing and other fields. He joined its board in September 2003.
A check of United Energy’s SEC filings shows that five people connected to that company also have ties to Xethanol.
United Energy’s 10-K filing dated July 29, 2003 lists Jeffrey S. Langberg as the company’s director of marketing. The report said he held the position under a one-year contract. It described him as a self-employed consultant and investment banker. United Energy said Wednesday that Langberg no longer works there.
Langberg more recently has been a consultant to Xethanol, as well as a director and a major shareholder. The company’s SEC filings describe him as an independent investment banker who has advised d’Arnaud-Taylor since 1999. Langberg resigned his board seat at Xethanol in June. The annual report the company filed on March 31 said he and his spouse controlled nearly 1.14 million shares of its stock.
Xethanol’s earlier SEC filings show that United Energy’s chairman and chief executive, Ronald Wilen, also was a Xethanol shareholder. A registration statement last October listed him with 132,421 shares. The same document lists Martin Rappaport, a United Energy director, as holding 132,421 shares.
The registration statement lists Joseph J. Grano Jr. as holding 50,000 shares. Grano is the former chairman and chief executive of UBS PaineWebber Inc. and serves on Xethanol’s advisory board. United Energy’s most recent annual filing with the SEC lists Grano as holding 1.6 million of its shares, plus 1.33 million warrants. That stake, including the warrants, amounted to 9.1 percent of the shares outstanding.
{Disclosure: Mark Cuban, majority owner of Sharesleuth.com LLC, has no investment position in United Energy (UNRG: OTCBB) }.
United Energy is based in Secaucus. It had revenue of $492,235 in the 12 months that ended March 31, 2006, and reported a net loss of $10.8 million. That figure included $6.8 million in non-cash financing expenses. The company reported $225,067 in sales for the first quarter of its new year, and a loss of $568,100.
August 24, 2006 6:30 PM
Impressed with the followup story here, thanks for sharing this...i am certainly interested in following what happens as a result of the postings on this site.
--RC of strangeculture.blogspot.com
August 25, 2006 2:02 PM
its sad that companies try to hide this stuff, but is it really ethical to do?
August 26, 2006 10:54 PM
In the press release (21AUG06), some details were left out due to their lack of necessity for getting the point across (such as Mr. Bernstein's official titles on the Board and his duties at Pfizer). But for me, the one sentance in their 8-K disclosure (25AUG06) really strikes a chord with me.
"Mr. Bernstein is also a member of the board of directors of United Energy Corporation, a Nevada corporation."
This really makes me wonder if it would have been disclosed in the 8-K if Mr. Carey had not mentioned it here. Also, why didn't they mention this in the press release? My personal feeling is that it seems they named Mr. Bernstein in as CEO because of law background but in order to be effective he should also have some knowledge of the industry the company acts in. Thus, mentioning his experience and knowledge from United Energy Corp. should be considered an asset to the company.
Now though, it feels more like a shady shakeup under false pretenses ("...As Result of Significant Expansion Plans").
September 11, 2006 4:39 PM
great followup story.
great to see that you do more than just write about a company and never revisit it.
looking forward to your next stock.
October 25, 2006 1:49 PM
I'd like to know what the current relationship is between Xethanol and Aganol Biorefineries (aka Carolina Fiberboard). Reports, prior to d'Arnaud-Taylor's departure, stated that Xethanol had acquired their plant in Spring Hope, NC. The plan, according to an Aganol rep, was to spend several million dollars to retrofit this former paper plant to one that produces ethanol from wood pulp and other agricultural mass. Insiders speculate the deal has fallen thru. Aganol, or Spring Hope Biofuels, as it was to be known under the acquisition, has no known source of funding in order to accomplish this on their own and definitely no proven technology. They have however, done a great job at self-promotion in the local media. Little is known about Aganol and its leadership, and what is known is questionable. Which may have made them the perfect partner for Xethanol.
November 9, 2006 4:47 PM
hello - I am interested in the previous poster's comments and in this site as well. I'm a grad student in the journalism program at Syracuse U. I'm doing a case study on media coverage of ethanol. Anyone care to share with me some of what's being discussed here?Thanks, Anne Hoyt