SEC Halts EConnect Trading to Review Claims

Trading in EConnect Inc. was halted for two weeks by the Securities and Exchange Commission, citing questions about the accuracy of the company’s news releases. The Los Angeles company, which owns Internet auction sites, soared from 45 cents this year to last week’s high of $21.88 Friday to $10 on trading of 18.9 million shares. The SEC is looking into EConnect’s claims to have a license with hand-held computer maker Palm Inc. and an alliance with Empire Financial Group Inc., a Florida brokerage, for electronic transfers of cash into trading accounts. A Palm spokeswoman said the company is unaware of any relationship with EConnect beyond a standard developers’ agreement available to anyone for downloading from Palm’s Web site.