United States Securities and Exchange Commission

Litigation Release No. 17174, October 5, 2001

Securities and Exchange Commission v. The Balancer Company, Inc., Mark
Miclette and Toni Bonar Miclette. Civil Action No. No. 3 01-CV-1975-P (N.D.
Tex., Dallas Division)

   The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that it filed a
   complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern
   District of Texas for securities fraud and registration violations of
   the federal securities laws against The Balancer Company, Inc. ("TBC")
   as well as TBC's founders and principal officers, Mark Miclette ("M.
   Miclette") and Toni Bonar Miclette ("T. Miclette"), both of Dexter,
   Maine. According to the Commission's complaint, TBC ostensibly
   developed and marketed a single product known as the Spin Cycle
   Balancer ("Balancer"), a washing machine device that purportedly would
   automatically balance a laundry load during the spin cycle. From
   February 2000 through April 2001, defendants raised at least $750,000
   from approximately 90 investors located nationwide, in Canada and in
   the British West Indies. Investment funds were solicited through
   various means, including the company's Internet website,

   The Commission complaint alleged in the course of offering and selling
   the unregistered common stock of TBC, defendants engaged in numerous
   material misrepresentations and omissions concerning, among other
   matters, the expected rate of return on the investment, the status of
   the Balancer's development, TBC's business operations, and the use of
   investor funds. The defendants represented that TBC was poised to
   provide immediate and substantial profits to investors. In fact,
   however, TBC never developed a finished prototype of its product, nor
   did it achieve any sales or agreements to sell its product in the
   future. Additionally, defendants stated that investor funds would be
   used to develop and market the Balancer, while, in fact, only a
   fraction of investor funds were used for legitimate purposes. Instead,
   defendants M. Miclette and T. Miclette diverted a large portion of
   investor funds for unauthorized personal and business expenditures.
   Specifically, defendants misappropriated as much as $400,000.00 to pay
   for personal expenses, such as mortgage and car payments and tuition
   for the Miclette children's private school, and for wire transfers to
   persons unrelated to TBC or persons affiliated with TBC who were owed
   no compensation by the company.

   The Commission alleges that, by engaging in the conduct described in
   the complaint, defendants violated Sections 5(a), 5(c) and 17(a) of
   the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act") and Section 10(b) of the
   Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10(b)-5 thereunder. The
   Commission requests that the court permanently enjoin defendants from