Former Bank of Bermuda president Donald Lines took out out a full page ad in the Bermuda Sun yesterday denying that he has ever been subpoenaed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission or flouted subpoenas or the SEC.

The advertisement comes one week after the SEC filed a report with US District Court Judge Richard Roberts which stated that in November 2005, the SEC served the 74-year-old chairman and president of Lines Overseas Management with a personal subpoena as well as subpoenas issued to Lines Overseas Management Ltd. and LOM (Holdings) Ltd.

"I have never been served a subpoena by the SEC," Mr. Lines said in the advertisement. "There has been no contact from the SEC to even notify me that they ever intended to serve any subpoenas or that they, however incorrectly, believed they had served me. How could I 'flout' something that was never served and I never even knew existed?"

Assistant chief litigation counsel for the US Securities and Exchange Commission Michael Lowman however stands by the SEC's statement that a process server served Mr. Lines on November 10, 2005.

"We stand exactly behind what we said in report," Mr. Lowman said yesterday adding that when Mr. Lines arrived in the US they knew exactly where he was, where he was staying and what hospital he attended.

LOM has acknowledged the Mr. Lines visited the United States in the second week of December for an emergency heart operation.

Mr. Lines' advertisement was published the same day that his son Scott, who is managing director of LOM and LOM filed a request for leave to respond to the SEC's report which they asserted is "false and inaccurate in several material respects".

Besides detailing the three new subpoenas, the SEC also said in its report that it had "learned" that LOM may have destroyed records important to its investigation. Mr. Lines and LOM deny any destruction of records and any wrongdoing. The SEC stands by its report.

The SEC did not object to LOM's request to respond to its report, however the subpoenas the SEC served on Donald Lines, Lines Overseas Management Ltd. and LOM (Holdings) Ltd. may be moot given US District Court action last Friday.

The SEC is investigating alleged market manipulation involving shares issued by Sedona Software Solutions Inc. and SHEP Technologies Inc and HiEnergy Technologies Inc. and has previously told the court that evidence from its investigations has led its enforcement officers to LOM and Scott Lines as "potential key actors in the schemes."

Two days after the SEC filed its report, the court denied a motion by LOM and Scott Lines to stay a year-old ruling which ordered them to obey four administrative subpoenas that the SEC served on Scott Lines in April 2004.

Those four subpoenas mirror the three the SEC said it served on Donald Lines in November. They compel Scott Lines and LOM to provide testimony and records for its investigations.

Judge Roberts has given LOM and Scott Lines until January 17 to comply with the subpoenas by producing the documents the SEC requires as well as meeting all other requirements thereafter.