Washington, D.C., Dec. 15, 2008 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged National Lampoon, Inc., its CEO Daniel S. Laikin, and others for engaging in fraudulent schemes to manipulate the market by generating purchases of company stock in exchange for pre-arranged cash kickbacks.

The SEC, which also charged stock promoters, a consultant, and another company and an officer, alleges that the goal of the manipulators was to create the false appearance of market interest in particular securities including National Lampoon stock, induce public purchases of stock, and ultimately increase the stock's trading price.

In addition to filing three separate enforcement actions, the SEC today suspended trading in the securities of National Lampoon and the other company charged, Advatech Corporation. The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania today separately announced criminal charges involving the same conduct.

"A CEO who manipulates the stock of his own company commits an egregious violation of the federal securities laws. In this time of dramatic market volatility, the SEC is acting aggressively to identify and hold accountable all individuals who seek to manipulate the securities markets," said Linda Chatman Thomsen, Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement. "These enforcement actions further demonstrate that we are devoting substantial investigative resources to policing all corners of the markets and stopping misconduct."

Daniel M. Hawke, Regional Director of the SEC's Philadelphia Regional Office, added, "The payment of illicit kickbacks to secure the placement of manipulative trades is brazen misconduct and threatens to destroy any sense of fairness that investors expect in the financial markets. As the defendants in today's actions have now learned, such behavior will not be tolerated and the government will bring the full force of the law to bear upon those who would seek to enrich themselves at the investing public's expense."

The SEC's enforcement actions, filed in federal district court in Philadelphia, allege that, in each case, individuals who controlled the stock of a public company arranged with corrupt promoters and others to generate purchases of the company's stock in exchange for cash kickbacks. In each case, a witness secretly cooperating with the government (the CW) was paid a kickback to make purchases in the stock. For example, the SEC alleges that Laikin and another defendant paid at least $68,000 in cash kickbacks for the purchase of National Lampoon stock in order to artificially inflate the stock price.

The SEC's complaints allege as follows:

SEC v. National Lampoon, Inc., et al.

National Lampoon, headquartered in Los Angeles, is a media and entertainment company that develops, produces and distributes media projects including feature films, television programming, online and interactive entertainment, home video, and book publishing. Its common stock is registered with the SEC and is listed on the NYSE Alternext, formerly the American Stock Exchange (AMEX). Daniel S. Laikin, of Los Angeles, California, has been the Chief Executive Officer of National Lampoon since 2005. Laikin controls approximately 40 percent of the voting stock of National Lampoon. Dennis S. Barsky, of Las Vegas, is a consultant to National Lampoon, and a significant stockholder. Eduardo Rodriguez, of Livingston, N.J., is a stock promoter. Tim Dougherty, of Webster, N.Y., is a stock promoter and principal of OTC Advisors, Inc., a stock promotion company.

The SEC's complaint alleges that, from at least March 2008 through June 2008, Laikin, Barsky, Rodriguez and Dougherty engaged in a fraudulent scheme to manipulate the market for the common stock of National Lampoon. Specifically, Laikin, along with Barsky, paid kickbacks in exchange for generating or causing purchases of National Lampoon stock to Rodriguez, a corrupt stock promoter, and the CW, whom Laikin, Barsky and Rodriguez believed had connections to corrupt registered representatives. As part of this scheme, Dougherty generated purchases of National Lampoon stock in exchange for a portion of the kickbacks. Dougherty made his purchases over the course of a number of days and used various accounts to give the false impression of a steady demand for the stock.

The complaint alleges that Laikin and Barsky paid at least $68,000 that went to Rodriguez, Dougherty, and the CW to cause the purchase of at least 87,500 shares of National Lampoon stock. Through these efforts, Laikin and Barsky sought to artificially push National Lampoon's stock price from under $2 per share to at least $5 per share, in part, to keep the company's stock price above the minimum listing requirements of the AMEX, and to increase National Lampoon's ability to enter into possible "strategic partnerships" and acquisitions. In addition to paying others to purchase the stock, Laikin shared confidential financial information regarding National Lampoon, non-public news releases, and confidential shareholder lists, and coordinated the release of news with the illegal purchases in the stock. Barsky helped direct the purchases and facilitated the kickback payments. National Lampoon and Laikin also made materially misleading statements in a tender offer.

The complaint alleges violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Sections 9(a)(2), 10(b) and 13(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 10b-5 and 13e-4 thereunder. The complaint seeks permanent injunctions against all defendants, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, together with prejudgment interest, and civil penalties, from the individual defendants, and an officer and director bar against Laikin.