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Case Status:    SETTLED
On or around 12/06/2000 (Date of order of final judgment)

Filing Date: December 11, 1998

According to the docket, on February 13 and March 12, 2001, plaintiffs and defendant Deloitte, L.L.P. filed a notices of appeal, respectively. On July 31, 2001, the Court entered the Amended Certified copy of the order from the Third Circuit Court of appeals dismissing the appeal with prejudice with each party to bear its own costs and fees.

By the closing Order, dated 12/05/2000 from U.S. District Judge Clarence C. Newcomer of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, this action was a securities fraud action pertaining to Canadian registered securities, brought by a purported class of investors who were virtually all Canadian, against predominantly Canadian defendants, concerning a Canadian corporation whose stock was sold only on Canadian stock exchanges. The court found that dismissal was proper under the principle of international comity. Overwhelming evidence of Canada's interests in this action dictated that the court defer to the Canadian legal system. Further, dismissal would not be contrary or prejudicial to the interests or public policy of the United States, and any relief afforded under Canadian law would be adequate. The defendants' motion to dismiss was granted.

The original Complaint charges YBM, auditors Deloitte & Touche LLP, Parente, Randolph, Orlando & Carey Associates and certain officers and directors of YBM with violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by, among other things, issuing a series of materially false and misleading statements concerning its financial statements, and the nature of YBM's business, operations, and business relationships, thereby artificially inflating the price of YBM common stock during the Class Period. On May 11, 1998, as alleged in the complaint, YBM disclosed that its auditors, Deloitte & Touche LLP (Deloitte) had refused to certify the Company's financial statements for the year ended December 31, 1997 pending completion of a forensic investigation. Only a few months earlier, Deloitte had issued an unqualified opinion, following a special re-audit demanded by the Ontario Securities Commission with respect to YBM's 1996 financial statements. The complaint further alleges that on May 13, 1998, federal agents, including agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service and Customs Service seized YBM's corporate documents and samples of the company's products in connection with an ongoing investigation. At the same time, the Ontario Securities Commission ordered a halt in trading of YBM's stock. On December 8, 1998, YBM announced that it believed that U.S. authorities will be able to marshall substantial credible evidence of criminal wrongdoing in connection with YBM and that the Company may well not be able to defend a criminal indictment and that its common stock will almost certainly never trade again. As a result, the Company's board resigned. Finally, on December 15, 1998, the Toronto Stock Exchange delisted YBM's shares.

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