Before you pay anyone a retainer, investigate. Swindlers are attracted to money. The essence of equity finance is money. There's no shortage of crooks involved in Stock Market.

Relying upon business references is a mistake. Honest business people refer you to associates that they know will give them a good reference. The crooks use a business reference service, run by swindlers. The crook's references appear to be key people in major industries. The referral's recommendations are always glowing. It's a business scam that can cost you money.

Start your "Due Diligence" research on Net. Visit Netcheck at: http://www.netcheck.com and Better Business Bureau at: http://www.bbbonline.org/consumers/safesurfing.html

Here are two websites that cover stock fraud. http://www.endfraud.com/ http://www.financialweb.com/stockdetective/

You can use Net to do a credit check on most people in United States and Canada. While most entrepreneurs have bad credit histories, professionals should not be on verge of bankruptcy.

Can three centers of stock fraud merge and create a reputable Stock Exchange? The Canadians say "yes." "Forbes" won't have Vancouver Stock Exchange (VSE) to kick around any more. In 1989, "Forbes" called VSE "The Scam Capital of World." The name stuck. The VSE's reputation has made it impossible to sell VSE stocks anywhere in World. Yet, VSE is cornerstone of New Western Exchange.

The Alberta Stock Exchange (ASE) gave investors Bre-X, biggest mining stock fraud in history. The ASE spearheaded creation of New Western Exchange.

The Canadian Dealers Network (CDN) is third stooge joining New Western Stock Exchange. The CDN is Ontario Securities Commission's OTC cesspool.

The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE) has 88% of dollar value of shares traded in Canada. Recent regulatory changes moved TSE away from listing resource stocks. The New Western Canadian Stock Exchange is betting that they will get TSE speculators interested in resource stocks. To this end, VSE is doing "Dog & Pony" Shows in Europe. They hope to recruit faithful gold bugs back into their fold.

The Montreal Stock Exchange (MSE) has 10% of dollar value of shares traded in Canada. A Decade ago, they were in competition with TSE as Canada's leading Stock Exchange. In past Decade, quality of their listings has made them more of a competitor to scam ridden VSE. I suspect they'll eventually bury Western Exchange.