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Report - ECG to be auctioned off

January 16, 2008

The assets of defunct vendor management system Ensemble Chimes Global will be auctioned in bankruptcy court on Jan. 23 with an opening bid of $7.5 million, The Los Angeles Times reported today. The opening bidder is Barry Olson, former president of Chimes. Axium International Inc. bought the Chimes VMS from Computer Horizons International Inc. in February 2007 for $80 million.

Olson could not be reached for comment. He is presently CEO of Project 12 Baskets, an organization aimed at helping charities, according to its Web site. Howard Ehrenberg, bankruptcy trustee in the case, also could not be reached by press deadline on Wednesday.

The newspaper's report also said investment firm GoldenTree Asset Management sued Axium's owners, John Visconti and Ron Garber, and their ex-wives claiming they used Axium funds as their "own personal piggy bank" to lease private jets and luxury cars such as Rolls-Royces and Aston Martins.

Chimes ranked as the largest vendor management system (based on the number of temporaries passing through the system in the fourth quarter of 2006), according to Staffing Industry Analysts' "VMS Marketplace Profile." ECG filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Jan. 9 in Los Angeles. Los Angeles-based Axium, filed for bankruptcy on Jan. 8.