Five held on fraud charges at firm linked to Spectrum

NEW YORK - US postal officials yesterday raided the offices of a company associated with Spectrum Technology, the high-tech communications group headed briefly by the former Apple chief executive John Sculley, arresting five people and charging them with mail fraud, writes Larry Black.

The company, Paradigm Group, was until recently owned by the Spectrum chairman Peter Caserta, whose son-in-law, John Bohrman, was among those arrested. The authorities allege the five were running 'a high-pressure boiler room operation', collecting investment- banking fees from small businesses for services never rendered.

Mr Caserta stunned Wall Street last year by recruiting Mr Sculley to head the firm. But Mr Sculley resigned suddenly last month, claiming he had been misled about a federal investigation into Spectrum's businesses. Those arrested yesterday allegedly used Paradigm's association with Spectrum and Mr Sculley to convince clients they could raise venture capital.