That's Not Funny, It's Slick. And Possibly Illegal.

Unfortunately for them, the latest plot involving National Lampoon is no parody.

The company, best known its humor magazine, which ceased publication a decade ago, and movies like Animal House and the Vacation franchise, now finds itself involved in a decidedly unfunny story.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged National Lampoon C.E.O. Daniel Laikin along with another major stockholder in the company and two stock promoters with working together to drive up the company's stock price in order to keep it listed on the American Stock Exchange and thus attractive for "strategic partnerships."

In its filing today the S.E.C. charged that Laikin provided at least $68,000 starting in March of this year in cash kickbacks to stock promoters Eduardo Rodriguez and Tim Dougherty in order to inflate the price of National Lampoon stock.

The defendants were trying to get the stock price up from under $2 a share to over $5.

Perhaps Laikin, et al., should take some advice from John Belushi's character in Animal House:

"My advice to you is to start drinking heavily."

by Rafael Cohen