$1 MILLION Fine handed out to YTB

YTB Travel News: As reported by Elizabet Donald:WOOD RIVER -- Illinois has filed a lawsuit against the YourTravelBiz company and California has leveled a $1 million fine against it.

The company and its officers face litigation from Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, according to spokesman Natalie Bauer.

Jonathan Quinn, an attorney for YourTravelBiz, said the company does not have a comment at this time on the Illinois complaint. "We have not been formally served, and when we are we will review the complaint and be in a position to comment," he said.

According to the Illinois complaint filed against YTB on Thursday, the company charged its clients a $450 initial fee plus $50 a month to purchase a travel Web site. The suit alleges that the company misled their clients as to the commissions they received, that advertising showed there was no cost to join. Calling it a pyramid scheme, the complaint alleges that the real money came from referring others to join YTB instead of the travel sales themselves.

According to the suit, the average representative earned about $114 a year, while executives made millions. Madigan alleges that the company violated the Consumer Fraud Act and Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

This comes after California's lawsuit against the company was settled for a $1 million fine on Thursday.

Also, the company faces a federal class-action lawsuit from former customers.

The class-action suit, filed last year on behalf of more than 1,000 people who participated in the YTB system, seeks more than $100 million in damages.

For more information contact:

Daryl D. Alex
Regional Executive
Traverus Travel and Televerus Cell Phones
1-800-781-3254
1-877-744-3431
225-590-7700

YTB Travel International, Inc. stock downgraded by the street.com

YTB Travel News(press release):
Each business day, TheStreet.com Ratings updates its ratings on the stocks it covers. The proprietary ratings model projects a
stock's total return potential over a 12-month period, including both price appreciation and dividends. Buy, hold or sell ratings
designate how the Ratings group expects these stocks to perform against a general benchmark of the equities market and
interest rates.
While the ratings model is quantitative, it uses both subjective and objective elements. For instance, subjective elements include
expected equities market returns, future interest rates, implied industry outlook and company earnings forecasts. Objective
elements include volatility of past operating revenue, financial strength and company cash flows.
However, the rating does not incorporate all of the factors that can alter a stock's performance. For example, it doesn't always
factor in recent corporate or industry events that could affect the stock price, nor does it include recent technology developments
and competitive dynamics that may affect the company.
For those reasons, we believe a rating alone cannot tell the whole story, and that it should be part of an investor's overall
research.



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COBT C2 GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES INC Upgrade Hold Sell
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SPRD SPREADTRUM COMMUNICATNS -ADR Initiated Sell
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WPL STEWART (W P) & CO LTD Downgrade Sell Hold
WSFS WSFS FINANCIAL CORP Upgrade Buy Hold
WYNN WYNN RESORTS LTD Upgrade Buy Hold
YTBLA YTB INTERNATIONAL INC Downgrade Sell Hold

For More Information Contact:

Daryl D. Alex
Regional Executive
Traverus Travel and TeleVerus Cell Phones
1.877.744.3431
225.590.7700

YTB International Inc. cuts 17 positions

YTB Travel News:(press release) Just two days after YTB Travel International Inc. laid off 25 employees from it's Wood River, Ill, headquarters; YTB Travel International Inc. Has now disclosed that they are now eliminating 17 positions which was revealed to The Telegraph through a e-mail statement



YTB International Inc. cut 17 positions at its Wood River, Ill, headquarters this week, according to a published report.

"YTB International Inc. eliminated 17 positions today (Wednesday), representing less than 5 percent of our work force, as part of a reorganization to reduce operating expenses and curtail redundancies," Tony Green, assistant to Chief Executive Scott Tomer, wrote in a statement e-mailed to The Telegraph. "This move places the company in an even better position to realize its goals and effectively manage its continued growth."

A request from the Business Journal requesting comment was not immediately returned.



For More Information Contact:

Daryl D. Alex
Regional Executive
Traverus Travel and TelVerus Cell Phones
1.800.781.3254
1.877.744.3431
225.590.7700

St. Louis slaps YTB Travel with Class-action lawsuit

YTB Travel News(press Release): Just like The Morton Salt Box States "When It Rains It Pours" this time that statement rings true for YTB Travel Just day after one of YTB Travel's Annual Conventions which was held in St. Louis this year more trouble was announcement by
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH:

Another layer of trouble has landed on Wood River-based travel company YTB International, this one in the form of a class-action lawsuit filed Friday in East St. Louis.

Attorneys representing two agents and sales reps for the company say it is an "illegal pyramid scheme" and "employs an illegal chain referral sales technique" in violation of Illinois law. They are seeking $100 million in damages for the at least 140,000 agents who have joined YTB Travel.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it "intends to vigorously defend the case."

The suit's charges echo those in a suit filed last week by California Attorney General Jerry Brown, who called the company a "gigantic pyramid scheme" in which 140,000 "referring travel agents" pay $450 up front and $50 a month to sell travel but rarely earn any money on commissions. Meanwhile, sales reps — including many of those travel agents — receive commissions and bonuses to sign up more agents.

"These are all different components of the same pyramid scheme," said Christian Montroy, the East St. Louis attorney who filed the suit.

The Illinois attorney general also is investigating YTB Travel, and the local chapter of the Better Business Bureau(BBB) slapped YTB Travel with a negative report last week.

Also on Monday, YTB Travel disclosed in an SEC filing that its application for listing on the American Stock Exchange was withdrawn Friday. The company's stock is currently traded on the Over The Counter bulletin board and it has been trying to get on a more prestigious exchange.

The company didn't say why it withdrew its application to AMEX and didn't respond to questions Monday.

However, the only thing that is different from that morton salt box and YTB Travel is the little girl on the box has an umbrella and YTB Travel doesn't.

For more Information Contact:
Daryl D. Alex
Regional Executive
Traverus Travel and TeleVerus Cell Phones
1.800.781.3254
1.877.744.3431
225.590.7700