Comparator Systems Evicted; CEO Quits

Nearly a year after triggering one of the biggest stock scandals in recent memory, Comparator Systems Corp. has been evicted from its Newport Beach offices, leaving no forwarding address. Comparator shareholders and former employees said the company’s chief executive--the third in the last year--has resigned. They also said Comparator, which lost money for nearly 20 years but survived by issuing millions of shares of stock, may finally have run out of cash. Comparator executives were not available for comment. Calls to the firm were routed to an answering machine, apparently at the home of controversial former Chief Executive Robert Reed Rogers. “We are closed for the Easter weekend,” said the message, recorded by Rogers’ wife, Celeste Sim, who also is the firm’s corporate secretary. Calls to Rogers’ condominium on Balboa Island were greeted with the same recorded message. Sources said they were recently told by Sim that Marianne Bedford, Comparator’s chairwoman and chief executive since December, has left the company. Bedford couldn’t be reached for comment.