There’s an old Chinese curse that states, "May you live in interesting times." The folks over at Syntax-Brillian probably wish they could have dropped a two-ton Ming vase on the person who came up with that curse.

In the span of three weeks, the company’s chief financial officer left the company, the CEO announced he’d take a pay cut to $1 a year, Syntax-Brillian stock (BRLC) dropped under a dollar a share, and the FCC announced it would levy a $1.3M fine on the company for selling LCD TVs that didn’t include ATSC tuners, as required by law.

Syntax-Brillian, which was formed out of the acquisition of Brillian Corp and its LCoS product portfolio by Syntax Olevia in 2005, was going to have a two-pronged attack to sell HDTVs in the United States and worldwide - LCoS for large rear-projection sets, and LCD technology or all the rest.

Except it didn’t quite work out that way. Even though the company built some nice-looking RPTVs and managed to get to 1080p resolution, the plasma-LCD wars eroded any profit margins as large screen HDTV prices plummeted. The RPTV products were also late to market and distribution was limited.

Syntax-Brillian eventually threw in the towel last fall and announced it was exiting the LCoS RPTV business in favor of a 100%-LCD TV product line, looking ahead to potentially rosier times this summer with the looming Beijing Olympics.

But tight credit and poor sales hurt the company’s bottom line, dragging their stock down from $8.78 a share one year ago to about $1.09 a share this past Friday, after dipping as low as $0.70 on February 28. CEO James Li’s gesture to forego all but $1 of his 2008 compensation was a nice gesture politically, but isn’t likely to solve Syntax’ financial woes any time soon.

Some good news: A recent deal with Chinese TV manufacturer Compal will yield 300,000 LCD TVs, built at Compal’s Kunshan, China facility. The Syntax press release went on to state, "…in addition to providing assembly, testing and quality control services, Compal’s procurement team will be responsible for sourcing and securing the LCD panels used to produce Olevia LCD HDTVs."

All fine and dandy, except that the company is still struggling to return to profitability in a market where large LCD HDTV sales are down and smaller sets are seeing commodity pricing as retailers and manufacturers scramble to pry suddenly-tight consumer’s dollars from their hands in a recession.

This is quite a turn of events for Olevia, who burst onto the scene a few years back as a strong contender in LCD TV sales by doing everything right - the right screen sizes, the right products, and the right prices in the right stores, right before the holiday selling season. Perhaps a bit too heady with their success, they acquired Brillian and it all went downhill from there.

The FCC fine just added insult to injury. Announced last Thursday, it totals $1,266,100 and was levied against Syntax for (a) selling analog-only TVs and not indicating that the particular models would require converter boxes after 02/17/09, and (b) importing TV sets into the United States that did not comply with the FCC’s digital tuner mandate that all TV sets 13" and larger be equipped with ATSC tuners as of July 1, 2007.

It gets worse. A quick cruise of several investor Web sites on Friday revealed numerous posts from individuals who are shorting Syntax’ stock. Given that the initial public offering in 2005 talked about a price target of $15 per share, there would seem to be plenty shareholder discontent to go around these days.

Indeed, a class action lawsuit was filed on April 1 in Arizona in regards to the company’s May 2007 stock offering of 25.6 million shares of BRLC stock at $5.75/share, claiming "…the defendants violated federal securities laws by issuing material misrepresentations to the market concerning Syntax-Brillian’s business and financial performance, thereby artificially inflating the price of Syntax-Brillian stock." Yikes!

New interim COO Greg Rayburn, the senior managing director and practice leader of FTI Palladium Partners, will take the reins at Syntax immediately, according to a press release issued on April 11. He couldn’t be living in more interesting times, that’s for certain!

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