http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/MC/courtcal/casenoq.cfm?sel_prefix=&sel_caseno=CIV053693 Wednesday seems to be a big day. wonder what it's like to work all your life, have people refer to you as "hero", make a ton of money, and then have a chance for all to end as "defendant."? What did Beretta say? Don't do the crime, if you can't do the time. This whole thing is a nightmare. And it only gets worse.
Look at the last three paragraphs. I also have the transcripts of the whole testimony. Too big. However, pay attention. Bennett, who obviously was bought to the table by Byrne, is selecting three stocks. One of them is OSTK. Something is brewing. I'm going to pick some parts, and put them in another post, so interested folks can see it. =DJ SEC Chmn Sees 'Some Action' To Revisit Mutual Fund Rule-3 Several lawmakers chided SEC Chairman Cox for allowing the New York Stock Exchange to modify its listing standards, allowing Fannie Mae (FNM) to continue trading on the Big Board even though the federal mortgage giant has not filed financial results since mid-2004. Cox defended the decision, saying Fannie Mae's situation is unique, and the leeway granted to it won't be a model for other firms grappling with a massive restatement of previously issued financial results. Fannie's promise to restate results and comply with the NYSE listing standards is being watched "very, very carefully," and now seems "within reach," Cox told Senate lawmakers. The NYSE's new role as a publicly traded company through its parent NYSE Group Inc. (NYX) means "the ground is changing," and that regulators must be poised for new issues, including cross-border stock-exchange mergers, Cox said. Cox told lawmakers he figures such deals are "inevitable," and is continuing to meet with regulators, including the U.K. Financial Services Authority, to hash through the issues that such ventures raise, including whether the current system of national regulation can accommodate oversight of exchanges operating in more than one country. Meetings with U.S. bank regulators to address SEC regulation of bank brokers are continuing as well, Cox added. The SEC has struggled to adopt rules in this area, as mandated by the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and Cox said he thinks it's high time it gets the job done. Regarding hedge funds, Cox said the number of hedge fund advisors now registered with the SEC has roughly doubled thanks to a rule adopted during Donaldson's tenure that took effect Feb. 1. Cox said the SEC is training its examiners to handle inspections of these advisory firms and expects to glean more information on the often murky business of hedge funds, which are lightly regulated vehicles for wealthy investors. SEC inspectors also are looking closely at potential problems in the area of short selling and abusive "naked" short selling, Cox said in response to questions from Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah. He said inspectors have looked at 45 firms, including 19 clearing firms, thus far, and that he "will recommend changes to our rules," if the findings show changes are warranted. Short sellers sell borrowed shares in hopes of replacing them at lower cost later, profiting from a decline in the stock's price. "Naked" short sellers do not borrow shares, and Bennett said many small companies in Utah tell him they have been crushed by abusive naked short selling. Regulation SHO, adopted by the SEC in 2004, sought to crack down on such abuses, and Cox told lawmakers the SEC will revisit it if it determines there are lingering problems that haven't been corrected. -By Judith Burns, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6692; judith.burns@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires 04-25-06 1431ET Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
just go here. O'brien has it. http://thesanitycheck.com/BobsSanityCheckBlog/tabid/56/BlogID/1/Default.aspx Read the Alsin piece too. Very good.
OSTK lays another egg, and of course, not a peep from Crytiger. I wonder how Arne Alsin is liking his shares now? http://www.thestreet.com/_mktw/tech/internet/10282451.html
Yup. Terrible quarter. And the 100% short position will be defended to the death. I will point you in one direction. And if you look back over these posts, you know as well as I that the end of naked shorting is very near. Byrne pointed out in the beginning of the teleconference that, "you'd better start thinking now what happens if I'm right. And I will believe I will be proven right momentarily." I paraphrased this, but it's pretty close. I have heard from many good sources to what he's referring. Such action will not be open to debate. And it is imminent. If you missed the Milberg Weiss news this weekend, you'll be able to put two and two together. If you research the suits, they have an uncanny record of tracking a famous soon to be retired "guru". And no, I don't cry. I just get even...... really even. from the NYTIMES: April 29, 2006 Case Turns Toward Law Firm By JULIE CRESWELL A six-year investigation into whether lawyers at the influential securities class-action law firm of Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman used illegal tactics took a significant turn yesterday after a retired real estate mortgage broker agreed to plead guilty and cooperate in the investigation. The broker, Howard J. Vogel of Englewood, N.J., and Florida, received nearly $2.5 million in kickbacks from lawyers inside Milberg Weiss for agreeing to be, or having a family member agree to be, the lead plaintiff in 40 cases, including lawsuits against Oxford Health Plans and Barnesandnoble.com, prosecutors contend. According to papers filed yesterday in Federal District Court in Los Angeles, Mr. Vogel has agreed to plead guilty to a criminal charge that he provided false information about his role in dozens of securities lawsuits filed by a "New York law firm" from 1991 to as recently as May 2005. A spokeswoman for Milberg Weiss confirmed that it was the firm referred to in the plea agreement. Mr. Vogel's testimony could prove crucial in building a case against partners inside Milberg Weiss as well as the firm itself. Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles have spent more than six years investigating practices inside the high-profile firm, which was Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach before a 2004 split. No charges have yet been brought against any lawyers or the firm. Part of the challenge in building the case has been that witnesses have either been uncooperative or are viewed as having potential credibility problems, lawyers involved in the case said. In February, two of the high-profile targets of the investigation â Melvyn I. Weiss and his former partner, William S. Lerach, who now heads Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins of San Diego â were told that no charges would be filed against them at this time. Lawyers involved in the case, however, have said in recent weeks that two other partners, David J. Bershad and Steven G. Schulman, remain targets and could be indicted. Additionally, the firm itself could be indicted. No partners are mentioned by name in the documents filed with Mr. Vogel's plea agreement. Calls to lawyers for Mr. Bershad and Mr. Schulman were not returned. "The firm has not yet had an opportunity to review the filings concerning Howard J. Vogel," a spokeswoman for Milberg Weiss said in a statement. "We continue to cooperate fully with the investigation." A call to Mr. Vogel's lawyer, Mark Rochon, was not returned. Mr. Vogel first approached Milberg Weiss to explore filing a class-action lawsuit against the Valero Energy Corporation in 1991, according to the court filings. In exchange for bringing the case to the law firm and serving as the lead plaintiff, Mr. Vogel said he expected to share in the legal fees that would be paid. According to the filings, Milberg Weiss agreed to pay Mr. Vogel 14 percent of any fees it received in the class-action lawsuit against Valero. But two lawyers who were not named in the documents told Mr. Vogel that since he was a plaintiff in the case, a possible conflict of interest would arise from any payment made directly to him by Milberg Weiss. Therefore, Mr. Vogel needed to find a lawyer who would accept the money on his behalf, which the two lawyers said was an "established practice" of the firm, according to the court documents. Mr. Vogel then enlisted the assistance of a lawyer in Denver (identified in the court filings as "Vogel intermediary A") to receive payments from Milberg Weiss. In a 1994 securities fraud class-action lawsuit against the Mercer Corporation, in which Mr. Vogel's wife was named as a plaintiff, Mr. Vogel met with a Milberg Weiss partner, identified in the documents as "Partner E," who handed him cash in an envelope, according to the documents. Mr. Vogel's share of the legal fees obtained in the Mercer case was less than his typical 14 percent, "Partner E" said, according to the documents, because he "would not have to report the cash on his tax returns." When "Partner E" left the law firm in 1999, Mr. Vogel began working primarily with another partner identified in the court filings as "Partner D." This partner told Mr. Vogel that his share of lawyers' fees in future cases would be 12 percent. In all, prosecutors say that Mr. Vogel, his wife, or his stepson served as plaintiffs in about 40 lawsuits. The investigation into the firm's practices began after an ophthalmologist, Dr. Steven G. Cooperman, was convicted on art fraud charges. A frequent plaintiff in shareholder lawsuits filed over the years by Milberg Weiss, Dr. Cooperman offered to provide evidence to prosecutors in hopes of receiving a reduced sentence. Another shareholder plaintiff, Seymour M. Lazar, a lawyer and investor in Palm Springs, Calif., was indicted nearly a year ago on charges that he took $2.4 million in kickbacks from a law firm that Milberg Weiss later acknowledged was it. Mr. Lazar has indicated that he intends to fight the charges.
Some of the stuff that I read going on in this pork-infested country is absolutely mind-blowing! No doubt the USA is filled to the brim with scumbags and greedy parasites! Little or no ethics in this country amongst the rich and powerful! And we have the nerve to tell other societies how they should live and conduct their affairs!
My problem with the whole thing is, they are fucking up the markets I trade in. They have destroyed jobs, companies, liquidity., and then have an attitude. For what? Some hedgie needs another couple bucks? And the "journalists". Go read the latest thesanitycheck.com. I think I said this before. But it's like inviting the neighbors over to swim, and they pee in the pool. It's got to stop, or we'll have to get real jobs. You have to admit it's a brilliant scam. Pick a company w/warts, and never let it recover. Always focus on the warts. Never let it get better...... OSTK, MSO, TASR, . Remember the negative press on Amazon six years ago? Elgindy was all over it. Made a killing.