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NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is

Location: Blogs Bob O'Brien's Sanity Check Blog    
Posted by:   bobo 3/8/2006 11:46 PM

Dr. Byrne issued forth a fun missive yesterday, directed at Rocker Partners and Gradient, after they lost their SLAPP motion and it was made official by the courts. Here's the release - sort of speaks for itself:

PR Newswire - March 08, 2006 21:29
Overstock.com Fights Campaign of Stalls and Lies by Rocker and Gradient

SALT LAKE CITY, March 8, 2006 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Overstock.com(R) (Nasdaq: OSTK) President Patrick Byrne issued the following response to Gradient Analytics' notice of appeal, filed in response to the California Superior Court ruling denying Gradient's Anti-SLAPP Motion to Strike all causes in the Overstock.com lawsuit:

"Eight months ago Gradient and Rocker were thumping their chests threatening to counter-sue us. I said at the time that they would not because these miscreants could not survive the discovery a counter-suit would trigger. They still have not filed suit, and now, once again, they are doing whatever they can to stall the discovery process. I once again invite them to counter-sue, and let us move to discovery quickly."

"In addition, while Gradient, Rocker and their cronies attempt to spin this as a First Amendment issue, let me remind observers that the activities described in our witness's declarations are covered by a technical term: 'illegal.' It is 'illegal' to let favored clients doctor research then publish it as independent; it is 'illegal' to permit such clients to front-run that same research; it is 'illegal' to front-run it themselves through hedge funds they secretly control. Their arguments that this conduct is somehow all protected by the First Amendment were roundly rejected by the Honorable Vernon Smith, whose decision these blackguards now dismiss as an 'erroneous trial-court ruling.' Good luck with that, fellows."

Overstock.com filed its original lawsuit against research firm Gradient Analytics and hedge fund Rocker Partners in August 2005 when it learned the firms colluded to publish false and misleading research in a scheme to engineer stock fluctuations from which Rocker and Gradient's owners could front-run stock trades while harming Overstock's reputation with consumers, suppliers, and employees."

Huh. That about says it all.

Illegal. Blackguards. False bluster and trickery.

The NY financial press hasn't commented on this at all. They are still busy trying to spin the subpoenas from the SEC as 1st Amendment stuff, which nobody west of NJ buys for a second.

Why does the NY financial press seem to be so intent on whitewashing this story, and covering it up? Why haven't we heard all about the CNBC poll that showed 89% of the respondents supported the SEC in their subpoenaing Herb, and Carol and Jim (Oh my!)?

Why not a word about all the insider sales at TSCM once they had been served, but before shareholders were told?

Why is it that the NY financial press seems to be so comfortable being the lapdogs of super-wealthy hedge funds? Some even seem to celebrate it, have made a career out of it? Is this the marvelous 1st Amendment wars were fought over - to keep everyone parroting the same party line?

Wanna bet not a word is uttered about this latest salvo from Byrne?
Copyright ©2006 Bob O'Brien
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Comments (86)
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By Just Someone on 3/9/2006 9:20 AM
Dr. Byrne, these are truly words to be framed and put on the wall!
" I once again invite them to counter-sue, and let us move to discovery quickly"

Expedite the process, sue me! LOL That's good stuff!
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By Jeff Mitchell on 3/9/2006 9:20 AM
89% of the repondents that supported the SEC subpoenas were in effect generically saying they support any attempts by the SEC to clean up Wall Street. Nothing more. Nothing less.

- Jeff
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By Jeffrey on 3/9/2006 4:28 PM
The mind numbing part is the MASSIVE lid on it. There is quite a bit of collusion to be able to keep all the press under wraps like it is.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By frogman29 on 3/9/2006 4:29 PM
I have had several conversations with my Schwab office manager re: NSS and FTD.
He looks at me like I am some sort of nut case and yawns in dis-belief. So it apparears even those employed in the securities trade are blind to the naked short and SHO issues. How can the average investor be expected to know more than the average retail broker or office manager?
Even if the retail brokersage office managers and registered reps did know a bit about the subject and the exent of the problem, does anyone think they, should, would or could explain it to their customers? Would they put it in their sales literature or publish an advisory to all their retail clients? Is the SHO list available to Schwab clients? I doubt it.
We should investigate other media options to get the NSS and FTD word out to the average investor. These include more network TV interviews, infomercials, USA Today ads, notices to financial planners, Internet news groups, AARP magazine, investment clubs, Kiwanis, Lyons, Optimists, etc. etc.. I personnally would contribute funds to any of these methods to support the cause.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By dave on 3/9/2006 4:30 PM
Good point, Y.

I just posted http://www.thesanitycheck.com and http://www.investigatethesec.com on a blog and I suggest everyone else do the same before reading any farther. It only takes a minute and this daily exercise will do more than anything else to make the readership here increase exponentially.

Plus, it helps the Google rating.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By y on 3/9/2006 4:31 PM
If we deduce that the market maker is partially acting as a bookmaker, or “desking” the trade as you call it, wouldn’t the likely short term scenerio be to keep tanking the market so that he can cause all the margin accounts to capitulate so he can close those oversold trades out. Then he can take the market up and do the same thing to the short sales he “booked” while encouraging longs to margin again so he can then take it back down again and so on. Only when a stock has some catastrophic news will it be allowed to break out of the pattern and hold its new high or low.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By dave on 3/9/2006 5:46 PM
Kuma, Could you volunteer to do a layout factoid page for newbies that we can all brainstorm?

Here's my thoughts for a page for a first time visitor. Maybe the first time visitor could see this page as a front page and after that it would cookie to go to the rest of the site for subsequent visits.

1. Rotating quotes, like the S&L quotes, etc. that talk about past problems

2. Undeniable Factoids from trusted authorities

- according to the SEC, some companies have more counterfeit stock than shares outstanding. As of today, X companies are listed as having abusive levels of counterfeit shares.

- according to the central depository, at least $6 billion fails each day.

- according to Bear Stearns, (whatever was in that conference call Patchie recorded)

3. Fear Mongering:

X hundred thousand investors were affected when some smaller clearing houses failed: Adler Coleman, Refco, MJK Clearing, etc.

- examples of investors that weren't covered by insurance
- investments that were factually driven down by counterfeiting (refer to SEC investigations)

4. Immediate Actions

The SEC is trying to fix this problem, but in the mean time, you need to protect yourself by pulling your certificates.

Telll your friends and post http://www.thesanitycheck.com and http://www.investigatethesec.com wherever you can.

5. Wait but there's more fear mongering

Talk about how the $6 billion is the tip of the iceberg, regulators are afraid to act, politicians get 25% returns on hedge fund investments, lap dog journalists, etc.

6. Give them a choice of two pills to click on and invite them down the rabbit hole. One goes to a children's site and the other enters this site.

Alice, do you follow the white rabbit...
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By mhelburn on 3/9/2006 4:33 PM
We have focused a lot of attention on small caps and microcaps that are manipulated by hedge funds and mm with the one of the tools being naked shorting. We really haven't addressed what happens when companies having a weakness are sold naked into bankruptcy. Theory? We know that fails occur with the small caps and we saw them with Calpine and DAL. Before the SHO list there was Enron and others. We didn't know enough to get the data. The data is there, we just have to have interested people look at it. Why was there so much more attention paid to Martha than to Enron. Martha didn't hurt anyone.. If Wall Street sold Enron Naked, they were as much to blame for shareholder losses as the management. Maybe this is why the story isn't getting much publicity. Anyone who can recognize the potential for abuse, has to see what happened in Enron' collapse and what happened to the share price on Wall Street.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By 1stTimer on 3/9/2006 4:37 PM
Hello All,

I watch Larry Kudlow often. He always signs off with the results of his poll. I made sure I was watching the night of the subpoena news. So he asked that great question, "Did the SEC overstep its bounds by subpoenaing journalists?"

I watched him sign off. He said something like, "Ok, let's see how you folks answered our question tonight. And most of you said---." He paused. He never pauses. To me, he was shocked at what he was seeing. So he said something like, "Most of you said--", and he hesitated again, and he finally said, "No", and then he signed off. And the topper was, he never showed the numbers!! He always shows the numbers. I was thinking it might be a close poll, mayber 56% for and 44% against. But he never showed the numbers! And then to find out from you fine folks on this board here that it was like 89%, an astounding defeat for the one-sided station.

Good day.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By dave on 3/9/2006 4:44 PM
I wonder if anyone was able to cover a naked short when Martha went to jail and her stock fell.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By Anon on 3/9/2006 4:45 PM
Mary,

Enron collapsed due to massive fraud exposing massive debt. There was no destruction of the stock price -> no access to secondary -> go out of business scenario there. You're barking up the wrong tree with NSS as a tool of destruction in the Enron case, regardless if there were collateral NSS's at the end.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By Anon on 3/9/2006 4:47 PM
Kudlow did give the results of the poll at one point. Don't remember if it was an interim figure or at the end.

A stupid online poll that can be Caponed (vote early and often) shouldn't be held up by anyone as proof of anything, and I'm at the front of the cheerleading on this Wall St Reform movement.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By Anon on 3/9/2006 4:50 PM
And the cone of silence from the Wall St Sychophant Press corps continues today.

Stupid frivoulous comments on Jack get twisted into major headlines on CNBC and WSJ, meanwhile a major court decision with quotes from a judge explicitly mentioning Demetrios's affidavit as very very non-SLAPPy gets nothing.

I'm ashamed of my country today.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By InTheKnow on 3/9/2006 4:52 PM
I'm still trying to figure out why the SEC needs these journalists to carry on the mission. What mission is the SEC on? Did he express what mission he was talking about? Wlill someone ask him what mission he is talking about?

Will someone please tell anything that the Press has done to expose anything done in the financial community? Name one giant Financial Expose? Nada, Nothing ,Zero, Zilch ever to save one small investor a nickel!

Bullcrap! Bullcrap! Bullcrap!
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By cynabear on 3/9/2006 4:59 PM
Has it been noticed that the OSTK board has been completely taken over by bashers and strong sells??? Have longs created a seperate board?
and I agree with Mark above enough with the Hitler quotes
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By dave on 3/9/2006 5:02 PM
I think the Hitler quote about the big lie is bang on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_lie

Mark, you can try and paint the messenger's political, racial, religious beliefs as relevant, but they aren't.

This blog is about the MESSAGE. Any ad hominem stuff is irrelevant.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By InTheKnow on 3/9/2006 5:03 PM
Their mission was to keep Refco from going public after Refco destroyed Sedona!

How many investors did the SEC and the Press protect from losing their shirts in Refco... Nada, Zero, Zich, None!

Bullcrap! Bullcrap! Bullcrap!
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By Anon on 3/9/2006 5:11 PM
Agree with Mark. Get a clue. Despite the intentions, you have to consider the ways your enemies can easily twist the results of your intentions. Get that off the site.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By Anon on 3/9/2006 5:17 PM
This blog is now it. The OSTK Yahoo board is Foobar'ed. Useless. kaput. Finito. This site has, as Jim Morrison sang & who can only be portrayed as a flake burnout at worst by even the worst of the Grimer Wormtongues, the numbers and we're taking over. OK, not really, but the importance of this blog and it giving us a place to share what is now the daily barrage of information on this issue outside the NY press is tatatmount.

Place very high importance on image and how the blogs and images on the site come across....it will be quoted,pictured, and talked about as this fire burns brighter and for years afterwards in reflection.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By bobo on 3/9/2006 5:47 PM
Folks: I have deleted the posts that contained the offending references by Kuma, however I would like to point out that their context was that one of the most evil men to walk the earth advocated the exact tactics that are being employed by the disinformation campaign that tries to conceal this crisis. Having said that, I also agree that it is easy to twist the presence of those quotes as some sort of anti-Semitism, thus they are removed. Perhaps Vladimir Lenon would be better:

"A lie told often enough becomes the truth"

Same point, different dictatorial mass murderer. Weird how the dictators all know the same wisdoms - tell lies, do it often in a big way, and use the media to repeat the lies.

And we wonder why they have spent so much time co-opting the press. It is good dictatorship 101...
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By troydian on 3/9/2006 5:30 PM
IMO the term counterfiet stocks or securitys should be all over this. that might get their atten... to get folks atten we need to attach this cause to their $$$$..
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By troydian on 3/9/2006 5:32 PM
we also need a war chest..$$$
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By Anon on 3/9/2006 5:38 PM
hope I'm not clogging, but to add to my comment about the even higher importance of this blog now....TMF's OSTK board, like Yahoo, is also Fubar'ed as well. TMF has fully pulled out all editorial support for overstock, sold the shares, and have just the burnt out remains of Bill Mann's and Seth's would be journalism careers. They're pissed, sniping PB everychance they get, and even the moderated TMF board is a microcosm of the Yahoo board.

Now we need to get some reporters on here who are interested in the debate from an intellectualy honest perspective, and who are willing to teach and be taught on what can be shown to be the facts of the matter.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By Mark on 3/9/2006 5:41 PM
TMF using paid bashers I would assume. Funny thing is, the stock wont probably be moved by retail much anyhow. It does illustrate how truly degenerate the hedge fund stooges can be.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By Anon on 3/9/2006 5:47 PM
mark, you can be assured after reading the Rocker Partners vs Harry3866 (TTWO yahoo board) lawsuit, and the comments under their own bylines, that the following people post on message boards with regularity: Marc Cohodes, Jim Cramer, and Herb Greenberg. David Rocker and Jeff Matthews definitely read the boards and might post occasionally, but the aforementioned 3 are message board addicts.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By troydian on 3/9/2006 6:25 PM
I have watched board after board either cloged with tony ryals type cloggers or run by countless minion being paid by the above mentiond miscreants.fwiw ,, four years I have watched and battled these soprano types ruin every good financiail board there has ever been... by the way it seems closed boards even have a sopano element.... oh well we will win there is more of us than there is of them.. we just have to orginize and stay focused.. peace troy
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By gregcable2002 on 3/9/2006 6:41 PM
These hedge funds are getting quite a reputation



Print Email Blog This
Associated Press
Posted: 2 days ago



ATLANTA (AP) - The federal government and several professional football players want to know what happened to the hundreds of millions of dollars the players and other investors poured into an Atlanta-based hedge-fund group.

But before they can find the money, they have to find Kirk Wright.
Days after Wright and his company, International Management Associates, were sued in federal and state court, neither he nor the money has surfaced. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a federal lawsuit Feb. 27 against Wright and his firm, alleging five counts of fraud. The lawsuit joins a civil complaint filed in Georgia state court 10 days earlier.

The first hearing in the federal case is set for Wednesday, but even Wright's attorney won't say if his client will show up.

Wright "has made known his objective of finding a resolution that is acceptable to all interested parties," said his attorney in the federal case, Jacob Frenkel. "Sometimes doing that takes a little bit longer than many would like or expect."

Listed as plaintiffs in the state lawsuit are Terrell Davis, Steve Atwater, Rod Smith, Ray Crockett, Blaine Bishop, Al Smith - all current or former Denver Broncos - and Clyde Simmons, a former longtime player for the Philadelphia Eagles. Their attorney, Mark Trigg, has not returned messages left at his Atlanta office.

Wright and his company are accused of collecting between $115 million and $185 million from at least 500 investors since 1997 and misleading some of them - through false statements and documents - to believe the value of those investments was increasing.

"Certainly over the past year and earlier, the amount of money that was supposed to be in the respective funds was, in fact, not there," SEC lead counsel Bill Hicks said.

International Management Associates was founded in 1997 and is based in Marietta, a suburb about 10 miles north of Atlanta. The company's Web site recently posted a statement that said the site is "temporarily closed and a court appointed receiver is currently reviewing the financial situation of the company." The site says all the company's financial transactions have been frozen.

A call made Tuesday to the telephone number listed for the company's Marietta office was answered by what sounded like a fax machine.

Before the Web site was changed, Wright was listed as chief executive and founder of the company, as well as the person responsible for overseeing the firm's investment decisions and trading strategies.

According to the site, Wright received his master's degree from Harvard University and is an established financial adviser and former vice president of the global consulting practice at Kaiser Associates, an international consulting firm.

As recently as Jan. 25, International Management Associates reported $166.6 million in assets spread across five hedge funds it manages and advises. "Virtually all of those assets are now missing and are not at the broker-dealer where they are purported to be located," the SEC said in its lawsuit.

Frenkel would not comment on how recently he had spoken with his client, who is now considered a fugitive.

"Various counsel have communicated with the government on his behalf since the allegations arose," Frenkel said.

"Mr. Wright has conveyed previously to the government his intent to be responsive to the government's investigation," Frenkel said. "He has not indicated to the government either personally or through counsel any change in those plans."

Frenkel, a former SEC attorney and federal prosecutor, said the government was in a position of having to make allegations quickly based on the best information available.

"As part of any process of seeking a resolution, it stands to reason that a person who cooperates will bring information to the table to correct any allegations that may be incomplete or incorrect," he said.

Examples of Wright's alleged duplicity are listed in court documents. When several investors demanded to see brokerage account statements from hedge funds in October, Wright produced statements he said were from online brokerage Ameritrade, showing over $155 million in securities from four accounts. According to the lawsuit, three of the accounts did not exist and the fourth was not held by any of those investors.


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Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By bobo on 3/9/2006 8:23 PM
Gang, it would seem that we are going to be assaulted by people on this board who try to discredit this movement, as it is endangering their cozy little livelihood.

I dislike censorship. That said, any racial or religious slurs, or anything that can be hinted at as racially or religiously charged, will be deleted.

I do this for no other reason than because we are now a target, and will be demonized in whatever fashion our adversaries can contrive. So we can't afford the liability of completely free speech. I would ask that you think long and hard about what is posted here, as they have tried to play the ethnic/religious card before, and it is the last refuge of the scoundrel, so I anticipate more of it.

These are desperate miscreants, and though they know no deity or higher power than money, they will use every method available to paint us ugly. Don't participate, and don't be fooled.

Consider that fair warning.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By mhelburn on 3/9/2006 9:00 PM
What would happen if trades were traced and it was found that the largest amount of sell off for Enron and Calpine and Delta Airline and UAL were naked and many were not covered in the required amount of time.. but instead moved the companies to the pink sheets... Basically, that would be theft of assets and collusive activity by the regulators to cover it up. Possible? We will find out. Not only are the shareholders screwed by management, but the remaining part of the company is sold naked.. stolen. No chance of restructuring.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By dave on 3/9/2006 9:00 PM
I've been trying to piece together the relationship between the lapdogs.

- Rocker funded thestreet.com, Cramer ran a fund when thestreet was funded
- Herb and Dave Kansas worked at thestreet.com
- Dave went to DJ - Jesse and Remond works for Dave, not sure how other DJ reporters got pulled in

What I can't figure out is what the relationship is to Roddy Boyd or even stranger, Gary Weiss. Gary is supposed to be the voice for the little guy. How did he get pulled into this?

One possible connection is the NY Post is owned by Rupert Murdoch and Cramer has hinted, as if he has insider info that Murdoch is buying some DJ properties.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By Browntrout on 3/9/2006 9:12 PM
mhelburn- Good luck! I believe the same happened to Worldcom but where is the evidence once they go bankrupt? The crooks get away again!
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By Browntrout on 3/9/2006 9:12 PM
mhelburn- Good luck! I believe the same happened to Worldcom but where is the evidence once they go bankrupt? The crooks get away again!
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By rtway1 on 3/9/2006 9:15 PM
One your adversary starts to resort to the lowest standards, usually that means they have exhausted all other ethical arguments or debates. Thanks for the heads up Bob. When this is all over and were basking in victory would you like to imbibe in a Pina Colada, that is the my absolute favorite sin.I,ll pick up the tab.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By bobo on 3/9/2006 9:37 PM
rtway - I have a feeling you could talk me into it.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By rtway1 on 3/9/2006 9:50 PM
It,s on my calendar, with pride.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By Kuma on 3/9/2006 10:23 PM
Bob,
I was stunned when i saw the front page. Looks good and will make a shy newcomer feel welcome. I have some more ideas. Ask for their help. Say we need people that can help make a difference whether big or small we need help. Once you have read and learned enough to be stunned and angry please take the time to cut and paste (make it easy) this letter and send it to (make the path and they will follow) your state reps. That is a great start to help us let politicians know that we are aware and aware that you are aware. We need your help and as a group we can be heard. A secondary thing that you can do and we know it is hard. Tell someone you know that also would like to help make a difference. Also I think setting up a way to privately communicate with you may help people get over the stupid question part. People may have questions that never get asked and is a missed opportunity to get another helper. I think that front page is great because I belive people do want to help yet feel it is over their heads. Obviously I do not have a way with words like you do but just some more ideas.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By robelita on 3/9/2006 10:26 PM
Bobo,

71% eh-hmmmm. Sounds like the ace bandage on my funny bone is about to get loosened up.

In other developments.......

Has anyone followed GSPG over the past 2 days. It seems there's this alleged miscreant P&D operation called "The Stockster" that does lightning raids on poor unsuspecting companies. Check the volume on GSPG. The price is flat after over 500 MILLION shares changed hands. The deperados have already moved on but the point is made that this kind of activity not only goes unchecked but seems to be flaunted. The SEC was notified. Stay tuned for a status report.

Where's Rowan and Martin when you need them?

I propose resurrecting the "Fickle Finger of Fate" award with a slant. Something like the "Middle Finger Today" award for those deserving denizons of the miscreant movement. Scoring is based of degree of improbability, attempted deflection, unsportsmanlike conduct, chutzpah (and no-this is not-I repeat NOT an anti-semitic slam-it's in Websters and sounds better than balls-which could also be miscontrued as gender-based) and general lack of morals. The competition could get rough as there's plenty of barracuda and only one fishing line.

On that note-I 'm reminded of that great Roy Rogers tune.........

Happy Traillllllllllllllllllllllllsssssssss to you-until-we meet-again!

HASENPFEFFER
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By dave on 3/9/2006 10:38 PM
I believe in the self fulfilling prophesy.

We need to all imagine the celebration in the fall, where we toast our victory.

Pina Coloda is okay, but I think a fine scotch or a nice Shiraz would be appropriate - maybe even some bubbly.

Once we visualize the victory, then we need to work backwards and imagine the steps. Enough years have gone by waiting for the regulators and politicians. WE have to make this happen.

When I visualize the goal and work backwards, I see the most important thing right now is to get as many investors involved as possible and to get them to get as many investors involved as possible. That means simple undeniable messaging and getting the word out.

The daily posting of http://www.thesanitycheck.com and http://www.investigatethesec.com is important. You can configure your email program to add this to the signature of all your outgoing emails. Also, install the Alexa toolbar.

When we get our messaging right, it clicks quickly. I think there are newbies that may get to the front page here and even now, not quite get it.

There have been lots of examples where an event censored in the mainstream media has gone viral over the internet, reaching almost everyone in a few weeks, so we can make it happen.

The other thing I think is important is to personify the miscreants. It's individuals that we're fighting, not media conglomerates or beuracracies. It's a handful of individuals pulling the strings. That's why I like what Bobo has been doing with his lapdog cartoons.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By InTheKnow on 3/10/2006 12:18 AM
An article from Dave Patch. Worth reading and worth reading again:

http://www.investigatethesec.com/DP20060308.htm
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By easy READ from 2002 on this fraud on 3/10/2006 4:29 AM
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/oct2002/nf2002108_4601.htm

give to your friends, and it happened to a Monster Company
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By InTheKnow on 3/10/2006 5:09 AM
What's this all about:

The Depository Trust Company filed a proposed rule change (SR-DTC-
2006-03) that would allow DTC to amend the criteria it uses to place
participants on surveillance status. Publication of the proposal is
expected in the Federal Register during the week of March 13. (Rel.
34-53435)
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By mfairview on 3/10/2006 6:18 AM
A nice read from the SEC on various topics including subpoenaing journalists.

http://www.sec.gov/news/speech/spch030306rcc.htm
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By InTheKnow on 3/10/2006 6:31 AM
Next week is the luck of the Irish. All the Irish folks will be celebrating on St Paddy's day and many of the not so Irish will also!

Keep rocking good Dr!
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By dave on 3/10/2006 6:36 AM
"And if the NYSE finds something amiss -- such as complicity among the clearinghouses and some hedge funds in allowing the shorts to unreasonably delay delivery of the shares they have sold within the required three-day period -- it might launch a full-scale investigation."

Besides the DTCC, the problem is with some (all?) of the participants on this list that have the word "clearing" in their name. It is common for them to own less shares than the brokerages they clear for think they own.

https://login.dtcc.com/dtcorg/home/page19019.html
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By dave on 3/10/2006 6:37 AM
Not sure what the DTCC rule change is - I'll look into it.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By dave on 3/10/2006 6:41 AM
Huh?!?!?!

"One of the ways they can delay delivery of the shares is to sell short through the ECNs, because computer-generated stock trades are difficult to track or police. Also, since ECNs aren't members of the NYSE, they don't necessarily have to enforce its rules."
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By dave on 3/10/2006 6:44 AM
Dr. Byrne should reach out to UAL's attorney's with any material he can share.

"Investors who are buying are demanding that they get delivery of the actual shares. So the shorts' brokers start pressing the shorts to return the stocks they have borrowed. The clearinghouses at the big investment banks are supposed to have control over such activity -- and make sure that the shorts turn in their borrowed shares on time.

"But these clearing firms usually look the other way and give the shorts more time,""
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By dave on 3/10/2006 6:46 AM
"..the three big clearinghouses -- Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns, and Bank of America -- Goldman and Bear Stearns, as well as ECN Instinet, say they're looking into the situation. Bank of America hadn't returned calls seeking comment as of publication."
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By dave on 3/10/2006 6:52 AM
Henry is a big part of establishing new case law that says the clearing houses are not responsible for massive fraud committed by brokerages they clear from, even if they make money hand over fist from it.

http://www.sidley.com/lawyers/bio.asp?ID=M497722507

"The amount involved runs up to hundreds of millions of dollars, says one trader, who also claims that the clearinghouses tend to help the hedge funds that short stocks and don't always follow up on rule violations because these funds provide a rich source of business. "

".. this case isn't quickly resolved, it could balloon into another major scandal on Wall Street, considering that several big clearing firms are owned by some of the Street's largest investment banks."

“Even if one accepts that the complaint sufficiently alleges that Bear Stearns did this with knowledge that these brokers were manipulating the securities at issue, the complaint does not establish Bear Stearns primary liability under § 10(b).”

"These firms are paid to clear trades, not to watch customers. Clearing firms will charge more or consider leaving the business if they are asked to police sales practices and that will end up hurting the average customer," says Sidley Austin Brown & Wood lawyer Henry Minnerop, who has represented most of Wall Street's clearing firms over the years.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By aries on 3/10/2006 6:55 AM
Dave, that BusinessWeek article was written four years ago. Is it possible that todays SEC investigation into NSS started four years ago?
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By dave on 3/10/2006 7:06 AM
I don't know what to think, but it is obvious they didn't fix the problem four years ago.

We need to target the case law that is currently protecting the clearing brokerages from liability. The courts have ruled that they have a contract with the brokerages, but have no relationship with the end customer of the brokerage and have no obligation to investigate fraud EVEN IF they know there is wrongdoing.

This Henry Minnerop and his firm seem to be a big part of the problem as they have been establishing case law for the clearing houses.

http://www.sidley.com/lawyers/bio.asp?ID=M497722507

This can, of course, be overturned. It might be easier to win a judgement against a small clearing house first, before tackling the DTC. If they are shown to be liable, they will stop doing it.

Also, these clearing houses are run by individuals, that in my mind, could be exposing themselves to criminal liability.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By bidrec on 3/10/2006 7:11 AM
Aries,

It is possible: See http://www.agencylending.capco.com/documents/Taskforce%20wide%20documents/NYSE%2005_39%20Agency%20Lending.pdf

Securities lending involves collateralized borrowing. There is an interpretation that shorting is not exactly naked if it is collateralized. It is apparently possible to borrow in good faith from someone who does not have the stock in the first place and not know you are doing it. That is what this Initiative is designed to catch.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By troydian on 3/10/2006 7:11 AM
a radio talk show dealing with issue NOW http://www.cfrn.net/
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By jpc on 3/10/2006 7:15 AM
Bobo

What about a carefully constructed slideshow, say entitled "Counterfeit Shares", sent to the CEO and CFO and board of directors of every company - pink sheets, OTC, Nasdaq? Let's use the internet to attack those who have attacked our markets.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By Anon 1 on 3/10/2006 7:46 AM
Not a bad idea. The good news is Dr. Byrne has already developed the slideshow. It's already on this site I think so you either get the CEO's over to this site or someone can fire them the slideshow.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By pinkice on 3/10/2006 7:47 AM
dave - with the information technology we have today shouldn't we be thinking along the lines of having the clearinghouse data download nightley into a master data base run by an overseeing governemental agency. let the clearinghouses sqwauk all they want - the gov. picks the tab up of the download. really should be no cost to the clearinghouse, no excuses. i believe wal-mart runs much of their inventory virtually, their data even extends to some of the suppliers being part of that base so they can track a product out the door, anybody out there that confirm this regarding wal-mart. point is, the clearinghouses need reigned in under one ruling force so the total picture can be shown for any given stock at any given time with of course some nuances involved. if the SEC and DTCC were doing their job, this would not be necessary and i hate to recommend another layer of government, but in this case wall street needs reigned in and the playing field leveled.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By Wonder Boy on 3/10/2006 11:47 AM
The key to solving the problem, I believe, is in getting the Congress to build up the gumption to remake the SEC into the agency it 'should' be. Every 'block' to any progress ends at the doorstep of the SEC!
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By jpc on 3/10/2006 8:26 AM
Anon 1

This "stock counterfeiting" is now a pretty huge endeavor. My thought was just to send a "stock counterfeiting" primer to a long list of possible victims of "stock counterfeiting." After watching the "stock counterfeiting" primer the "stock counterfeiting" victims would of course have links back to thesanitycheck.com (where they can learn more about "stock counterfeiting"). As dave has been saying repeatedly, in order to bring the "stock counterfeiting" problem to everyone's attention we need to get the "stock counterfeiting" message out. This mass "slideshowmail" on "stock counterfeiting" might help.

If we could only could come up with a catchy buzzword.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By aries on 3/10/2006 9:36 AM
bidrec...Thanks, very interesting.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By bidrec on 3/10/2006 8:36 AM
pinkice

It is already done for NASDAQ stocks. It is called OATS for Order Audit Trail System. Processing the data to find patterns of abuse is a problem because just one days worth of data from a small firm is a lot of data.

As far as tracking stock lending between lenders and hedge funds that is still a work in progress called ALDI. ALDI stands for Agengy Lending Disclosure Initiative. The web site is www.agencylending.capco.com/documents.htm. To observe the progress of the individual firms look at the Testing and Production readiness matrix under Testing working group documents.
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By troydian on 3/10/2006 9:37 AM
jpc..... how about stock counterfeiting as a catchy phrase...
Re: NY Financial Press Engage in Whitewash and Cover-up, Byrne Tells it Like It Is By pinkice on 3/10/2006 11:49 AM
thank you bidrec.