I always enjoy how the Yahoo message board "bashers" insist that there are no paid bashers working the boards, and that nobody would put in any time there as the boards don't matter one iota in terms of information dissemination, and that anyone claiming that those posting there are pros trying to libel the company are crazy, delusional, paranoid.
Huh.
Here's an article where a hedge fund out of the SF Bay Area is quoted right alongside Marc Cohodes of Rocker Partners - who is also based out of the Bay Area, where he is being sued for allegedly front-running research reports, disseminating false information about OSTK, etc.
And here is an article where two Yahoo message board bashers are tracked to that same hedge fund - bashers who were posting materially false and misleading information.
The hedge fund manager refused to answer any questions.
Sound familiar? Claim ignorance, express outrage at the allegations, become indignant, and then, when caught red-handed, clam up.
Discovery is going to be grand...
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The SEC extended its suspension of the "no short on up-tick" rule for their pilot program test for another year and change, now extending it until August, 2007.
That is the "test" that removes the barriers for shorting 1000 stocks - of which OSTK is among them. Since implementing that "test program", OSTK has lost about $300 million of market cap. Nice test. And it has been on the SHO list for over 250 days.
Does anyone find it odd that the SEC is running a "test" to see whether the protections crafted in the 1934 Security Exchange Act, to prevent the sorts of bear raids which had a huge contributory effect on the Crash of '29? And that after a year of allowing short sellers to short this 1000 lucky stocks without those protections, that they decided to extend it by 16 months?
What exactly are they testing? The ability of companies to stay in business when pummeled mercilessly day after day, the bid slammed over and over and over in a relentless downward spiral?
The ability of Americans to have retirement savings left after their little experiment?
When this was introduced, it was supposed to be a limited scope, one year test. That was a lie. It is now a 2 and a half year opportunity for short sellers to have their way with the market.
Who made this brilliant decision? I mean, seriously? "Let's let all the criminals at Lompoc have the run of the grounds, and give them free tequila and crack, and tear down the fence that separates the facility from the all girl's cheer leading camp, and see what happens!"
This from the same group who declared that investors complaining about rampant abuse of FTDs in SHO list stocks were just a bunch of disgruntled crybabies has decided that the one protection from bear raids that our forefathers had carefully crafted should be removed for years, you know, just to see what happens.
That must be sort of like the monitoring of Reg SHO's efficacy they are doing, without enforcing any of the flimsy rules contained therein. OSTK on that list for 250+ days, lots of monitoring. Massive lawsuits alleging that naked short selling is pandemic? Monitor away. Apparently everyone - investors, companies, and even now hedge funds - all understand that this is a runaway crisis, but the best our regulators can do is monitor, and eliminate the few safeguards that did exist.
WTF?
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In other market manipulation news, word has come to me that many, and I mean many shareholders, of OSTK, haven't gotten their proxy materials for the annual meeting.
Apparently the brokers aren't doing their usual bit of just sending out the proxies to everyone, holders of bogus shares, as well as genuine, and then figuring it out later.
No, they just aren't distributing the materials, and are coming up with every excuse they can think of not to - including lying about sending them out - the mailed proxies just never reach the shareholders.
Folks, this is flat out fraud.
If you are an OSTK shareholder, you need to vote your proxy.
There are two ways to vote shares in Overstock
If you own certificates:
1. Call Kevin Moon at Overstock 801-947-3100 for a control number
2. Log on to www.proxyvote.com and using your control number vote your shares
If your shares are held in your brokerage account by your broker:
1. Call your broker and get your control number.
I assume they will also provide a pin number as it looks like the site requires that as well
2. Log on to www.proxyvote.com and using your control number, vote your shares
If your broker can't give you a control number it may be because your shares are in a margin account and have been loaned out - in other words because you don't own them. Alternatively, it could be that they were never delivered and you don't own shares at all.
If they are in a cash account then demand your control number. If you don't get one, contact OSTK at the above number and let them know. I smell shareholder lawsuit in the air.
This is imperative to do if you are an OSTK shareholder. If Byrne is correct and the majority of shareholders own nothing but fraudulently created markets, then one way to test the system is to get your number and vote your shares. You need to do this.
Quite a weekend, no? Hedge funds lying on the boards about companies they are short, SEC handing the keys to the bank vault to the short sellers, and the brokers refusing to allow shareholders to vote.
No problem here. Just business as usual in the markets.