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Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is...

Location: Blogs Bob O'Brien's Sanity Check Blog    
Posted by:   bobo 6/17/2006 7:34 PM

Naked short selling is a strategy used by rogue traders and their brokers to decimate the price of targeted stocks.

It is largely illegal.

And yet, the SEC's anemic and limp-wristed Reg SHO does nothing to stop it - nothing. It requires a locate, rather than an actual borrow - a loophole one could drive trucks through. It holds no penalties for those who fail to deliver. It is worse than a cosmetic. It basically sucks, and the best the SEC can do, is claim that they are watching how it does. They have no explanation for how OSTK is on the list for over a year. They merely offer "possible" explanations - none of which are remotely believable. And they are livid (so I hear) about UT stepping in and requiring additional reporting on SHO stocks.

Why are they livid?, if my info is correct?

Because they feel that they should have sole control over securities issues. Never mind that there were state securities regulators and laws before they were created, or that they exist today - I hear that if it were up to them, all that would be gone the way of the dodo.

Fortunately, that isn't what Congress had in mind.

Which brings us to other things our elected officials have on their minds.

The Senate hearing on hedge funds, analysts and short selling has been postponed for one week.

I've heard varying explanations, but would advise caution with the hyperbole spraygun. The hearings are a landmark, and are unprecedented in our market reform effort - and they should not be taken lightly. Nor should idle speculations as to what the change in timing means.

We will know whether it is meaningful once it takes place. I'm going to hold my powder until I see the outcome and the proceedings. One week is meaningless. It's what comes out of it that is key.

I'm offline again until late Monday or Tuesday. Be nice to each other. Please.
Copyright ©2006 Bob O'Brien
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Comments (59)
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By Wicked World on 6/17/2006 9:34 PM
BobO,

I'm reholstering my spraygun. Be well.

Wicked
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By kevin on 6/17/2006 10:25 PM
Did the guys who dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki have power?

Damn straight they did. At least they thought they did.

Same goes with the bankers who print money out of thin air to fund your mortgage. It's good to be them! They laugh to themselves as they pay millions in auction for the latest painting.

Same goes with the guy who elects politicians off the money he made laundering terrorist, dictatorship, drug and arms money using naked shorting.

Question!

Is the power the person or the position? Does it matter who drops the bombs or WHO prints money out of thin air to lend to the government so they can tax you to pay the interest?

Could you or I do it if we booted these guys out of their job? Maybe we could come up with Bobo dollars and they could be the new world reserve currency. The drug dealers would beg to be our friends.

We all acknowledge that the president, media, SEC, etc, have power.

BUT:

These are only LEVERS of power. The head of the SEC is no different than the guy that dropped the nuke. He temporarily had power, but the power was with the position. He could have spent his next year in the psych ward of a VA hospital.

If a scumbag has a lever of power than we can have that scumbag arrested. We need to name the scumbags and have them arrested.

The LEVER is ours. It isn't his and no level of arrogant bitching will make it his.

Cramer and his BS on the SEC is symptomatic.

It's easy to be scared of the GREAT BIG government, but we live in a democracy. What you think is the big bad government is a few SCUMBAGS that we have allowed to control the levers of power.

We need to get rid of these parasites on democracy.

If the population decides that it isn't to their advantage to have CRIMINALS counterfeit stock to them as OTHER CRIMINALS lie to them on TV as other CRIMINALS at the SEC lie to them they are investigating as they protect the CRIMINALS, then likely we will find the Faulks, Patch's, Bobo's and Bud's controlling those levers of power.

I'd vote for Bobo and I have no idea who s/he is!!!

We are DAMN CLOSE to a tipping point. It's easy to be frustrated and you CAN'T GIVE UP, but everything you do is like the snowflake that piles up. No one knows which snowflake will be the last one that causes the AVALANCHE of change.

This is our year and you can't be lazy. Don't let anyone else in this movement give up and let's give our ALL to get the scumbags arrested as we awaken the masses to how the scumbags have been screwing them.
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By hemingway811 on 6/20/2006 6:31 AM
PATRICK LEAHY (D-VT)
Top Contributors

1 Walt Disney Co $44,700
2 Viacom Inc $43,720
3 Time Warner $39,850
4 Law Offices of Peter Angelos $36,000
5 General Electric $25,650
6 Swidler, Berlin et al $19,500
7 General Dynamics $17,200
8 Girardi & Keese $16,000
9 Cotchett, Pitre et al $15,250
10 Vivendi $14,700
11 Microsoft Corp $14,500
12 Piper Rudnick LLP $14,250
13 Sony Corp of America $13,250
14 Baron & Budd $12,000
14 Electronic Warfare Assoc $12,000
16 Kramer, Dillof et al $10,000
17 Patton Boggs LLP $9,800
18 Bingham McCutchen LLP $8,250
18 Morgan, Colling & Gilbert $8,250
20 Childrens Research & Education Institute $8,000
20 Connell Co $8,000
20 Environmental De Pens $8,000
20 Global Strategy Group $8,000
20 Julyan & Julyan $8,000
20 Larwin Development Co $8,000
20 Maher, Guiley & Maher $8,000
20 Maverick Farm $8,000
20 Reaud, Morgan & Quinn $8,000
20 Wise & Julian $8,000
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By hemingway811 on 6/20/2006 6:32 AM
CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-IA)
Top Contributors

1 DCI Group $49,800
2 Amgen Inc $41,799
3 Blue Cross/Blue Shield $34,000
4 Verizon Communications $32,000
5 FPL Group $30,250
6 Wells Fargo $29,850
7 Prudential Financial $25,000
8 Berkshire Hathaway $22,500
9 Xcel Energy $21,500
10 Level 3 Communications $21,050
11 Professional Employer Organization $20,250
12 American International Group $19,750
13 Edward D Jones & Co $19,500
14 Bank of America $18,750
14 Invacare Corp $18,750
16 Alliant Energy $17,600
17 AT&T Inc $17,500
17 Deere & Co $17,500
19 Lincare Holdings $17,000
20 Bear Stearns $16,000
20 Mutual of Omaha $16,000
20 New York Life Insurance $16,000
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By hemingway811 on 6/20/2006 6:33 AM
EDWARD M. KENNEDY (D-MA)
Top Contributors

1 Blank Rome LLP $45,350
2 PolyMedica Corp $39,900
3 Cassidy & Assoc/Interpublic Group $34,490
4 Boston Scientific Corp $30,000
4 Girardi & Keese $30,000
4 Microsoft Corp $30,000
7 Cooney & Conway $27,700
8 Time Warner $26,750
9 Sippican Inc $25,100
10 Weitz & Luxenberg $24,700
11 Foley Hoag LLP $23,900
12 Marwood Group $22,800
13 Verizon Communications $22,650
14 Thornton & Naumes $20,100
15 United Liquors $18,200
16 Northeastern University $18,050
17 Blue Cross/Blue Shield $18,000
18 Partners Health Care System $17,450
19 Patton Boggs LLP $17,400
20 Feinberg Group $16,800
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By hemingway811 on 6/20/2006 6:35 AM
JON L. KYL (R-AZ)
Top Contributors

1 Viad Corp $34,700
2 Squire, Sanders & Dempsey $32,550
3 Pinnacle West Capital $32,500
4 Snell & Wilmer $25,800
5 Cerberus Capital Management $22,900
6 Bank of America $21,500
7 American International Group $20,400
8 America West Airlines $20,000
9 JP Morgan Chase & Co $19,200
10 Blue Cross/Blue Shield $18,500
11 Health Net Inc $18,000
12 Shamrock Foods $17,900
13 Farnsworth Companies $17,100
14 Phelps Dodge Corp $17,000
15 Farmers & Merchants Investments $16,800
16 DaVita Inc $16,500
16 Nascar $16,500
18 Echostar Communications $16,375
19 Westcor Partners $16,250
20 Discount Tires Co $16,200
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By hemingway811 on 6/20/2006 6:36 AM
JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR. (D-DE)
Top Contributors

1 Pachulski, Stang et al $149,625
2 Simmons Cooper LLC $94,150
3 Young, Conaway et al $84,450
4 MBNA Corp $80,625
5 Kreindler & Kreindler $71,350
6 Baron & Budd $64,500
7 Saul Ewing LLP $58,760
8 Weitz & Luxenberg $53,700
9 Law Offices of Peter G Angelos $45,800
10 Skadden, Arps et al $45,500
11 Richards, Layton & Finger $45,350
12 Weil, Gotshal & Manges $36,600
13 Comcast Corp $35,450
14 Morris, Nichols et al $31,300
15 Franklin, Cardwell & Jones $27,100
16 Girardi & Keese $26,800
17 Kirkland & Ellis $25,510
18 Cooney & Conway $25,000
19 Sullivan & Cromwell $22,800
20 Potter, Anderson & Corroon $20,725
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By hemingway811 on 6/20/2006 6:37 AM
MIKE DEWINE (R-OH)
Top Contributors

1 Forest City Enterprises $49,500
2 National City Corp $43,250
3 Timken Co $33,350
4 RPM International $31,200
5 Dominion Homes $31,000
6 Telantis Group $26,265
7 Scotts Miracle-Gro $25,200
8 Crown Equipment Corp $25,050
9 Nationwide $24,000
10 Time Warner $23,249
11 Invacare Corp $22,250
12 Steris Corp $22,165
13 Cintas Corp $21,500
14 Squire, Sanders & Dempsey $21,400
15 American Financial Group $21,100
16 FirstEnergy Corp $20,950
17 Keating, Muething & Klekamp $20,900
18 Calfee, Halter & Griswold $19,750
19 Goodyear Tire & Rubber $18,400
20 JM Smucker Co $18,200
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By hemingway811 on 6/20/2006 6:39 AM
HERB KOHL (D-WI)
Top Contributors

1 American Institute of CPAs $5,000
2 Quarles & Brady $2,000
2 RE Loewenberg Capital Management $2,000
4 Milwaukee Bucks $1,700
5 Armenian American PAC $1,000
5 Enterprise Magazines $1,000
5 Godfrey & Kahn $1,000
5 Manitowoc Co $1,000
5 Red Hills Ranch $1,000
10 Christiana Companies $500
10 Computer Product Introductions Corp $500
10 Gleischman Sumner Co $500
10 K&L Trust $500
10 Polacheck Co $500
10 Scott Aircharter $500
10 Smith Group Jjr $500
10 Zins, Boelter & Lincoln $500
18 Arts for America PAC $250
18 Ella's Deli $250
18 Hangers Unlimited $250
18 M&m Enterprises of Marinette $250
18 Porterhouse Restaurant $250
18 Time Warner $250
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By hemingway811 on 6/20/2006 6:40 AM
JEFF SESSIONS (R-AL)
Top Contributors

1 Collazo Enterprises $42,000
2 Southern Co $34,600
3 Balch & Bingham $32,850
4 Drummond Co $27,000
5 American Hospital Assn $24,500
6 Qualitest Products $22,000
7 State of Alabama $21,850
8 University of South Alabama $21,200
9 Harbert Management Corp $18,000
10 Kilpatrick Stockton LLP $17,550
11 WPP Group $17,400
12 Dynetics Inc $17,250
13 Maximum Technology Corp $17,000
14 Intergraph Corp $15,250
15 Vulcan Materials $14,650
16 Amsouth Bancorp $12,798
17 Burr & Forman $12,563
18 Bradley, Arant et al $12,550
19 National Assn of Realtors $12,200
20 Regions Financial $12,000
20 Southeast Wood Treating $12,000
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By hemingway811 on 6/20/2006 6:43 AM
DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CA)
Top Contributors

1 PG&E Corp $49,750
2 Qualcomm Inc $35,547
3 Gap Inc $31,900
4 University of California $24,850
5 Wells Fargo $24,250
6 O'Melveny & Myers $24,050
7 Northrop Grumman $22,250
8 Edison International $21,400
9 Oaktree Capital Management $21,000
10 Manatt, Phelps & Phillips $20,748
11 Preston, Gates et al $19,830
12 Nanosys Inc $19,000
13 Latham & Watkins $16,900
14 American Dental Assn $15,000
15 Kleiner, Perkins et al $14,000
16 EDO Corp $13,900
17 Holland & Knight $13,769
18 Cisco Systems $13,500
18 Walt Disney Co $13,500
20 Akin, Gump et al $13,145

Christopher Cox used to work for Latham & Watkins
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By hemingway811 on 6/20/2006 6:48 AM
LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC)
Top Contributors

1 Nelson, Mullins et al $65,233
2 Washington Group International $36,350
3 BellSouth Corp $29,800
4 Scana Corp $26,750
5 Blue Cross/Blue Shield $24,450
6 Murray Energy Corp $24,400
7 Reaud, Morgan & Quinn $24,000
8 Fluor Corp $22,000
8 Hamricks Inc $22,000
10 Avtex Commercial Properties $21,353
11 Milliken & Co $21,265
12 Harrison, White et al $21,200
13 Wolverine Brass $21,000
14 Time Warner $20,692
15 IDT Corp $20,250
16 Nix, Patterson & Roach $20,000
17 Duke Energy $19,650
18 Lockheed Martin $18,500
18 Progress Energy $18,500
20 Wyche, Burgess et al $18,300
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By hemingway811 on 6/20/2006 6:58 AM
RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD (D-WI)
Top Contributors

1 University of Wisconsin $143,229
2 Council for a Livable World $53,795
3 Habush, Habush et al $42,350
4 Foley & Lardner $35,607
5 Godfrey & Kahn $19,800
6 Marshfield Clinic $19,700
7 State of Wisconsin $18,075
8 Milberg, Weiss et al $17,250
9 Michael, Best & Friedrich $16,725
10 Teamsters Union $15,000
11 Quarles & Brady $14,600
12 League of Conservation Voters $13,810
13 National Education Assn $12,000
14 Lubar & Co $11,900
15 Citigroup Inc $11,700
16 General Electric $11,250
17 AFL-CIO $11,200
18 Florida Congressional Cmte $11,000
19 Service Employees International Union $10,950
20 National Assn of Realtors $10,750
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By hemingway811 on 6/20/2006 6:59 AM
JOHN CORNYN (R-TX)
Top Contributors

1 Locke, Liddell & Sapp $72,300
2 Bass Brothers Enterprises $67,250
3 AT&T Inc $58,850
4 Haynes & Boone $44,900
5 State of Texas $40,557
6 TXU Corp $40,460
7 Zachry Construction $32,400
8 Winstead, Sechrest & Minick $32,100
9 Goldman Sachs $31,100
10 Jackson Walker LLP $28,450
11 El Paso Corp $28,000
12 L&F Distributors $26,200
12 Murray Energy Corp $26,200
14 Fulbright & Jaworski $25,000
14 University of Texas $25,000
14 Waste Management Inc $25,000
17 Valero Energy $24,500
18 Crow Holdings $24,400
19 Pilgrim's Pride Corp $23,500
20 Neurosurgical Assoc of San Antonio $22,500
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By hemingway811 on 6/20/2006 7:02 AM
The # 1 member who is beholden to the securities industry is Schumer. Definitely bought and paid for.

CHARLES E. SCHUMER (D-NY)
Top Contributors

1 Goldman Sachs $182,590
2 JP Morgan Chase & Co $129,550
3 Merrill Lynch $127,000
4 Bear Stearns $126,400
5 Morgan Stanley $109,500
6 Citigroup Inc $108,550
7 Ernst & Young $101,800
8 Kasowitz, Benson et al $100,250
9 Newmark & Co Real Estate $93,950
10 Paul, Weiss et al $76,500
11 Time Warner $75,500
12 Credit Suisse Group $73,712
13 Lehman Brothers $72,500
14 UBS AG $65,750
15 Metropolitan Life $64,984
16 Sullivan & Cromwell $63,500
17 Bank of America $63,100
18 New York Life Insurance $60,000
19 Milberg, Weiss et al $57,750
20 Bank of New York $54,999
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By hemingway811 on 6/20/2006 7:03 AM
SAM BROWNBACK (R-KS)
Top Contributors

1 Sprint Nextel $19,000
2 IDT Corp $18,250
3 Atlantic Realty $16,500
4 Russell Stover Candies $16,000
5 Herzog Contracting $14,724
6 Credit Union National Assn $14,500
7 National Assn of Realtors $14,000
8 Vitel Net $13,565
9 AT&T Inc $13,500
9 Koch Industries $13,500
11 Hallmark Cards $13,000
11 National Electrical Contractors Assn $13,000
13 FedEx Corp $12,700
14 Verizon Communications $12,500
15 Clear Channel Communications $12,000
15 Galpin Motors $12,000
15 Macerich Co $12,000
15 Wal-Mart Stores $12,000
19 Qwest Communications $11,750
20 BellSouth Corp $11,000
20 Textron Inc $11,000

Percent of Contributions Coded:
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By hemingway811 on 6/20/2006 7:04 AM
DICK DURBIN (D-IL)
Top Contributors

1 Kirkland & Ellis $54,916
2 Baron & Budd $32,500
3 Simmons Cooper LLC $32,000
4 Thornton & Naumes $31,400
5 Mayer, Brown et al $22,300
6 Corboy & Demetrio $21,750
7 Waters & Kraus $21,000
8 UAL Corp $20,000
9 Sidley Austin LLP $18,700
10 Painters & Allied Trades Union $17,650
11 Medline Industries $16,600
12 Much, Shelist et al $15,550
13 Schiff, Hardin & Waite $14,950
14 Altheimer & Gray $14,770
15 American Hospital Assn $14,500
16 University of Illinois $14,190
17 State of Illinois $13,760
18 Carr, Korein et al $13,750
19 Northern Trust $13,625
20 Walgreen Co $13,50
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By hemingway811 on 6/20/2006 7:07 AM
TOM COBURN (R-OK)
Top Contributors

1 Cummins-American Corp $20,000
2 Friedman, Billings & Ramsey $17,541
3 American Securities Capital $16,800
4 Windway Capital $16,000
5 American Financial Group $15,000
6 American Soc Cataract/Refractive Surgery $14,000
7 SLM Corp $12,749
8 McDonald's $12,500
9 Fremont Exploration $12,000
9 Oklahoma Heart Hospital $12,000
9 Sasco Electric $12,000
12 Neuroscience Specialists $10,750
13 Helmerich & Payne $10,500
14 American College of Emergency Physicians $10,000
14 American Neurological Surgery PAC $10,000
14 American Society of Anesthesiologists $10,000
14 AT&T Inc $10,000
14 Battle Born PAC $10,000
14 Devon Energy $10,000
14 Family-PAC $10,000
14 Fund for America's Future $10,000
14 Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co $10,000
14 Leadership for America's Future $10,000
14 Liberty PAC $10,000
14 National Pro-Life Alliance $10,000
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By hemingway811 on 6/20/2006 7:14 AM
The securities industy ranks # 4 in contributions.

Rank Organization Amount
1 Goldman Sachs $6,222,639
2 Morgan Stanley $3,255,384
3 Merrill Lynch $2,220,263
4 Lehman Brothers $1,921,568
5 Credit Suisse Group $1,903,222
6 UBS Americas $1,459,883
7 Bear Stearns $1,453,755
8 FMR Corp $1,173,671
9 UBS AG $1,038,529
10 Friedman, Billings & Ramsey $1,032,794
11 Federated Investors Inc $984,769
12 Chicago Mercantile Exchange $814,952
13 Capital Group Companies $713,614
14 National Venture Capital Assn $711,000
15 Citigroup Inc $686,572
16 Lazard Freres & Co $646,845
17 Blackstone Group $615,330
18 Investment Co Institute $574,768
19 Bain Capital $546,950
20 Bond Market Assn $518,005
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By hemingway811 on 6/20/2006 7:26 AM
These are the top recipients of contributions from the securities indusary during the last presidential election. BTW, in 2002 Schumer ranked # 1.

Securities & Investment:
Top 20 Recipients

Election cycle 2004: List Top 20:


1 Bush, George W (R) $8,889,169

2 Kerry, John (D) $4,518,450

3 Schumer, Charles E (D-NY) $1,269,339

4 Obama, Barack (D-IL) $979,232

5 Lieberman, Joe (D-CT) $961,575

6 Daschle, Tom (D-SD) $954,645

7 Bowles, Erskine B (D-NC) $748,451

8 Dodd, Chris (D-CT) $643,196

9 Clark, Wesley (D) $612,533

10 Dean, Howard (D) $599,441

11 Gephardt, Richard A (D) $571,400

12 Thune John (R-SD) $550,395

13 Speter, Arlen (R-PA) $536,024

14 Clinton, Hillary Rodham (D-NY) $501,780

15 Shelby, Richard C (R-AL) $482,500

16 Bayh, Evan (D-IN $472,998

17Ryan, Jack (R-IL) $461,403

18 Edwards, John (D) $444,750

19 Martinez, Mel (R-FL) $440,385

20 Hynes, Daniel W (D-IL) $418,650
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By hemingway811 on 6/20/2006 8:00 AM
NYSE GIVES SHORT-SELLERS FAIR WARNING

By RODDY BOYD, with Post wires

June 20, 2006 -- The New York Stock Exchange's regulatory unit says it will soon take on short-sellers, a senior official said at a conference yesterday.
Oversight chief Susan Merrill kicked off the NYSE's annual regulatory conference by making clear that her group has a number of crooked short-sellers in its sights.
"This is an area where we have seen problems, and you can expect enforcement actions," said Merrill.
She indicated that future actions were likely to begin with short-sales related to secondary offerings.
While no details were provided about specific cases being watched by the NYSE market-surveillance and regulation units, Robert Marchman, the chief of the Big Board's market-surveillance unit, told the crowd that short-sellers might have artificially depressed prices prior to the issuance of some secondary offerings.
Marchman added that the NYSE's market surveillance had been in contact with the SEC on the topic of improper short-sales.
He said that his group was going to focus on brokers trading on behalf of hedge funds.
Traders may bet on a decline in the price of a stock by selling borrowed shares with the aim of buying them back at a lower price. Securities law bars traders from covering such "short sales" with shares from secondary offerings.
Short-selling in front of secondary stock sales has long been a common tactic of traders at many firms and hedge funds, who count on making a quick profit as a stock's price often temporarily dips when new supply hits the market.
The probe comes as the pace of secondary offerings has accelerated from 2005. Companies have raised $49.7 billion in 237 sales so far this year, according to Bloomberg data. That's the fastest start since 2004, when $51.5 billion was raised in 285 secondary offerings over the same period.
A secondary offering involves the underwritten sale of shares in a company that has already gone public. The stock may be sold by the company itself or its current investors.
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By thinker on 6/20/2006 8:30 AM
The Top Contributors:

6 Republicans for $11,359,876

14 Democrats for $13,696,440
*** DON'T LET THE DTCC RUN AND HIDE FROM THIS MESS *** By InTheKnow on 6/20/2006 12:09 PM
One thing should be crystal clear:

*** DON'T LET THE DTCC RUN AND HIDE FROM THIS MESS ***
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By Steubenville OH on 6/20/2006 1:39 PM
Hemmingway811
Thank you so much, I had not seen your earlier posts on contributions. That happens sometimes with 76 year old grammas. That helps me open my eyes to "friend or foe".
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By kranker on 6/20/2006 7:00 PM
Nice work hemmingway!

Here's a list of more Goldman "Business Expenses"

http://cmkxunitedforum.proboards70.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=referencematerials&thread=1150858663
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By mig on 6/20/2006 10:53 PM
Nice work Hemmingway! Maybe I missed it but I didn't see biovail or Overstock as to contributors...not even to Orrin Hatch.

On another note I just read HG's latest column. I could have spit. I wouldn't advise reading it if your blood pressure is already high.

A couple things that are Ironic about it though are the following.
1. He starts out the article with...I can't help but wonder whether any member of the committee -- with the possible exception of New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, who is also on the Senate banking committee, or Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, whose husband is a money manger -- really has a clue about the issues.

What a coincidence he would name Chuck Schumer as one who would know.

2. He goes on to state "Washington, as we know, is heavily influenced by lobbyists." and tries to tie a Biovail lobbyist to Orrin Hatch which of course ties to Overstock because Hatch is from Utah and so is Overstock.

Boy he seems to be stretching. You did a much better job by just pointing out the money trail.

3. Speaking about himself and the rest of the gang he says..."If those critics turn out to be right, a bunch of senators could wind up looking silly."

Is that a veiled journalistic threat to the senators? Is he just getting nervous?
That is a big If to (oh no...not) maybe look silly. He failed to mention that if Patrick Byrne is right a lot of those "critics" could wind up in Jail!
*** Mind Boggleling *** By InTheKnow on 6/21/2006 12:12 AM
Mind Boggleling:

CHARLES E. SCHUMER (D-NY)
Top Contributors

1 Goldman Sachs $182,590
2 JP Morgan Chase & Co $129,550
3 Merrill Lynch $127,000
4 Bear Stearns $126,400
5 Morgan Stanley $109,500
6 Citigroup Inc $108,550
7 Ernst & Young $101,800
8 Kasowitz, Benson et al $100,250
9 Newmark & Co Real Estate $93,950
10 Paul, Weiss et al $76,500
11 Time Warner $75,500
12 Credit Suisse Group $73,712
13 Lehman Brothers $72,500
14 UBS AG $65,750
15 Metropolitan Life $64,984
16 Sullivan & Cromwell $63,500
17 Bank of America $63,100
18 New York Life Insurance $60,000
19 Milberg, Weiss et al $57,750
20 Bank of New York $54,999
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By hemingway811 on 6/21/2006 5:25 AM
mig,

I've read a number of articles attempting to make a big deal out of contributions to Hatch. Most state he put pressure on the Committee members to hold the Hearing. Then they go on to state Byrne made contributions to Hatch.

I only found two contributions Byrne made to Hatch. One was to his campaign directly and the other was to a PAC that distributed most/all the money to Hatch. Both contributions were for $ 5,000. I don't think that buys much influence these days.

Byrne only gave $ 2,000. to Bob Bennett.

I could find no contributions made by Douglas Squires CEO or Charles Rowland CFO of Biovail.

We know Schumer is bought and paid for by the securities industry. Interestingly, the Chairman, Arlen Specter, came in 2nd due to contributions from Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. And Feinstein is married to a money manager.

It's difficult to figure out who, other than Hatch, will ask the tough questions and push for further investigation. Greenberg is right about one thing. I believe most of the committee members are clueless.

The Judiciary's website now has the June 28th Hearing posted. The post on the 20th has a Webcam icon, but the 28th doesn't. I'm sure it will be broadcast. It will be interesting to hear who does the most posturing.
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By hemingway811 on 6/21/2006 5:34 AM
The CFALA Roundtable, originally scheduled for June 6th, has been cancelled unless DTCC/NASD/SEC decides they want to participate.

That will happen about the same time hell freezes over.
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By piddly_sum on 6/21/2006 6:31 AM
Well the 6/28 hearing is scheduled for room 226, same as before, so, so much for the larger room theory.

Also, the title has changed to "Hedge Funds and Independent Analysts: How Independent are Their Relationships?"
from "Examining Short Selling Activities of Hedge Funds and Independent Analysts"

One other thing, has anybody seen this yet about the SEC's Reg SHO roundtable 9/15/06?: http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2006/2006-94.htm

More talk talk talk when the SEC could and should actually be doing something about the problem today. I say the silver lining to this is though that it very likely means there will be no revisions to Reg SHO prior to the 10/1/06 Utah law taking effect.
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By Another on 6/21/2006 1:08 PM
http://www.thestreet.com/stocks/brokerages/10266218.html
Forbes Article on Judiciary Hearing & NSS By hemingway811 on 6/22/2006 3:28 AM
Crying Foul In Short-Selling Land
Liz Moyer, 06.21.06, 6:00 AM ET

An issue once relegated to conspiracy theorists and boiler-room insiders is about to get its 15 minutes in the sun when the Senate Judiciary Committee takes up naked short-selling in a hearing next Wednesday.
The hearing, which was postponed a week because of scheduling (and what was said to be overwhelming media interest), will focus on a brewing controversy that has already generated lawsuits against hedge funds, broker firms and research analysts alleging market manipulation in short-selling certain thinly traded stocks.
Short-selling, in which a trader borrows stock and sells it, betting it will decline, and he can buy it back at the lower price and pocket the difference, is a perfectly legitimate trading strategy. But before the trade can be pulled off, the stock in question needs to be "located" and delivered. Trading without securing those shares is called naked short-selling.

View a slide show of eight of the top stocks on the New York Stock Exchange's Regulation SHO list of naked shorts.

There were about 234 U.S. stocks that had large outstanding naked short positions as of June 1, according to data provided by the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, which have been required to report these positions since January 2005. This is certainly small compared with the broad universe of stocks, but reformers say it's enough to send a shock wave through the markets in a crisis.

The real problem, say reformers and heads of companies that have been attacked by these short-sellers, is that prime brokers, which control the $10 billion annual stock-lending market, lend one share multiple times to multiple traders, replacing what should be a physical "locate" with an IOU. This house of cards threatens to collapse the settlement and clearing system, the critics say.

These critics want regulators and federal lawmakers to tighten loopholes in stock settlement and clearing rules that can make it possible for unscrupulous traders to manipulate the market. The issue has also attracted the attention of the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security, sources say, because of the potential for money laundering by using the loopholes in the current system.
Already one state, Utah, has enacted a law that would force brokerage firms operating there to pay Utah-based companies every time they execute a client trade that ends up in a naked short-selling situation. Two other states, Connecticut and Illinois, which have aggressively been investigating short-selling patterns, are thought to be considering similar legislation.

The Utah law is widely believed to have been backed by Utah-based Overstock.com (nasdaq: OSTK - news - people ), the discount retailing outfit whose chief executive, Patrick Byrne, has crusaded against naked short-selling for more than a year and whose shares have been heavily shorted by investors for at least the past 18 months. Byrne says he has no comments on the upcoming hearing on Capitol Hill and won't be participating in the testimony.

His absence from the witness list, which is expected to be finalized by Thursday, is surprising given his high-profile campaign against naked short-selling. But Byrne, an indefatigable crusader, said in an interview, "We've spent six months getting the right people in front of the right people, and it's good to see that all of this is taking on a momentum of its own."

Overstock.com has sued one hedge fund, Rocker Partners, and a stock research firm, Gradient Analytics, alleging they worked together to have Gradient issue negative reports on companies that Rocker had sold short, including Overstock. The Rocker fund has since changed its name to Copper River Management and is based in Millburn, N.J.

Other companies that have been reported as victims of naked short-sellers include Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (nyse: MSO - news - people ), Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (nyse: KKD - news - people ), Netflix (nasdaq: NFLX - news - people ) and NovaStar Financial (nyse: NFI - news - people ).

The Utah law has incensed the largest U.S. brokerage firms, which have threatened to sue to block it. The law requires brokers to disclose to the state within 24 hours trades that fail to deliver or pay the issuers $10,000 per day up to the value of the trade. The law would affect any firm with operations in the state, including Morgan Stanley (nyse: MS - news - people ), Goldman Sachs Group (nyse: GS - news - people ), Fidelity Investments and Merrill Lynch (nyse: MER - news - people ), and any trades that fail to deliver involving a Utah company.

The securities industry contends that failures to deliver are often just administrative glitches and unrelated to deliberate naked short-selling. Trades are supposed to settle within three days. Most trades that fail to deliver settle within ten days, according to the Depositary Trust Clearing Corp.

The Securities Industry Association nevertheless appeared taken off guard by the Utah statute, which was passed after a special legislative session and signed quickly into law by the governor at the end of May. The SIA, the trade association for the nation's brokerage firms, is mulling its options and might sue on any one or all of three grounds: that the extra documentation impairs clearing and settlement; that it is physically impossible to comply with the law in 24 hours; or that federal law preempts the state law.

An SIA spokesman said the association is still weighing its options. Wayne Klein, the director of the Utah Division of Securities, had no comment.

Separately from the legislative effort in Utah, a New York class-action law firm earlier this year filed two federal suits in New York court against 11 of the top prime brokerage firms--most of Wall Street's biggest banks--alleging they work together to facilitate naked short-selling to the detriment of hedge funds and brokerage clients. The firm is seeking unspecified damages on behalf of its clients--a hedge fund and a brokerage firm who allege they were victims of collusion by stock lenders.

The entire issue is becoming so contentious that even hedge funds who engage in naked shorting are beginning to cry foul--that their prime brokers are forcing them to pay for borrowed shares that they never actually borrowed.
http://www.forbes.com/home/business/2006/06/20/naked-short-selling-overstock-cx_lm_0621short.html
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By anon on 6/22/2006 3:56 AM
The Vonage IPO should not be the catalyst for short selling inquiry. The Refco fiasco is a major red flag.

" The tale of Refco's bank -- and its role in the biggest meltdown on Wall Street since junk bond scandals felled Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. in 1990 -- shows how executives gambled with customers' money and may have deceived the elite of the global financial community, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., whose chief executive officer, Henry Paulson, is poised to become the next U.S. Treasury Secretary."

http://tinyurl.com/n4895
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By CUBAN BLINKS on 6/22/2006 12:16 PM
"Naked Shorts don’t kill good companies, good companies kill naked shorts"
-- Mark Cuban, Owner Dallas Mavericks

Is this the same guy? WACKO CRYBABY CUCKOO CUBAN?

"So mark me down as a short seller who thinks naked short selling is wrong. "(AND MARK ME DOWN AS A STUPID LOSER)
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By n-tres-ted on 6/22/2006 3:40 PM
Did anybody see Herb G. on Kudlow today? Kudlow was touting HG as having something to say about the Judiciary Committee, obviously knowing (and sharing) HG's purpose in bashing the hearing to be held next Wednesday. As certain as the sun rising, HG came on and commented about how ill-advised the Senate is in questioning the role of independent research in relation to hedge funds. He even suggested that all institutional investors shoudl be called in, not just hedge funds, if the role of independent research is to be examined. Too bad he didn't think to bring in reporters who help short sellers bring share prices down when shorts are in place. But, of course, Kudlow couldn't tell the difference between short sellers (he thinks they're wonderful) and naked short sellers. Certainly appears he is a part of the effort to keep a lid on exposure of NSS/FTD activities.
Senate Hearing postponed - New Date - June 28 By hemingway811 on 6/18/2006 12:54 AM
Senate Panel to Scrutinize Hedge Fund Sales
Friday June 16, 7:29 pm ET
Senate Judiciary Committee to Scrutinize Hedge Fund Short Sales

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate Judiciary Committee will be examining the short-selling activities of hedge funds and independent analysts, a subject that has generated headlines and lawsuits alleging collusion and market manipulation.

A hearing by the Senate panel has been scheduled for Wednesday June 28.

The committee is still finalizing a list of witnesses, but Overstock.com Inc. Chief Executive Patrick Byrne wasn't invited and won't participate, according to congressional aides.

The head of the Salt Lake City-based online discount retailer has sued hedge fund Rocker Partners and small stock-research firm Gradient Analytics Inc., alleging they colluded to have Gradient issue negative reports on companies that Rocker had sold short.

"Naked short-selling is against the law, and we're concerned about it," a spokesman for Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a Judiciary Committee member, told Dow Jones.

Rocker is now known as Copper River Management, whose general counsel, Steven Tsimbinos, declined to comment on whether someone from the Millburn, N.J., firm would testify to the Senate panel next week.

Gradient, of Scottsdale, Ariz., has been approached informally about participating but won't decide until it receives a written invitation, according to spokeswoman Karen Hinton.

Short sellers borrow shares for sale and profit if the stock price declines. While the practice is legal, Byrne has been vocal in attacking "naked" short sales in which sellers don't borrow shares before selling, which he says may have destroyed hundreds of small companies while enriching hedge funds and Wall Street bankers.

U.S. securities regulators updated short-selling rules in 2004, but critics, such as Byrne, say they haven't been effective in cracking down on abusive short sales.
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By piddly_sum on 6/18/2006 3:10 AM
Has anybody else noticed that the number of issues on the Nasdaq threshold list has been slowly contracting over the past few weeks? It is currently down to 152 from the 220-230 range.

It makes me wonder if they are actually cleaning things up, or merely sweeping the mess under the carpet into ex-clearing and various other methods. That is something else that must be addressed by the Senate, a FTD is a FTD is a FTD, no matter where it is parked.
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By InTheKnow on 6/18/2006 4:03 AM
They are going into ex-clearing and other methods. No ifs, ands or buts!

They know, you know and I know.
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By stryker.NY on 6/18/2006 5:13 AM
The scent of change is defenitely in the air.Thank the Lord for Utah and Sen Hatch and lets hope there isn't a turnaround in 8 days.The SEC is beside themselves and the lobying is unprecedented...this delay was expected...what will it allow to be uncovered....stay tuned.......
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By dave on 6/18/2006 8:51 AM
SHO only applies to the US. They push the fails to non US brokerages and x-clearing.
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By mongatu on 6/18/2006 9:33 AM
I fear that the reason they are even having a hearing in the first place is because they have already been bought off and are about to earn their bribes (uh, I mean campaign contributions). That Utah law caught the miscreants off guard. The most effective way to neutralize the Utah law (as well as any progeny it may spawn in other states) is to get the Fed. govt. to legislate in the same space but in a way more favorable to the miscreants. The supremacy clause of the U.S. Const. requires that Fed. law be controlling wherever it conflicts with State law. This is what I fear is underway now - an effort to neutralize the strong Utah type law with a weak SHO like Federal substitute.

I hope I'm wrong.
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By bbhindyou on 6/18/2006 10:50 AM
Mongatu that is exactly what I expect them to try next.I would love to get a look at the agenda for this shindig.
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By Jeremiah 9:24 on 6/18/2006 12:03 PM
Look at this as another week to blast the Judiciary committee with emails and faxes demanding that they take this issue seriously and put a stop to this systematic theft.

Go to the link to the hearing that was in an earlier BobO post, or just do a google search and get the list of all the Senators on the Judiciary committee, and send every one of them a letter. Let's not just bitch among ourselves, let's put them on notice. And then send your letters (and any responses) to BobO's Wall of Shame.

Tell them the solution is simple. An actual law, not a wussy SEC regulation, that will: (i) require an actual borrow before any short sale, not just a locate that may or may not result in a borrow, (ii) withhold the 'mark' from every sale until the trade actually settles, and (iii) require a buy-in on every settlement failure that is over __ days old (3, 5, 10, 30, whatever--just create a limit).

The SEC considered each and all of these options for Reg. SHO, but in the end did not have the reproductive organs to stand up to Wall Street. Rather, the powers at the SEC didn't want to limit their post-SEC earning potential.

I will be doing it this week, everyone who really cares should take a moment and let them know we are watching.
Senate hearing postponed By teacheric on 6/18/2006 5:37 PM
I don't think any amount of lawas are going to change anything, at least not until we get rid of the crooks that are cheating us now, that means all of them, brokerages included. With a new law, as you can tell by reg SHO, there will always be some way to get around it. The problem here is that there are crooks that need to get taken care of. We need to get rid of the crooks first, or better yet, at the same time we change the laws. Without transparency, we'll never know if and when the laws are being broken, not if the crooks don't want us to find out.
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By MARKET TIMING on 6/18/2006 6:12 PM
How FAST did that end? This will end just as Fast,
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By dave on 6/18/2006 9:05 PM
We have to assume thet the politicians and regulators won't help us. I have some hope in lawsuits, but it's going to come down to individual investors.

I don't trade on Mondays. I know it doesn't mean much in the big picture, but it makes me feel good to be on strike. I imagine some future day when so many investors are so pissed off that there is no trading AT ALL 20% of the week.

Wallstreet understands money and they understand a 20% decrease in profit.

I was going to pick Friday, but that is option expiry day. If enough people did it, a simple "no trading" strike on Mondays would get huge, bring the economy to a halt style attention.
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By POSTAGAIN on 6/19/2006 6:45 AM
PENNY DREADFUL BY CHRIS BYRON


HEDGE FUND MANIPULATION OF PINK SHEETS OVERLOOKED


June 19, 2006 -- TOMORROW, all 18 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee were scheduled to gather in a second floor chamber of the Dirksen Office Building for a familiar Washington ritual, an afternoon's worth of senatorial speechifying disguised as the questioning of witnesses at a hearing.
The hearing was set to deal with a subject discussed more than once in this column in recent months: The imaginary menace of alleged market-rigging collusion between stock analysts and hedge funds.

There are plenty of things hedge funds could properly be taken to task for by regulators and their congressional overseers, such as the possibility that hedge fund managers have begun spicing up their performance numbers by trading in the shares of easily manipulated penny stocks.

That is exactly the sort of scary hedge fund practice Congress ought to be investigating, particularly now that the overall stock market is weakening while trading in penny stocks is shooting off the charts. Two recent studies show trading volume in these trash securities have nearly quintupled since January, and there can be little doubt that a lot of that action is coming from hedge funds.



Yet Washington has let itself become beguiled instead by the fanciful notions of a relentlessly whining CEO named Patrick Byrne, who founded and heads a Utah-based Internet retailer called Overstock.com Inc. Byrne would have liked nothing better than to see his ravings immortalized in a Senate committee hearing carried live on C-Span.

In Byrne's view of the world, Overstock.com's troubles, which basically boil down to hemorrhaging losses and a tumbling stock price, aren't his fault at all. According to Byrne, the true villains are a gang of hedge funds and research analysts who have cooked up a scheme to destroy the company by smearing it in the press.

Byrne is a campaign contributor to Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Republican from Utah who is a member of the Judiciary Committee. And that in turn may or may not explain why the committee agreed to take up Byrne's cause even though the Judiciary Committee has no apparent oversight authority for Wall Street and the capital markets.

Late last week, the committee fortunately decided to postpone - perhaps even scrap - its misbegotten hearing, apparently after staffers failed to round up a credible list of witnesses willing to testify that plots such as the one alleged by Byrne even exist, let alone that they represent a blight on the market.

YET it would be a shame indeed if Con gress were to wave away the broader concerns of hedge fund oversight in the process. These private mutual funds for the wealthy are a ticking time bomb at the heart of capitalism, and every day the ticking grows louder and more ominous.

Efforts by former SEC Chairman William Donaldson to defuse the bomb by registering and regulating the hedge fund industry under the Investment Company Act of 1940 wound up costing him his job.

And though his successor, Christopher Cox, has talked a good game about pressing ahead with Donaldson's initiatives, his efforts to date have led to little but the filing of reams of useless information by the funds. Does the SEC really need to know a fund's "normal business hours" of operation, or whether it has a Web site? The registration process requires answers to those and dozens of similar questions.

Funds are also required to prepare and submit highly detailed "compliance program" manuals outlining the procedures that management intends to follow to make sure the employees don't lie, cheat and steal from their clients or anyone else.

Such questions have spawned a cottage industry of outsourcing shops that handle the entire registration process, paying special attention to such SEC "hot button" documents as a fully elaborated "code of ethics" for the firm. Cost: $30,000 to $50,000 for a typical small-scale fund with maybe four employees and $30 million of assets under management.

Both Cox and Donaldson claimed the registration process will help the SEC to get a handle on how hedge funds operate, and to spot problems before they explode into market-rattling crises.

Yet oversight of the industry is not likely to accomplish anything of the sort. Though the SEC now has a huge new Rolodex of phone numbers and contact names to riffle through for snap audits on unsuspecting funds, the audits themselves are nothing but fishing expeditions in which the examiners don't even know what type of fish they're trying to catch.

To head off problems before they develop, the SEC really needs to know the one thing it isn't asking the funds to disclose: the actual and specific assets into which they are plowing their investors' money.

Separate SEC regulations do require hedge funds with more than $100 million of assets under management to file quarterly reports (on a so-called Form 13F) that list all portfolio holdings of Nasdaq and NYSE-listed stocks. But the rules don't require funds to include any holdings the funds may have in OTC Bulletin Board and so-called "pink sheet" penny stocks, which thus don't get reported at all.

Yet SEC officials have time and again singled out the penny stock arena as the most volatile, risky and crime-infested back alley of Wall Street, leaving investors to search tediously through the SEC's public records database, EDGAR, for evidence that a large and presumably well-managed fund may actually be secretly mired in penny stocks.

Some big hedge fund managers have been dabblers in penny stocks for years. A review of 13F filings by the $7 billion SAC Capital hedge fund empire of Steven A. Cohen of Greenwich, Conn., shows that in 1996, a Mafia-linked penny stock brokerage firm called D.H. Blair & Co. underwrote a penny stock company called Laminating Technologies Inc., which went through two name changes before landing in the portfolio of Cohen's hedge fund under the name Speedcom Wireless Corp. in early 2001.

Within two years, Cohen's fund held enough warrants to make him the largest single investor in the company, with a controlling 24.4 percent of its stock. Cohen bought into the company even though it had never made a dime of profit and had been delisted from Nasdaq and was trading on the OTC Bulletin Board.

SAC Capital is still listed in SEC filings as the largest owner of Speedcom, which is now known as SP Holding Corp. It is trading on the OTC Bulletin Board at $3.25 per share, though it hasn't reported any revenues in years and shows a checking account balance of $15,000.

ONE can find similar random examples scattered through Co hen's other portfolios, as well as various other hedge funds. But they are not comprehensive, and may or may not represent more than isolated examples.

And don't count on the SEC taking up the subject in any case. Why should it be otherwise when even the commission's own overlords in Congress seem more interested in the imagined victimization of a sore-loser CEO than in heading off a real crisis that could be lurking just around the corner.

cbyron@nypost.com
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By WACCO on 6/19/2006 6:58 AM
Bob,

I have discovered a broker dealor that paid a web site over 200,000 shares of stock to tout a write up on the company.

Can broker dealors pay stock tout sites in stock for pink sheet penny stock promotions?

They did disclose broker paying them..

sounds like a scam.
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By ginger on 6/19/2006 7:05 AM
Is this intentional misinformation or is this DJ journalist really unaware of the postponement to Wednesday June 28?

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/business/14850009.htm
Re: Senate Hearing postponed one week - It is what it is... By anon on 6/19/2006 11:16 AM
"Is This Game Already Over?

By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
Published: June 18, 2006

AFTER a Long Island charity that provides financial support for 190 current or former firefighters lost $614,036 in the stock market during the Internet bubble several years ago, it eventually did what many aggrieved investors do: it filed an arbitration case a