| To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (3737) | 9/23/2002 12:42:30 PM | | From: StockDung | | | | RE: Christopher Byron->Imagis directors file late insider reports
2002-09-23 09:17 PT - Street Wire
SUDDEN RECALL
by Lee M. Webb
Imagis Technologies Inc. directors Altaf Nazerali and Treyton L. Thomas have each filed an overdue insider trading report with the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC). Imagis founder and current director Mr. Nazerali, a Howe Street veteran, filed a late insider trading report last week disclosing a transaction that occurred more than 10 months ago. Mr. Thomas, a touted advocate of corporate governance and transparency appointed to Imagis's board of directors on July 9, also filed a late insider report with the BCSC last week.
Securities regulators consider insider trading reports a cornerstone of maintaining public confidence in the markets; and many investors closely follow insider transactions. "The insider reporting requirements of the British Columbia Securities Act are an important element in the continuous disclosure system and compliance with this requirement is essential for the system to be effective," the BCSC advises.
However, this essential element of continuous disclosure rests on little more than a loosely monitored honour system backed by what are often less than onerous penalties. While late insider trading reports may be referred to the BCSC compliance division for review and possible administrative sanctions, they frequently draw only a $50 late filing penalty.
Mr. Nazerali's late disclosure, published in the BCSC weekly insider trading report for the week ending Sept. 20, 2002, involves a transaction that took place on Nov. 14, 2001. Just five days after Imagis closed a $3.59-million special warrant financing priced at $2.17 per special warrant, it appears that Mr. Nazerali may have exercised 100,000 options priced at $1.50 per share. At this point, it is not exactly clear what the transaction involving 100,000 shares that would have carried a value of $566,000 when Imagis hit a 52-week high of $5.66 on March 6 of this year actually entailed.
In addition to forgetting to disclose the transaction within 10 days, instead filing his report 10 months after the transaction occurred, Mr. Nazerali's late filing is deficient, according to information on the BCSC Web site. Specifically, the BCSC filing does not disclose the nature of the transaction.
In the normal course, a transaction such as Mr. Nazerali's late-reported disposition of 100,000 options is usually reported as a code 76 transaction, indicating that it entails the exercise of options. Moreover, such a transaction is generally accompanied by disclosure of the acquisition of a corresponding number of common shares on the same date as the options are exercised. However, a review of Mr. Nazerali's insider trading reports for the past year does not reveal the acquisition of a corresponding 100,000 shares. The Howe Street veteran's insider trading reports, several of which are deficient as revealed on the BCSC Web site, are a muddle.
It is not known what prompted Mr. Nazerali's sudden, if deficient, recall of the Nov. 14, 2001, transaction. However, Mr. Thomas's late insider report was evidently prompted by a Sept. 13 Canada Stockwatch article noting that insiders were required to file reports within 10 days. Mr. Thomas subsequently raised the matter with highly regarded Vancouver securities lawyer Leon Getz.
"First, let me thank you for bringing to my attention an oversight in my insider reporting," Mr. Thomas wrote to a Stockwatch reporter on Sept. 21. "I was mistakenly under the impression that since I had no personal beneficial ownership of Imagis common shares, only unexercised director options, I did not need to file an Insider Report. Upon reading your article and then speaking to Mr. Getz, I learned otherwise, and the appropriate report has been forwarded as of this writing. Thank you for bringing this oversight to my attention."
Mr. Thomas thoughtfully provided a Stockwatch reporter with a copy of his late insider trading report. The report, dated Sept. 19, 2002, discloses that as of July 31 Mr. Thomas held 300,000 options exercisable at $2.35 per share. According to the Imagis director, who is also the founder and chairman of the Pembridge Group, his recently filed insider report includes 100,000 options exercisable after July 31 "and ones that are vested after 2 years." Mr. Thomas's report should have been filed with the BCSC by Aug. 10.
"My understanding is that Imagis' forthcoming registration statement will also have a footnote for my entry that reads, 'Mr. Thomas has advised the company that due to internal policies within Pembridge Group, upon exercise of any director's options, the shares are to be assigned to Pembridge Funds, and not for his personal benefit,'" Mr. Thomas advised Stockwatch. "The Imagis Option Plan does not allow the grant of options to a corporate entity, or the transfer of such, and Pembridge does not allow individuals to personally benefit outside of the fund for such activities relating to the funds."
It is not clear whether Mr. Thomas thinks that Imagis shareholders should accept his claims regarding Pembridge's internal policies as a matter of faith or whether he believes they should just accept that information about Pembridge is simply none of their business. In any case, Mr. Thomas objects to Stockwatch reports of his publicized advocacy of corporate governance and transparency and his refusal to divulge information regarding Pembridge. Among other things, Mr. Thomas has declined to disclose how much money Pembridge currently has under management, how many shares of Imagis Pembridge controls, who has trading authority over securities held by Pembridge, where the company is incorporated, how many employees it has, and the location of the offices from which the employees, if any, work.
"Totally aside, I do respectfully take exception to your inference that my views on corporate governance do not pertain to Pembridge because of our disclosure policies," Mr. Thomas wrote. "In fact, the assertion applied to a private investment firm from an outsider is nonsensical." Setting aside Mr. Thomas's slide from an alleged "inference" to an "assertion" that Stockwatch did not make, it was previously pointed out by Stockwatch that the questions put to Mr. Thomas were posed not only in the context of his role as chairman of Pembridge, but also in the context of his role as a director of Imagis.
Mr. Thomas takes particular exception to Stockwatch's report that he has twice declined to disclose who has trading authority over securities held by his investment firm. "With due respect, I do not feel this is a comprehensive depiction of my answer," Mr. Thomas wrote. "It appears as though I simply snubbed you, which I went to great pains not to do." Mr. Thomas pointed out that, as already reported by Stockwatch, he had apologized for not responding earlier to questions posed by a reporter.
"My answer pointed out that some of your questions are not answered publicly as a matter of firm policy," Mr. Thomas went on. "It simply wouldn't have mattered if Mr. Lee Webb asked them, or the Prince of Wales; the answer would have respectfully been the same. It was also pointed out that this policy is in line with other private alternative asset management firms and therefore not aberrational."
That may well be a more comprehensive depiction of Mr. Thomas's response, but it does not change the fact that he has not disclosed who has trading authority over shares held by Pembridge. Moreover, Mr. Thomas will not disclose how many shares of Imagis Pembridge holds, only claiming that it is less than 10 per cent of the outstanding shares.
While a Stockwatch reporter and even the Prince of Wales might be given short shrift with respect to questions about Pembridge, presumably Mr. Thomas might be more forthcoming with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the event the U.S. regulator had any reason to put questions to Pembridge's chairman. Quite apart from the possibility that the SEC might have some questions about Mr. Thomas's late disclosure with respect to his holdings as an Imagis insider, given that the company's shares also trade on the OTC and are purchased by U.S. citizens, U.S. regulators might have some questions regarding Pembridge and what might be construed as advertising.
In part, Mr. Thomas declined to answer several questions about Pembridge because of his concern that it might be construed as advertising. "As a policy, we do not discuss the firm's size, personnel, registration or incorporation details as it relates to Pembridge Fund Management, and only on a limited basis as it pertains to the private-equity arm, Pembridge Venture Partners," Mr. Thomas advised Stockwatch. "In the current U.S. regulatory environment, to do so not only violates our own policy, but also may be construed to be 'advertising.'"
If Mr. Thomas's stated concern is warranted and not a means of dodging Stockwatch's questions, it is more than a bit difficult to square with the flowery promotional accounts of Pembridge and its chairman commissioned by the Boston alternative investment firm and widely circulated through wire services. Those celebratory promotional pieces are still available on Pembridge's Web site. Moreover, even a news release issued by Imagis touts Pembridge's purported $600-million (U.S.) under management and claims that the Boston firm's "funds have consistently posted some of the highest returns to investors in the alternative asset management industry."
While Mr. Thomas's "oversight" with respect to failing to file an insider report within the time stipulated by the BCSC might be put down to a lack of familiarity with Canadian reporting requirements and failing to obtain earlier advice regarding his disclosure responsibilities from Mr. Getz, a lapse with respect to U.S. regulatory policies might be a bit more difficult to explain. Mr. Thomas, who takes refuge in his understanding of the current U.S. regulatory environment, is the touted author of a so-called "white paper" on corporate governance in international commerce, though it is not clear where the paper was published, other than on a defunct Web site that he once controlled. "The floppy disks it was stored on have been corrupted over the years but we think we may be able to restore the file and forward it to you soon, if you are interested in such," Mr. Thomas informed a Stockwatch reporter on Sept. 21. In light of Mr. Thomas's oversight regarding BCSC reporting requirements and his refusal to answer a number of questions involving Imagis and Pembridge, that might indeed be an interesting read.
The late filing of insider reports by two Imagis directors comes at a rather awkward time for the company. On Sept. 10, Imagis filed a libel suit against Red Herring magazine and veteran reporter Christopher Byron over an unflattering article that was first published on the Internet on Aug. 5 and subsequently republished in the September print edition of the magazine. Among other things, Mr. Byron raised several questions about Mr. Nazerali and Mr. Thomas.
In a Sept. 12 seven-page open letter to shareholders, Imagis took Mr. Byron to task over a number of alleged defamatory claims. "Perhaps Mr. Byron would be interested to know that unlike many major US companies that are plagued by high-profile corporate scandals, Imagis follows strict corporate governance procedures," the letter published on behalf of Imagis's management and board of directors states. A week after that declaration, Mr. Nazerali and Mr. Thomas, two of the directors on whose behalf it was made, filed overdue insider reports.
Meanwhile, Imagis's 52-week high of $5.66, notched on March 6, is beginning to look like a distant memory. While many shareholders, perhaps particularly those who piled into the stock in the wake of the March 6 Pembridge news release that was widely misinterpreted and misreported as a $4.10 (U.S.) per share buyout offer, may be hoping for a sudden recall of that lofty price, the stock continues to drift toward its 52-week low. Imagis closed at $1.25 on Sept. 20.
Comments regarding this article may be sent to lwebb@stockwatch.com.
(More information regarding Imagis Technologies is available in Canada Stockwatch articles published on March 7, 11, 15, 25, 27 and 28; April 2, 9 and 16; May 17, 23 and 30; June 4, 11, 18, 26 and 28; July 3, 12 and 18; and Sept. 12, 13, 16 and 20, 2002.) |
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| To: mmmary who wrote (3738) | 9/23/2002 6:48:42 PM | | From: StockDung | | | | RE: Mark Valintine ->Broker Kickback Suspect Released
Broker Kickback Suspect Released
.c The Associated Press
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - A man accused of offering illegal kickbacks to brokers in exchange for their recommending and selling overvalued stocks to customers was released on bond Monday.
Mark Valentine, the former chairman of Canadian brokerage firm Thomson Kernaghan, posted a $500,000 bond before U.S. Magistrate Barry S. Seltzer, a court clerk said.
Telephone messages left at the office of Valentine's Miami attorney, Michael Pasano, were not immediately returned.
Valentine was indicted by a federal grand jury last month on two counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit fraud. He was arrested at a German airport Aug. 14 and was brought to the United States last week to face the charges.
Valentine was one of at least 52 brokers, stock promoters and company officers who were indicted as part of a two-year federal undercover probe that exposed fraudulent attempts to sell $200 million in securities from 23 publicly traded companies.
09/23/02 16:09 EDT
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rew |
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| To: StockDung who wrote (3740) | 9/23/2002 7:06:22 PM | | From: mmmary | | | | Valentine bail 500,000 Elgindy bail 2,500,000
Valentine is a canadian citizen and has places in canada and offshore besides the fact that his dad is an ambassador.
Elgindy is an American citizen and has a condo in Lebanon besides the fact that almost his entire family is here in the US.
Valentine probably has a jillion bucks stashed in every offshore island there is.
Elgindy assets were seized.
Valentine helped stock scammers fleece investors
Elgindy helped investors so they wouldn't get fleeced by stock scammers.
Valentine let out of jail within a day of getting to the states
Elgindy was in jail for almost 4 months trying to get bail.
What is wrong with this picture? |
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| To: mmmary who wrote (3741) | 9/23/2002 11:08:16 PM | | From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell | | | | Re: 9/23/02 - Reuters: Peregrine Sues Andersen for $1.6 Billion
Reuters Business Report
Peregrine Sues Andersen for $1.6 Billion
Monday September 23, 5:36 pm ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Peregrine Systems Inc.
(NasdaqNM:PRGNE - News) on Monday filed suit against Arthur Andersen LLP, saying its former auditor concealed fraud and ruined a proposed deal for the software maker to be acquired for more than $1.6 billion.
The suit, filed in San Diego Superior Court in California, said that Andersen, Arthur Andersen Germany, Andersen Worldwide S.C and auditor Daniel Stulac failed to properly audit the company's books and allowed revenue to be overstated for nearly three years.
It seeks more than $1 billion for two charges of fraud, professional malpractice and breach of contract.
"Unaware of (the) defendants' conduct, in April of 2002, Peregrine was within hours of signing an agreement to be acquired for between $1.6 and $1.9 billion," the complaint said. "However, on April 25, 2002 the potential purchaser advised Peregrine that it would not consummate the purchase unless it received Peregrine's financial statements for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2002."
When Peregrine discovered the accounting irregularities, the purchaser called off the deal.
A spokesman for Andersen could not be immediately reached for comment.
Peregrine, which filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection on Sunday, said Andersen's action resulted in more than a $1 billion loss capitalization for the events that started in April and proceeded with the exit of its chief executive and chief financial officer as well as an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In the first quarter of 2002, shares sold for $29. By Sept. 20, its delisted shares traded on the Pink Sheets for 20 cents a share.
In its suit, Peregrine, which makes software that allows companies to keep track of physical assets, accused the defendants of failing to identify or alert the Audit Committee to accounting irregularities.
It also said the defendants "permitted, encouraged and consented to various accounting practices they knew to be irregular; crafted defective policies on behalf of Peregrine relating to stock options and the 'sale' of receivables to financial institutions."
Finally, Peregrine said Andersen and the others "permitted, encouraged and consented to Peregrine and its management to make accounting adjustments that (they) knew were improper, and which were inadequately disclosed in Peregrine's audited statements," the complaint said.
Andersen is in the process of shuttering its doors following its accounting scandal involving Enron, which led to Enron's bankruptcy, Andersen's obstruction of justice conviction and ultimately the gutting of the 89-year-old accounting firm.
biz.yahoo.com |
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| To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (3742) | 9/23/2002 11:37:50 PM | | From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell | | | | Re: 9/19/02 - [ESST] Rocker Management, LLC v. John Does (1-20)
Rocker/Cohodes SUBPOENA. Yahoo Notice
by: Ticker_0101
Long-Term Sentiment: Strong Buy 09/19/02 07:48 am
Msg: 38226 of 38689
NOTICE OF SUBPOENA
We are writing to inform you that Yahoo! has been served with a subpoena requiring disclosure of information related to your user account at Yahoo!.
The subpoena was issued in an action entitled: Rocker Management, LLC v. John Does (1-20), Case No. 02-cv-4081 (JAP) pending in: United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.
The subpoena requires that Yahoo! produce documents related to your Yahoo! account. Please be aware that your communications with Yahoo! may also be discoverable.
The attorney for the subpoenaing party, Rocker Management, LLC, is
John W. Bartlett, Esq.
Lowenstein Sandler PC
65 Livingston Avenue
Roseland, NJ 07068-1791
973-597-2500 (phone)
973-597-2400 (fax)
Please be advised that Yahoo! will respond to the subpoena 15 days from the date of this notice, unless we have notice that a motion to quash the subpoena has been filed, or the matter has been otherwise resolved.
You may wish to consult an attorney to advise you about the foregoing. Please contact the subpoenaing party to obtain a copy of the subpoena. If you wish to contact Yahoo! regarding this matter, please direct your correspondence to notice-user@yahoo-inc.com.
messages.yahoo.com |
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| To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (3742) | 9/23/2002 11:40:58 PM | | From: mmmary | | | | Jeff: I saw that in the Times today, insane
You know darn well they told Anderson to okay the books knowing that they'd cooked them themselves. That lawsuit is insane. As Anderson is BK maybe they're hoping they won't respond then they can say they won just to try and clear their name.
This is like a guy robbing a 7-11, running outside then getting nabbed by the cops. Then he sues 7-11 for not stopping him during the robbery stating that 7-11 encouraged and allowed him to rob the store. I guess people can sue over anything. |
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| To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (3743) | 9/24/2002 12:09:58 AM | | From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell | | | | Re: 9/21/02 - [ESST] Yahoo! ESST message board posts re lawsuit
Re: Or how about you scamandscam
by: scamandscam 09/21/02 09:21 am
Msg: 38490 of 38689
what subpeona list are you talking about ?
I have no idea what i was accused of..Yahoo emailed me says the company was looking for me so i called the lawyer and saved him the trouble
Posted as a reply to: Msg 38489 by tinmirrors
messages.yahoo.com
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Re: Or how about you scamandscam
by: tinmirrors 09/21/02 09:38 am
Msg: 38493 of 38689
You were named in a request for a subpeona, you were accused of
a) Defamation
b) Unjust Enrichment
c) Violations of Federal Security laws
d) Violations of Texas Security laws
The company asked that Yahoo provide all documents that that reflect or show your actual identity, other pseudonyms and ISP. Documents include all computer files, accounting records, communications, email messages, faxes, telephone records, diaries, letters, drawings, photographs, interviews, opinions, reports, patent appraisals, investigations and dozens of other forms of documentations.
Your name was never dropped from the subpeona request despite your conversation with the lawyer.
Aermissoft used a very similar lawsuit in an attempt to stifle the free speech rights of Rocker Partners and Herb Greenberg. It's much easier to silence an individual with the threat of a lawsuit.
messages.yahoo.com
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Re: Or how about you scamandscam
by: scamandscam 09/21/02 09:47 am
Msg: 38495 of 38689
OK....Thank you...But i could have been served long ago..I called the lawyer the day i got yahoo's email...The lawyer was a nice man and said he will not serve me...Maybe i'm in for a rude surprise
Posted as a reply to: Msg 38493 by tinmirrors
messages.yahoo.com
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Re: Or how about you scamandscam
by: scamandscam 09/21/02 09:50 am
Msg: 38496 of 38689
I was on the AREM board 1000's of time..I was "bashing" them hard and i never was served nor did yahoo email me...
Posted as a reply to: Msg 38493 by tinmirrors
messages.yahoo.com
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Re: Or how about you scamandscam
by: tinmirrors 09/21/02 09:59 am
Msg: 38497 of 38689
The request for a subpeona was just the precursor to a lawsuit, they may never serve anyone. But their lawyer never dropped his attempt to have Yahoo turn over everything in their possession that has your name on it, including email.
The point isn't whether or not their lawyer was a nice guy or you may never get served, the point is that you know quite well that you never defamed them or gave them any reason to accuse you of the other charges but there you are named in a subpeona request.
Did they have cause to seek your name and address scamandscam? Did they have legal grounds? I think not but they know how the game is played, if you don't object in court they get whatever it is they requested and objecting in court is an expensive proposition.
The vast majority of these online defamation lawsuits are never prosecuted, their entire intent is to silence critics. The law cannot be used to silence people (it can be used to extract damages from someone for something they said but it can't be used to muzzle them). However, the threat of expensive litigation is a very effective means of getting people to agree to do what the law cannot be used to do, silence them.
I think that is wrong and I think the Rocker Partners lawsuit is wrong as well. Whether or not someone will stand up and fight it so we can learn which one of us is correct isn't something I control.
Posted as a reply to: Msg 38495 by scamandscam
messages.yahoo.com
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Re: Or how about you scamandscam
by: tinmirrors 09/21/02 10:02 am
Msg: 38498 of 38689
Aremissort never named any message board posters in their lawsuit, but they could have and if they had named you your only choice in the matter would have been to either capitulate to their demands or retain counsel to fight the charges.
Aremissoft named West Highland Capital, J David Scially, Michael Wilkens, Wells Fargo Van Kasper, Martin Svanda, The Street.Com and Rocker Partners.
The individuals names were employees of some of the companies named.
Posted as a reply to: Msg 38496 by scamandscam
messages.yahoo.com
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Re: Rocker Partners got what they wanted
by: scamandscam 09/21/02 10:06 am
Msg: 38499 of 38689
Tin....once again , i'm not qualified to debate you on this issue..But i will say the stuff like "Marc_cohodes_has etc. etc." could cause the jury to decide whats right or not...The is what my pal ( Lawyer , 50 years old ) told me...Now Harry likes to threaten me but i'm using Scamandscam , I'm not using my real name but Marc does.......
Footnote : I got wierdo phone calls awhile back and i had good reason to believe they came from employees of a public company and posters...I called the FBI... now i didn't ask them to get involved but i thought it wise to let them know about it....
Posted as a reply to: Msg 38494 by tinmirrors
messages.yahoo.com
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Re: Or how about you scamandscam
by: scamandscam 09/21/02 10:17 am
Msg: 38500 of 38689
The company had ZERO reason to bug me and i told the lawyer that..I don't think for one minute Rocker is trying to stop free speech or a different view than his...I Think he is trying to stop the threats and the name calling..But i can't talk for him....Hell, Marc had a radioshow you could call , you could disagree all you wanted.
Posted as a reply to: Msg 38497 by tinmirrors
messages.yahoo.com
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Re: Or how about you scamandscam
by: scamandscam 09/21/02 10:21 am
Msg: 38501 of 38689
And AREM was ALL scam...It was a abuse of free speech...Many people lost it all cause of AREM and Irwin Jacobs...Marc Cohodes and Herb Greenberg were trying to save the retail investor from themselves
Posted as a reply to: Msg 38498 by tinmirrors
messages.yahoo.com
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Re: ESST is a great company- Best CEO
by: jahanjr 09/21/02 10:28 am
Msg: 38502 of 38689
I think you need to check in with your physician and get a refill on your meds. You're starting to hallucinate. Blair is perhaps a good COO, but he never has been, nor will he ever be a good CEO. ESST and Blair seem to me to have always run the business based upon an irrational FEAR of being sued. On the brighter side, now that a investor law suit has been filed against ESST, maybe they will finally realize that a law suit isn't the end of the world and show some guts and take some necessary business risks to get this company growing.
Posted as a reply to: Msg 38487 by scottm66
messages.yahoo.com
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Re: Rocker Partners got what they wanted
by: tinmirrors 09/21/02 10:32 am
Msg: 38503 of 38689
I disagree scamandscam, implying that Marc Cohodes has anal warts by the use of an alias "marc_cohodes_anal_warts" isn't defamatory in my opinion (ESST messages #33674 and 33675) as it is doubtful anyone would consider those two messages to be an expression of fact but rather more like bar room insults. Perhaps you would consider marc_cohodes_mother_wears_army_boots to also be defamatory? More likely Marc Cohodes thinks message #33674 contains a threat as the writer said "This cohodes asswipe has to be taken care of". But considering that he follows that sentence with one asking why ESST doesn't do something and his next message talks about Blair suing Cohodes it's pretty clear to me that the "taken care of" was referring to legal action.
For more on anal warts see hfac.uh.edu, anal warts are caused by a wart virus not much different than the sort of virus that causes warts on your hands. Anal warts are not something to be embarrassed by and if someone writes on a message board that George Bush has anal warts you should, in the future, consider it highly likely that someone is writing something is the same vein that Hustler magazine was when it faked an interview with Jerry Falwell in which Jerry Falwell said he had drunken sex with his mother in an outhouse.
The courts allow a wide latitude for people who speak about public figures and Marc Cohodes certainly qualifies as a public figure, though apparently a public figure with thin skin and fear of being mistaken for a homosexual.
Posted as a reply to: Msg 38499 by scamandscam
messages.yahoo.com
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scamandscam: what was the big deal?
by: bits_since_1980 (M/Texas) 09/21/02 10:33 am
Msg: 38504 of 38689
What was the big deal? Did someone threaten someone's family?
I didn't follow the board, it sounds like a teampest in a teapot. Traders are a rough sort of language at time. They think of this as a war of sorts.
Posted as a reply to: Msg 38484 by scamandscam
messages.yahoo.com
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Re: Or how about you scamandscam
by: tinmirrors 09/21/02 10:42 am
Msg: 38505 of 38689
At least we now agree that companies do use these sorts of lawsuits to harrass people as you admit that you were harassed without cause.
Name calling is a fine American tradition, though you need to be careful when doing it face to face as in that instance your speech is more restricted as the courts recognize the risk that insults can lead to a physical response. Marc Cohodes might not like being called a "faggot" or "asswipe" but those terms are not defamatory and as a public figure Marc Cohodes has no basis for a legal claim against the author of those words for using them.
It will be interesting to see if any of the named plaintiffs do anything about the lawsuit. If the plaintiffs don't reside or work in New Jersey they wouldn't have any trouble getting the subpeona quashed on the grounds that the New Jersey court has no jurisdiction over them, the case would have to be moved to Federal Court and the Federal Courts are widely viewed as more sympathetic to the abuse of individuals right to free speech than are the state courts.
But I'm not a lawyer and anyone named in the Rocker lawsuit should seek legal advice from a real attorney.
Posted as a reply to: Msg 38500 by scamandscam
messages.yahoo.com
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Re: Rocker Partners got what they wanted
by: scamandscam 09/21/02 10:48 am
Msg: 38507 of 38689
Tin...I ain't no lawyer and i certainly haven't looked into the suspect like you have..I think you mean well but i guess it rests with Rocker and those he names in the legal papers...
How much do you know about stock scams and how they are executed ? ..
Posted as a reply to: Msg 38503 by tinmirrors
messages.yahoo.com
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Re: Or how about you scamandscam
by: tinmirrors 09/21/02 10:52 am
Msg: 38509 of 38689
I think it's a common misconception that Herb Greenberk or Marc Cohodes can save people from a scam company.
Someone has to take the loss on a stock.
What is needed is a means to prevent these scam companies from suckering people in the first place. Once people have been suckered someone has to lose.
Yes, I agree that Aremissoft was a complete scam and their lawsuit was an abuse of free speech. Like I said before most of these sorts of lawsuits are. So far we've talked about the Dynacq subpeona which you admit was an abuse of your free speech, the Aremissoft lawsuit which you admit was an abuse of free speech and now we have the Rocker Partners lawsuit which we haven't agreed on yet.
Perhaps you can identify the defamatory or threatening portions of message #30914 which to my eye looks like hyperbole and no person could possibly mistake it for fact. Yet this is the only post identified in the Rocker lawsuit for the John Doe identified as marc_ chodes_ate_a_terd_sandwich.
I don't think you'd find any lawyer anywhere who would find that post or even that alias to be the basis for a legal cause of action on the part of Rocker Partners or Marc Cohodes. It's a nasty post, but not defamatory.
Posted as a reply to: Msg 38501 by scamandscam
messages.yahoo.com
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Re: Or how about you scamandscam
by: scamandscam 09/21/02 10:55 am
Msg: 38510 of 38689
I know many companies use the courts to stop free speech ...They use it on CNBC and they WIN...CNBC is not news....But you guys got Cohodes all wrong....
Posted as a reply to: Msg 38505 by tinmirrors
messages.yahoo.com
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Re: Rocker Partners got what they wanted
by: tinmirrors 09/21/02 10:57 am
Msg: 38511 of 38689
I have a strong interest in online defamation and stock scams scamandscam, I think there are a lot of scams still going on and I think we should be able to discuss them without fear of being sued.
I like the work Marc Cohodes does uncovering these scams, I admire him greatly for him. I'd love to learn more from him but I don't respect his lawsuit against people who make fun of him by talking about anal stimulators and "terd_sandwiches". Marc is a big boy, he needs to be above this sort of thing. If actual threats are being made he should turn that information over to the people who investigate threats, the police.
I've had to do that myself at one time and it was very effective, didn't require a lawyer and got the threatening party a new attitude in a real hurry. In that case they threatened to burn my house down, pretty explicit.
Posted as a reply to: Msg 38507 by scamandscam
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Re: Or how about you scamandscam
by: tinmirrors 09/21/02 11:06 am
Msg: 38512 of 38689
You tell me how I have him wrong, he is suing a person known as "marc_chodes_ate_a_terd_sandwich" for making a single post which contains not even a semblence of a threat and isn't defamatory either. Read it for yourself it's #30914, any competent lawyer would be able to quash the subpeona for this individual as Rocker Partners hasn't met even the lowest bar for breaching that poster's right to privacy.
Being told you eat "terd_sandwiches" is a gross bathroom insult that doesn't meet the legal criteria for defamation. Filter it out, ignore it but stop suing people for telling you that you are ugly. It's a misuse of the courts by a well financed entity likely against individuals who don't have the financial resources to defend their legal rights.
Posted as a reply to: Msg 38510 by scamandscam
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| To: StockDung who wrote (3740) | 9/24/2002 10:36:46 AM | | From: scion | | | | Valentine proclaims his innocence
Trader freed on bail, but can't leave U.S.
By CAROLINE ALPHONSO
Tuesday, September 24, 2002 – Print Edition, Page B1
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. -- Indicted stock trader Mark Valentine proclaimed his innocence yesterday as he was released on bail on charges that he committed securities fraud.
"I've done nothing that is illegal," Mr. Valentine said outside the Federal Court in Fort Lauderdale. "I'm 100 per cent confident of my innocence and I look forward to my day in court."
Mr. Valentine, 32, has spent a month in custody in Germany and Florida since he was arrested on an FBI warrant as part of a massive undercover investigation into stock fraud and money laundering, dubbed Bermuda Short.
Although he was released yesterday after posting $530,000 (U.S.) in bonds, he is still subject to a number of constraints. Under the terms of his bail, Mr. Valentine is required to remain in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale, be in his Key Biscayne condominium between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., and wear a security-tracking bracelet.
The former chairman of broker Thomson Kernaghan & Co. Ltd. left the courthouse holding his wife Stephanie's hand, followed by his parents and in-laws.
Despite apparent fatigue, he appeared calm when he spoke to two reporters on the street, but declined to answer most questions.
"This is the beginning of Mark's chance to fight to clear his name," his Miami-based lawyer Michael Pasano said.
"We're looking forward to that fight. We disagree with pretty much everything that was said in court," he said of the charges that were read yesterday.
Mr. Valentine is one of about 55 people arrested or indicted last month as a result of the FBI sting operation. He pleaded not guilty to three charges of securities fraud yesterday.
The brief encounter outside the courthouse was Mr. Valentine's first with reporters since he was suspended in June as the chairman of the Toronto brokerage. The firm was forced into bankruptcy this summer and its business is being wound down.
When a reporter asked whether he feels responsible for the demise of Thomson Kernaghan, he replied: "Absolutely not."
Just before his bail hearing, clad in green prison garb and handcuffs and shackles on his wrists and ankles, Mr. Valentine appeared to be in good spirits. He smiled at his family from his seat in the prisoners' dock.
But the smile disappeared after a U.S. magistrate rejected his lawyer's proposal that he be allowed to travel between his Forest Hill home in Toronto and his condominium in Key Biscayne, just south of Miami.
"I'm not going to allow him to leave the United States," Magistrate Judge Barry Seltzer said, noting that he believed Mr. Valentine posed a flight risk.
Judge Seltzer said he was surprised that U.S. prosecutors were "bending over backward to try to accommodate [Mr. Valentine]," and quickly tossed that provision aside. As a condition of of his release, Mr. Valentine put up a $500,000 personal bond, which involves two properties in Key Biscayne, including his condo worth about $2-million. He also posted a $30,000 corporate bond.
Mr. Valentine spent the weekend in a cell in downtown Miami's federal detention centre. He was originally scheduled to appear in court on Friday, but because of a slight delay in the flight from Germany, he was taken straight to the detention facility.
The charges Mr. Valentine faces stem from agreements he is alleged to have struck with undercover FBI agents. The agents posed as mutual fund executives to acquire shares in three companies Mr. Valentine owned and controlled.
In exchange for the purchases, Mr. Valentine agreed to pay a kickback of $7.8-million, the FBI alleges. In addition to the U.S. charges, Mr. Valentine faces allegations by the Ontario Securities Commission that he engaged in improper trades that enriched him at the expense of his clients. Mr. Valentine has denied the Canadian regulator's allegations.
Mr. Valentine's lawyer described his client as a "captive of Key Biscayne."
"We will take steps within the system to secure Mark's ability to be with his [three young children]," Mr. Pasano said.
Mr. Valentine's next court appearance, for a so-called status review of the case, is scheduled for Oct. 8 in Fort Lauderdale.
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| To: mmmary who wrote (3744) | 9/24/2002 12:06:26 PM | | From: ifonly1 | | | | Re: Peregrine
I agree. The company inflated revenues and appears to have almost succeeded in selling to another company. AA might have gotten cold feet knowing that the acquirer would have to discover the cooked books and would sue for fraud. The other possibility is that this is a clever way of making AA the defendant in any shareholder lawsuit and to deflect blame from the Co. and officers.
See the following discussion of the current lawsuit against the co.
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| To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (3743) | 9/25/2002 6:37:20 AM | | From: StockDung | | | | IDA Rampart target Kasman abruptly fires defence lawyer
2002-09-24 18:12 PT - Street Wire
by Brent Mudry
Former Rampart Securities chairman and chief executive officer Barry Kasman, one of two Rampart executive hold-outs, has abruptly terminated his lawyer on the eve of a three-day Investment Dealers Association of Canada hearing which may cost, or greatly curtail, his controversial career in the brokerage industry. Mr. Kasman, who won a brief adjournment at the scheduled start of the IDA hearing on Tuesday, is expected to return Wednesday to identify his new lawyer, replacing Helen Daley, and the hearing itself is expected to be rescheduled to next Monday at the earliest.
In one of its harshest prosecutions ever, the IDA launched its case against Rampart and its executives on Aug. 2, 2001, scuttling the plans of parent Rampart Mercantile, a Canadian Venture Exchange promotion, to acquire BayStreetDirect, which featured Bay Street dignitaries Jim Beqaj and Richard Nesbitt, for $6-million.
The IDA, the self regulatory organization, booster and lobbyist for the brokerage industry, had quietly expressed concerns about Rampart Securities for more than four years, but its prosecution was launched just three days after Alec Popovic, a respected former RCMP commercial crime senior officer, began work in his new job as the IDA's vice-president of enforcement.
Mr. Kasman presided over Rampart since it acquired his Merit Investment, another trouble-plagued Bay Street brokerage, in 1997. Under Mr. Kasman's watch, Rampart was rife with compliance and capital deficiency problems dating back to its Merit acquisition, and served as a key conduit brokerage in numerous dubious OTC Bulletin Board promotions.
Rampart and Mark Valentine's Thomson Kernaghan, also shut down by regulators, were the only two Canadian brokerages named last month as key conduits in Operation Bermuda Short, a two-year undercover joint FBI-RCMP sting which snared 60 penny stock players, including 20 Canadians, either for agreeing to bribe corrupt fund managers to buy penny stock promotions or to launder drug money for operatives from Colombia's Cali cocaine cartel.
Mr. Kasman's sudden switch of lawyers comes six days after fellow Rampart senior executive Nicolas Tsaconakos, the now-defunct brokerage's former chief operating officer and chief financial officer, was fined $175,000 in a consent settlement with the IDA approved Sept. 17. Mr. Tsaconakos, who joined Rampart in September, 1999, also agreed to a lifetime bar on serving in any regulatory compliance or regulatory supervision position at any brokerage in Canada.
Former Rampart president Henry George Cole settled two months ago, agreeing to a $125,000 fine and severe restrictions, in a consent settlement approved July 23. Mr. Cole, a key Rampart executive since September, 1997, also agreed to a 10-year suspension from serving in any significant management position at any Canadian brokerage, all the way down to the assistant branch manager or compliance officer level.
In the wake of the IDA's uncollectable $3-million headline fine imposed Jan. 25 against bankrupt Rampart Securities, Mr. Kasman and Dominique Monardo, the chairman and CEO of parent Rampart Mercantile and former head of the brokerage, have yet to settle with the regulator.
Mr. Kasman arguably has the most to lose, as he was the key transition man from Merit to Rampart, and took the reins at the merged firm. (Mr. Monardo was a former auditor for Revenue Canada, now known as the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency.)
The IDA has chronicled capital and compliance deficiencies at Rampart Securities dating back to early 1997, just after Rampart Mercantile acquired Merit, a troubled, small 35-year-old Toronto-based brokerage which had taken a disastrous $1-million hit from offshore client accounts in a Vancouver-Calgary rig job. Rampart Mercantile bought Merit for just $1.2-million in August, 1996, and changed the brokerage's name to Rampart Securities in mid-1998.
In 1995, Merit's Toronto head branch took a million-dollar hit when regulators halted trading in Ultra Pure Water Systems (Canada) Inc., a wash-trading rig job involving controversial Vancouver promoter Gordon Brent Pierce. The Ultra Pure ring left $2.36-million in unpaid debits at seven brokerages when the Alberta Stock Exchange abruptly halted the stock in March, 1995, led by $960,000 in debits in UPW accounts handled by Merit broker Stephen Traub.
Although Mr. Pierce's behind-the-scenes Ultra Pure involvement was first revealed by Stockwatch in April, 1995, rumours of Merit's million-dollar hit had already been the talk of Howe Street and Bay Street. A number of Mr. Pierce's fronts, including Ultra Pure president Grant Atkins and Harvey Gorsuch, key players in the promoter's former Vancouver Stock Exchange disaster, Cost-Miser Coupons, opened or dealt in dubious offshore accounts at Merit, although Mr. Pierce was careful to keep his name off any public documents for Ultra Pure.
The Ultra Pure case was the feature of a major probe by the commercial crime section of the RCMP. The Mounties capped up a 13-month criminal investigation in April, 1996, with a recommendation that charges be laid, but a Crown prosecutor subsequently "no-charged" the file, in a controversial decision. Mr. Pierce's long-time front, Mr. Atkins, is now busy with another dubious penny stock promotion, GeneMax, which targeted Vancouver brokerages Global Securities and Union Securities in a naked shorting suit on Sept. 4.
Although Merit head Barry Kasman had the misfortune of watching his firm sink after being torpedoed by at least one barely supervised broker and a number of dubious offshore accounts, he went on to head Rampart, which now finds itself accused of failing to supervise its brokers, verify identities of offshore account clients and other compliance troubles, including failing to take acceptable antimoney-laundering measures.
With Mr. Kasman at the helm, Rampart, like Merit before it, had the misfortune of attracting a number of dubious clients, none of whom are identified in the IDA's detailed 26-page notice of hearing.
The latest notable Rampart client to be flushed out is Jeffrey Ray Senger, 36, of West Palm Beach, Fla., who was arrested by the FBI on Aug. 14 in Operation Bermuda Short. In a 23-page grand jury indictment, returned on May 21 in United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, and unsealed the day after his arrest, Mr. Senger faces a total of 28 counts in two separate wire, mail and securities fraud conspiracy.
Rampart is featured prominently in the first case, in which Mr. Senger faces 27 counts for masterminding the pump-and-dump rig job of Lifekeepers International, which included a small network of bribed brokers, from November, 1998, through March, 1999, which resulted in investor losses of $3-million. (All figures in U.S. cases are in U.S. dollars.) In the second, Mr. Senger was snared in Bermuda Short's bribed mutual fund manager sting, allegedly agreeing to pay a 50-per-cent kickback for an $8-million investment by the fictitious fund in Piccard Medical and International Stores.
If convicted, Mr. Senger faces maximum statutory terms of imprisonment of five years for each count of mail, wire and securities fraud conspiracy, 10 years for securities fraud, and 20 years for money laundering.
In a co-ordinated action, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission also named Mr. Senger in a civil complaint relating to a later pump-and-dump of Lifekeepers, from November, 1999, through February, 2000. His co-defendants in this action are broker Brad M. Nirenberg, 38, of Coral Springs, Fla., and Norman F. Piatti, 48, of West Palm Beach, Fla., the president and CEO of Lifekeepers.
The identity of Mr. Senger's employer should have caused a few red lights to go off in Rampart's compliance department. Mr. Senger controlled a branch of Baxter Banks & Smith, a junky U.S. brokerage later shut down by regulators. (In the unrelated Maid Aide case, Las Vegas penny stock lawyer Max Tanner and a number of licenced and unlicenced Baxter Banks brokers, virtually all since convicted, used Howe Street brokerage Pacific International Securities, facing a landmark British Columbia Securities Commission hearing Oct. 7, as a key conduit for illicit offshore trading. A second Canadian brokerage is also believed to have been used by the Maid Aide ring, but was never identified in court filings.)
The grand jury indictment claims Mr. Senger acquired large blocks of Lifekeepers shares from November, 1998, to January, 1999, directed Baxter Banks boiler room brokers to flog the stock in return for secret kickback commissions, manipulated the stock and dumped his shares through accounts at other brokerages, mainly Rampart and discount brokerage Charles Schwab.
"Once defendant Jeffrey Senger and other co-conspirators who are not named in this indictment finished liquidating their Lifekeepers stock, they would stop touting that stock and would cease offering further payoffs to the conspiring brokers for promoting and selling that stock to their clients. At that point, the conspiring brokers would generally stop soliciting customers to purchase Lifekeepers stock, and the market price for that stock would decrease substantially."
U.S. authorities claim that as a further part of the conspiracy, Mr. Senger's greased brokers agreed that they would not get paid by him if their brokerage clients sold their Lifekeepers shares before he gave the go-ahead. The indictment claims the brokers never told their clients their main motivation in touting Lifekeepers shares was the cash bribes Mr. Senger was paying them. Although Mr. Senger allegedly greased "numerous" dirty brokers, none of these unindicted co-conspirators are identified.
According to the indictment, between December, 1998, and January, 1999, Mr. Senger transferred 180,000 shares of Lifekeepers to a brokerage account in his name at Rampart, formerly known as Merit Investments. Starting a month earlier, he also deposited 285,000 shares into an account in his name at Charles Schwab. It is unclear when Mr. Senger opened his account at Rampart, and whether the brokerage's compliance staff ever wondered why a client in Florida would take such a keen interest in a brokerage in Toronto.
While Mr. Senger had a smaller initial position at Rampart, it dominated his selling. The indictment claims Mr. Senger dumped 208,500 Lifekeepers shares through his Rampart account, but just 15,000 shares through his Schwab account.
Mr. Senger did not wait long to whisk off his illicit loot. "From in or about December, 1998, through in or about March, 1999, defendant Jeffrey Senger wire transferred approximately $529,000 from his securities brokerage account at Rampart Securities into a bank account under the name C&S Capital at Republic Security Bank," states the grand jury indictment.
Rampart is featured in no less than 19 of Mr. Senger's 27 Lifekeepers counts, all relating to single specific transactions, including 17 of the 21 share-sale counts and the sole two money laundering counts. These latter two charges, entitled, "financial transactions with proceeds from specified unlawful activities," including a $115,600 wire from Mr. Senger's account at Rampart on Jan. 20, 1999, and a similar $120,000 wire on Feb. 9, 1999, both to the C&S Capital bank account.
Around the same time as Mr. Senger's Lifekeepers pump and dump, he was also getting involved in Piccard and International Stores, the two promotions which led to him being snared in Bermuda Short. The indictment claims Mr. Senger acquired large blocks of both these stocks between January, 1999, and August, 2000. The brokerages Mr. Senger used in these two deals are not identified.
Mr. Senger was apparently one of the first Florida targets of Bermuda Short. Similar to Lifekeepers, Mr. Senger allegedly began a pump-and-dump conspiracy for his Piccard and International Stores positions in June, 2000. Around this time, Mr. Senger had his fateful meeting with the undercover FBI agent posing as an operative for a dirty fund manager. That July and September, Mr. Senger allegedly paid kickbacks of $12,500 and $10,000 to the undercover agent for small "test trades" of these two stocks, in preparation for the supposed $8-million financing, which never materialized.
Bermuda Short's Mr. Senger was hardly the only dubious client attracted to, and serviced by, Rampart during this period. Rampart was also a key conduit in two other unrelated U.S. penny stock promotions which caught the eyes of U.S. authorities: Rajiv Vohra's 1997-98 rig job of New Directions Manufacturing, and the early-1998 pump-and-dump rig job of Mountain Energy by a ring including California penny stock lawyer Marc R. Tow.
Mr. Vohra is best known as the former partner of controversial West Vancouver stock promoter Rene Hamouth in the Penway Explorers scandal, a high-profile Canadian penny stock manipulation a decade ago which featured Vito Rizzuto, the top Canadian mafioso who is dubbed the John Gotti of Montreal. Both Mr. Hamouth and Mr. Vohra were acquitted in 1993 after a criminal trial in Toronto, and there is no suggestion that either have had any business dealings with any Mafia figures since.
(Mr. Hamouth denies ever having been a partner of Mr. Vohra, ever being involved in any promotion featuring Mr. Rizzuto and ever having heard of the Mafia figure. Mr. Vohra relocated from the Toronto suburb of Scarborough a few years ago to the penny stock haven of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
This January, the SEC won an $843,000 court award against Mr. Vohra, who made illicit proceeds of $500,000 with partner Sean Healey in the New Directions case. Ina consent settlement in April, 2001, Mr. Healey was fined $146,000 and banned for five years.
The Mountain Energy case was much bigger. That ring made at least $3.6-million in illicit profits trading shares through Merit, which changed names to Rampart during the promotion, according to the SEC. The Ontario Securities Commission is believed to have played a key supporting role assisting the SEC in its lengthy investigation.
In consent settlements in September, 2001, Mountain Energy players George W. Guttman and Joseph M. Blumenthal, both of Brooklyn, N.Y., were ordered to pay disgorgement of $1.35-million. Mr. Blumenthal, fined $350,000, also agreed to a permanent bar from participating in future offerings of penny stocks. Mr. Guttman, fined $1-million, agreed to a penny stock bar with liberty to reapply after five years.
Mr. Guttman worked as a broker at a series of U.S. firms between 1980 and 1996, when he began working as a consultant for a number of OTC companies, which later included International Casino Cruises Inc., Mountain Energy's predecessor. In 1999, Mr. Guttman was permanently barred by the National Association of Securities Dealers from association in any capacity with any member firm, for making unauthorized transactions in a client's account. In June, 1999, he pleaded guilty in the Southern District of New York to a felony charge of making false statements to the SEC.
Most of the Mountain Energy group's millions of shares were funnelled into and laundered through Rampart and Merit, in accounts of a series of dummy companies, including Mr. Guttman's Growth International and C. Saw Investments Ltd. Shares were also deposited in the name of Merit itself, which held the shares on Mr. Guttman's behalf.
While these three cases have not been noted in the IDA's Rampart prosecution so far, more client and compliance surprises may emerge once Mr. Kasman's hearing unfolds. IDA enforcement staff expect to introduce as exhibits 13 bankers' boxes full of documents relating to Rampart, its compliance department and external reviews.
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