Article: Steve Cohen’s former hedge fund settles insider trading suit for $135M

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Steve Cohen’s former hedge fund settles insider trading suit for $135M

Carleton English, 30 November 2016

Steve Cohen’s former hedge fund agreed to pay $135 million to shareholders of Elan Corp. to settle claims that the fund’s alleged insider trading caused them to lose money.

The shareholders claimed that SAC Capital used insider information to trade shares in the pharmaceutical company — now owned by Perrigo — between 2006 and 2008. SAC got the inside info from doctors involved in the clinical trials of Elan’s Alzheimer’s drug, it was alleged. Continue reading “Article: Steve Cohen’s former hedge fund settles insider trading suit for $135M”

Article: Financial fraud involving illegal withdrawal of over RUB 1 bn abroad was solved by Russian MIA General Administration for Economic Security and Combating Corruption

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Financial fraud involving illegal withdrawal of over RUB 1 bn abroad was solved by Russian MIA General Administration for Economic Security and Combating Corruption

THE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, 16 November 2016

“Employees of the General Administration for Economic Security and Combating the Corruption of the Russian MIA detected an illegal scheme for withdrawal of money in foreign currency abroad through many-fold overstatement of the cost of imported goods,” said Russian MIA official representative Irina Volk.

According to the available information confirmed by documents, the malefactors had used banking details of dummy entities registered in the Kaliningrad Region to transfer funds to the bank accounts of the controlled non-resident under the guise of fulfillment of foreign trade contracts for supply of computer hardware and components. For that purpose, they had provided financial institutions acting as currency control agents with documents that contained false information about grounds, purposes and nature of transfers, namely about the cost of goods that had been artificially overstated hundreds of times subject to forged shipping documents – invoices. Continue reading “Article: Financial fraud involving illegal withdrawal of over RUB 1 bn abroad was solved by Russian MIA General Administration for Economic Security and Combating Corruption”

Article: Overstock’s Blockchain and the War Against Naked Shorting

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Overstock’s Blockchain and the War Against Naked Shorting

Jacob Dienelt

coindesk, 14 November 2016

Sometimes called the “Pariah of Wall Street”, Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne has spent decades fighting against a suspect practice known as “naked short selling”.

Naked short selling, or a naked short, occurs when a trader sells a share of stock without first procuring a “borrow” – an assurance that the shares are available to be delivered. This can lead to more shares being shorted than can actually be delivered to the buyers.

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Article: Osiris Therapeutics: Regenerative Technologies And Restated Financials

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Osiris Therapeutics: Regenerative Technologies And Restated Financials

Cannell Capital LLC, 10 November 2016

Investing in oil exploration, gold prospecting and biotechnology is high-risk/high-return speculation. Such plays are about getting rich quick, and high hopes and dreams often attract scallywags – a desirable ingredient in short-selling candidates. We think Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. (“OSIR” – $5.18), a Columbia, Maryland-based trafficker in used human tissue, is flailing and infested with vermin.

December 14, 2015 – OSIR’s auditor, BDO USA, resigns in the wake of questions about OSIR’s accounting and business practices.[1] As of November 8, 2016, Osiris had yet to file its financial results for the year 2015 or for any quarter in 2016.

March 15, 2016 – Unable to file its Form 10-K, OSIR files the esoteric mea culpa Form 10-NT instead.[2] In its last timely filed Form 10-Q [3] (August 10, 2015), the company reported 47% year-over-year sales growth that yielded a 121 days sales outstanding and 232 days in inventory! Amongst the reasons for the inflated receivables was a one-year extension of payment terms which were expected to come due in the end of 2015. It remains unclear whether these payments were ever collected.
Continue reading “Article: Osiris Therapeutics: Regenerative Technologies And Restated Financials”

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