Article: Faulty Regulator

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Faulty Regulator

Christopher Byron

New York Post cited by RGM Communications via Wayback, 27 June 2005

On Thursday the Securities and Exchange Commission’s departing chairman, William Donaldson, will step down from his two-and-a-half year stint as Wall Street’s top regulator, vacating the most thankless and difficult job in the administration to make way for President Bush’s third nominee.

Though Donaldson is widely credited with having been an effective and activist-oriented SEC chairman who — among other things — pursued more high-profile corporate-fraud cases than any chairman before him, he actually initiated only one major SEC fraud probe that has led to litigation against a defendant.

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Release: Former FBI Agent Pleads Guilty to Obstruction of Justice

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Former FBI Agent Pleads Guilty to Obstruction of Justice

Robert Nardoza

United States Attorney’s Office, 23 June 2005

ROSLYNN R. MAUSKOPF, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and JOHN A. KLOCHAN, Acting Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office, announced that LYNN WINGATE, a former Special Agent of Federal Bureau of Investigation, pleaded guilty this afternoon to obstruction of justice in connection with her role in interfering with a grand jury’s investigation relating to Amr “Anthony” Elgindy and former FBI Agent Jeffrey A. Royer by accessing the FBI’s confidential law enforcement computer system and then relaying pertinent confidential information to Royer, who was one of the subjects of the investigation.

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Article: Who’s Behind Naked Shorting?

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Who’s Behind Naked Shorting?

Karl Thiel

The Motley Fool, 30 March 2005

The subject of naked short selling has gained some momentum with the introduction of Reg SHO early this year and a rising tide of complaint from companies like Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) and others. But in addition to this general attention, 12 separate lawsuits have accused the DTCC itself of engineering naked short-selling schemes. Nine of these, according to Thompson, have been dismissed or withdrawn, while three are still pending.

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Article: Naked shorting: The curious incident of the shares that didn’t exist

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Naked shorting: The curious incident of the shares that didn’t exist

Peter Koh, Helen Avery

EuroMoney, 27 March 2005

Shareholders and executives in some of the US’s smallest listed companies believe their share prices have been forced down by illegal naked shorting. This has led to a number of lawsuits, claiming unscrupulous behaviour by brokers and market-makers exploiting loopholes in the central clearing system. Those implicated dismiss the allegations as rubbish. What’s going on?

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Article: The Naked Truth on Illegal Shorting

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The Naked Truth on Illegal Shorting

Karl Thiel

The Motley Fool cited  by RGM Communications via Wayback, 24 March 2005

It’s amazing how the word “naked” can liven up a discussion. Take naked short selling, for instance. The addition of this saucy little word turns the mundane act of borrowing and selling shares of stock in hopes of buying them back later at a lower price into a raging controversy fraught with conspiracy, secret identities, public recriminations, foreign intrigue, sports team owners, and now some of the top regulators in the land.

How can one word cause so much trouble? While legal short sellers must borrow the shares they sell, naked short sellers sell shares of stock they haven’t borrowed, have no intention of borrowing, and that may not even exist. Not surprisingly, this activity is illegal and has been since the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934. But for a number of reasons, regulators have overlooked it in the past.

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Article: U.S. Stock Market Commentary by Samex Capital

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U.S. Stock Market Commentary by Samex Capital

Samex Capital via RGM Communications via Wayback, 7 February 2005

It seems the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute For Legal Reform has publicly stated their petition of William Donaldson, the chairman of the SEC, asking for an investigation into whether short sellers and the law firm of Milberg Weiss (“MW”) had engaged in securities fraud. MW represented a class action suit led by an investment company that was also shorting the stock of the company targeted by the class action. MW is best known for their role in pursuing class action suits against publicly traded companies.

PDF (2 pages): U.S. Stock Market Commentary by Samex Capital

Article: Shame on the SEC

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Shame on the SEC

Christopher Byron

New York Post cited by RGM Communications via Wayback, 10 January 2005

Investors with money in the large and well- capitalized companies of the Dow Jones industrial average certainly felt blue last week, as the first five trading days of the new year brought a 180-point, or 2 percent, drop on well-placed fears that the Federal Reserve intends to keep raising interest rates until the economy stalls out.

But to any of the growing legions of investors lucky, nervy, or foolish enough to have been slumming instead last week in the investing world’s seediest dive of them all – the penny stock market – Wall Street definitely looked pretty in pink.

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Article: CIBC division fined $700,000 over trades

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CIBC division fined $700,000 over trades

PAUL WALDIE, 22 December 2004

The brokerage arm of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has agreed to pay a $700,000 fine and change the way it supervises clients who have direct market access accounts. The agreement is part of a settlement approved yesterday between CIBC World Markets Inc. and Market Regulation Services Inc., or RS, over allegations the brokerage failed to stop alleged manipulative trading by a pair of clients. Two Toronto-based CIBC World Markets employees, Scott Mortimer and Carl Irizawa, also agreed to pay fines of $50,000 and $20,000 respectively. The firm and the two individuals will also pay an additional $115,000 to cover the costs of the investigation.
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Article: CIBC Mellon stock scam probe linked to Angels

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CIBC Mellon stock scam probe linked to Angels

KAREN HOWLETT, 09 December 2004

A former executive of the securities custody firm co-owned by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is under RCMP investigation over his alleged involvement in a penny stock scam police allege is linked to the Hell’s Angels biker gang. Alnoor Jiwan, former manager of CIBC Mellon Global Securities Services Co.’s Vancouver office, is under investigation for allegedly taking bribes in 1999 to issue bogus stock certificates and pocketing ill-gotten gains in a so-called pump-and-dump scheme involving defunct telecom firm Pay Pop Inc. Bill Majcher, head of the RCMP’s Integrated Market Enforcement Team in Vancouver, said his office has recommended to Crown prosecutors that charges be laid in connection with the scam. He also said individuals behind the scam have ties to organized crime.
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Article: FBI Agent Fed Stock Guru Risky Information

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FBI Agent Fed Stock Guru Risky Information

New York Post cited by RGM Communications via Wayback, 5 November 2004

A corrupt FBI agent in cahoots with inside traders revealed a steady stream of sensitive information — including one corporate executive’s alleged ties to the Russian mob and an undercover agent’s presence at another firm, according to court testimony yesterday.

The companies’ negative information was posted on the Web site of San Diego financial analyst and self-styled stock guru Amr “Anthony” Elgindy, who profited when their stock went down, a former Elgindy associate testified in federal court in Brooklyn.

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Article: STATE PRESSES FRAUD PROBE

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STATE PRESSES FRAUD PROBE

DIANE LEVICK, 20 October 2004

Connecticut stepped up its own probe of insurance misconduct Tuesday as Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, convinced that there is bid-rigging and other fraud here, issued at least 20 subpoenas to insurance companies and brokers.

Blumenthal’s latest move follows a lawsuit last week and arrests by the New York attorney general’s office, which is investigating manipulation of bids and questionable payment practices involving insurance brokers and companies. Continue reading “Article: STATE PRESSES FRAUD PROBE”

Article: Who’s Looking Out For You? SEC Critics Seeking Investigation

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Who’s Looking Out For You?: SEC Critics Seeking Investigation

Mark Faulk

FaulkingTruth cited by RGM Communications via Wayback,  27 June 2004

The mission statement of the SEC is clearly worded and easy to understand: “The primary mission of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is to protect investors and maintain the integrity of the securities market.”

Last Wednesday, they adopted new rules concerning short-selling that accomplished neither goal. Instead, they passed a watered-down version of their earlier proposed regulation SHO, a version that did absolutely nothing to “protect investors and maintain the integrity of the securities market”. And unlike their mission statement, the new rules are neither clearly worded nor easy to understand. In fact, the only clear message was the “subliminal” one that the SEC sent to investors, which was, simply stated: “We don’t care”.

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Article: DTCC Chief Spokesperson Denies Existence of Lawsuit

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DTCC Chief Spokesperson Denies Existence of Lawsuit

Financial Wire cited by RGM Communications via Wayback, 11 May 2004

FinancialWire received a confidential email between a reporter and Stuart Z. Goldstein, Managing Director of Corporate Communications for the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp. in which Goldstein was represented as denying that a lawsuit filed by Nanopierce Technologies (OTCBB: NPCT) exists.

The chief spokesperson for the DTCC, whose board of directors represent a who’s who of financial entities, including Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH), Citigroup / Solomon Smith Barney’s Corporate Investment Bank (NYSE: C), and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MWD), was quoted as stating that the “lawsuit” did not exist and was simply “charges being leveled by internet crackpots.”

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Article: Endovasc Ltd. Inc. v. JP Turner & Co. LLC et al: Complaint

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Endovasc Ltd. Inc. v. JP Turner & Co. LLC et al: Complaint

Smarter Legal Research, 30 March 2004

Complaint in Endovasc Ltd. Inc. v. J.P. Turner & Co. LLC, KCM Group LLC, Kingdon Capital Management LLC, The Keshet Fund LP, Sichenzia Ross & Friedman LLP, Keshet LP, Nesher Ltd., Talbiya B. Investments Ltd., Balmore Funds SA, David Grin, LH Financial Services Corp., Laurus Master Fund Ltd., Laurus Capital Management LLC, Celeste Trust Reg, and Patrick Power at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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THE DOLLAR HAS NO INTRINSIC VALUE : DO YOUR ASSETS?