Foreign Collusion, Naked Shorting (Counterfeiting) & Money Laundering — All Illicit Wealth
Why this screenshot of CNBC’s ‘Mad Money’ host Jim Cramer is ‘everything that is wrong with America’
Shawn Langlois, 14 April 2020
In many ways, last week was one of the darkest stretches in American history.
The coronavirus death toll in the U.S. — now topping 23,000 — skyrocketed as families continued to huddle in their homes uncertain of what’s next, while an unthinkable number of more than 16 million people have now filed for unemployment amid an economy grappling with the shutdown.
180 Life Sciences Corp. (ATNF) FORM 10-K
Seeking Alpha, 07 April 2020
“180” are to 180 Life Sciences Corp. (formerly CannBioRx Life Sciences Corp.);
“Business Combination” are to the transactions contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement;
“Business Combination Agreement” are to the Business Combination Agreement, dated as of July 25, 2019 (as the same may be amended), by and among us, KBL Merger Sub, the 180 Parties and the Stockholder Representative, pursuant to which KBL Merger Sub will merge with and into 180 with 180 surviving the merger and continuing as our wholly-owned subsidiary, and in consideration thereof, the stockholders of 180 shall, at the option of the holder, receive either shares of our common stock or their existing Exchangeable Shares will become exchangeable into shares of our common stock;
Why Wendy’s Stock Crashed Today
Anders Bylund, 02 April 2020
Shares of fast-food chain Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) fell as much as 8.6% on Thursday even though the market trended upward in general. Noted short-seller Jim Chanos appeared on CNBC in the morning and said that he still expects several food-service stocks (including Wendy’s) to continue falling. After mounting a partial recovery, the stock closed Thursday’s trading 4.4% lower.
The founder of short-selling investment firm Kynikos Associates appeared on CNBC’s Halftime Report, where he said that the firm still is short-selling restaurant stocks such as Wendy’s, Burger King parent Restaurant Brands (NYSE:QSR), and Dunkin’ Brands (NASDAQ:DNKN). Restaurant Brands shares fell as much as 5.4% today, and Dunkin bottomed out at a drop of 8.2%.
Continue reading “Article: Why Wendy’s Stock Crashed Today”
BIONANO GENOMICS ANNOUNCES PRICING OF $18 MILLION UNDERWRITTEN PUBLIC OFFERING
GLOBE NEWSWIRE, 02 April 2020
BIONANO GENOMICS, INC. (BNGO), a genome analysis company that provides tools and services based on its Saphyr® system to scientists and clinicians conducting genetic research and patient testing, today announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 54,546,000 shares of its common stock (or pre-funded warrants to purchase common stock in lieu thereof) and common warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 54,546,000 shares of common stock. Each share of common stock and, as applicable, each pre-funded warrant is being sold together with a common warrant to purchase one share of common stock at a combined effective price to the public of $0.33 per share and accompanying common warrant. For each pre-funded warrant Bionano sells, the number of shares of common stock Bionano is offering will be decreased on a one-for-one basis. Continue reading “Article: BIONANO GENOMICS ANNOUNCES PRICING OF $18 MILLION UNDERWRITTEN PUBLIC OFFERING”
Regulators across Europe clash over bans on short selling
Philip Stafford, Laurence Fletcher, Robert Smith
Financial Times, 30 March 2020
France, Spain and Italy issued one-day prohibitions against betting on falling share prices for selected companies — and then longer bans of between one and three months, applied to all stocks listed on their domestic markets. Belgium, Austria and Greece swiftly followed suit, while Esma, the pan-European regulator, demanded tighter standards on reporting of short positions. Markus Ferber, an influential European MEP, urged a co-ordinated ban across the continent. But the clampdown has been partial.
The Tide Is Going Out and JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank and AIG Appear to Be Swimming (Read Trading) Naked
Pam Martens, Russ Martens
Wall Street on Parade, 29 March 2020
Warren Buffet is credited with the quote: “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.”
Friday’s closing prices among some of the heavily interconnected mega Wall Street banks and insurance companies known to be counterparties to Wall Street’s derivatives appeared to show who’s swimming naked in the realm of derivatives – naked meaning who has sold derivative protection (gone short the risk) on something that is blowing up.
Russia busts card fraud ring that included an infamous hacker
J. Fingas, 29 March 2020
Russia tends to turn a blind eye to some fraudsters and hackers, but it just clamped down on a particularly large group. Investigators have charged at least 25 people involved in a credit card fraud ring that included a notorious hacker. While Russian authorities didn’t provide a formal list of those caught in the bust, records and security blogger Andrey Sporov have revealed that one of those arrsted was Alexey Stroganov, also known as “Flint.” As a Krebs on Security source said, Stroganov apparently had a stake in “almost every major [card] hack” from the past 10 years, and sent “hundreds of millions of dollars” through the seized cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e. Continue reading “Article: Russia busts card fraud ring that included an infamous hacker”
Overstock accelerator plots expansion of farming blockchain
Frank Cardona, 28 March 2020
Medici Ventures, a blockchain accelerator owned by internet retail company Overstock.com, announced a global expansion of agritech blockchain company GrainChain through a partnership with Symbiont’s enterprise blockchain network. Earlier this month, Medici Ventures announced it had purchased over $5 million in equity from GrainChain as part of an <$8.2 funding round for the project. Continue reading “Article: Overstock accelerator plots expansion of farming blockchain”
Domain Registrars Take Action Against Fraudulent COVID-19 Websites
Sarah Coble, 27 March 2020
American domain registration companies are taking steps to combat coronavirus-related fraud. Budget hosting provider Namecheap Inc. has halted automated registration of website names that reference the COVID-19 health crisis. The Los Angeles–based company’s action comes after a surge in fraudulent websites seeking to profit from the pandemic.
Online scams proliferating from the coronavirus outbreak have included fraudulent charity websites, sites selling fake vaccines and cures, and infection-tracking sites that deliver malware. In an email to customers sent on March 26, Namecheap CEO Richard Kirkendall said the company was removing terms such as “coronavirus,” “COVID,” and “vaccine” from the company’s domain availability search tool.
Continue reading “Article: Domain Registrars Take Action Against Fraudulent COVID-19 Websites”
How phantom shares on Wall Street threaten U.S. companies and investors
Lucy Komisar
The Komisar Scoop, 26 March 2020
As stocks are in free fall, a scam run by the big banks/broker-dealers for the benefit of themselves and their hedge fund clients threatens to worsen the situation of large and small American companies and investors.
It’s when the bank/broker-dealers buy stocks, pocket the money and fail to deliver to clients the shares they are supposed to settle through the national stock clearing house. In another industry that might be called embezzling.
Foreign IBs face flak for short selling stocks in Korea
Jie Ye-eun
The Korea Herald, 23 March 2020
Despite a six-month ban on short selling, foreign investment banking houses remain dominant players betting on falling prices of South Korean shares, raising hackles due to stock market volatility.
ASIC probes ‘naked’ short selling
John Kehoe
Australian Financial Review, 23 March 2020
The securities regulator is looking out for illegal “naked” short selling by stock traders, in response to a rise in the number of investors failing to settle share trades during the recent financial market turbulence.
Naked short selling is illegal, and occurs when a short seller has executed a trade without a securities lending arrangement with a third party.
Companies with notable net short sales of their stock include Galaxy Resources (19 per cent), Syrah Resources (17.5 per cent), Metcash (13 per cent), Inghams Group (12.6 per cent), JB Hi-Fi (9.5 per cent), Costa Group (8.8 per cent), Myer (8.3 per cent), Perpetual (8.2 per cent), Bega Cheese (8 per cent), Bank of Queensland (7.8 per cent), Blackmores (7.8 per cent), Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (7.7 per cent), Webjet (7.7 per cent), Flight Centre (6.5 per cent), Kogan (6.5 per cent), Domino’s Pizza (6.2 per cent), Seek (6.2 per cent) and AMP (6.2 per cent) as of March 17, according to ASIC data.
Virus Prompts SEC To Ease Deadlines For Delayed Audit Trail
Law360.com, 18 March 2020
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is extending a deadline for stock exchanges and other entities to enforce compliance rules involving a market surveillance project known as the “consolidated audit trail,” noting the massive stress on market participants caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The consolidated audit trail, or CAT, is a massive database that will track real-time trading in the securities market. The project, which has been riddled with delays for years, is intended to help regulators prevent future market shocks like the May 6, 2010, “flash crash,” a brief but deep plunge in which the stock market lost about $1 trillion in wealth before recovering in 36 minutes.
Fund giant BlackRock issues stewardship playbook as a proxy-season test and SEC rulings loom
Rachel Koning Beals, 18 March 2020
Fund giant BlackRock has released its stewardship playbook, a rough plan that furthers the industry-rattling pledge for sustainability from its leader Larry Fink earlier this year. Continue reading “Article: Fund giant BlackRock issues stewardship playbook as a proxy-season test and SEC rulings loom”
Government Is Broadening Investigations of Spoofing-Like Practices
Dave Michaels, 17 March 2020
WASHINGTON—Authorities are investigating whether traders at JPMorgan Chase & Co. manipulated the market for Treasury securities and futures contracts, according to regulatory disclosures and people familiar with the matter.
The investigation shows that federal prosecutors and regulators continue to expand a campaign against an illicit practice known as spoofing, which has mainly focused on wily trading in derivatives. A move to scrutinize whether similar practices have affected the $17 trillion market for Treasury securities would open a new, and potentially more complicated, front in the war on spoofing.
The bank disclosed in a Feb. 25 regulatory filing that it is dealing with “related requests concerning similar trading-practices issues in markets for other financial instruments, such as U.S. Treasurys.” According to people familiar with the matter, the investigation also is probing the bank’s trading in futures. It couldn’t be learned which time period authorities are focusing their investigation on.
The Justice Department’s Fraud Section and regulators at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are involved, the people said. A spokeswoman for JPMorgan declined to comment. A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment.
Regulators and other authorities cracked down on spoofing after Congress specifically outlawed the feinting strategy in 2010. Citigroup Inc. paid $25 million in 2017 to settle regulatory claims that five traders spoofed Treasury futures. The same year, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. paid $600,000 to resolve CFTC claims over similar misconduct.
THE DOLLAR HAS NO INTRINSIC VALUE : DO YOUR ASSETS?
