Tag: Madoff

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Web: Byrne: SEC Enforcement Division Takes Orders From Short-Sellers

Web

Byrne: SEC Enforcement Division Takes Orders From Short-Sellers

Gary Weiss

gary-weiss.com, 19 September 2009

Patrick Byrne has a new conspiracy theory to explain why his corporate crime petri dish Overstock.com is under investigation by the SEC. Seems that short sellers, in addition to having a fax machine at CNBC, also have a hotline to the SEC, in which they bark out orders to start investigations against innocent CEOs like Byrne.

Byrne made that comment on Fox Business News, where he is trotted out as an “internet retailing expert,” no doubt because of the skill at which he has eased Overstock into negative shareholder equity. He was brought out this time for a ritual denunciation of new bank compensation rules.

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Article: Watchdog Alleges Insider Trading At SEC

Article - Media

Watchdog Alleges Insider Trading At SEC

Liz Moyer

Forbes, 15 May 2009

The Securities and Exchange Commission is back under fire after the agency’s own watchdog alleged suspicious trading activity and possible insider trading by two staff attorneys.

SEC Inspector General David Kotz says he’s referred his findings to the Department of Justice, which he says is investigating along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. As is its standard practice, the DOJ would neither confirm nor deny they are looking into the matter.

The report, dated March 3, details a two-year investigation of two SEC enforcement staff attorneys who may have traded on non-public information or engaging in insider trading in stocks of companies under investigation by the agency.

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Article: Our Watchdogs and the Financial Scandal of the Century

Article - Media

Our Watchdogs and the Financial Scandal of the Century

Mark Mitchell

Deep Capture, 3 April 2009

“Accountability – Integrity – Reliability”

That’s the motto of the Government Accountability Office, and it almost makes you believe that there really is a functioning watchdog – somebody, aside from us Internet loons, to investigate and report on the incompetence and malfeasance that pervade our public institutions.

Certainly, there were high hopes when the GAO began investigating the Securities and Exchange Commission’s oversight of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), a black box Wall Street outfit that is at the center of one of the great financial scandals of our era.

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Web: Remember How Naked Short Selling Wasn’t a Big Deal?

Web

Remember How Naked Short Selling Wasn’t a Big Deal?

Bob O’Brien

Sanity Check via Wayback, 28 January 2009

Bernie Madoff’s brokerage owed $600 million in stock to its clients, that it, well, didn’t actually have on hand, as in the shares were either never delivered to the brokerage, or far more likely, it just, “Desked the trades” – meaning that it took the client cash, represented the securities as having been bought in the market and delivered (via the brokerage statement the client got every month), but never bothered with buying the shares.

Also known as one type of naked short selling.

Access archived page.

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Article: Strange Occurrences, and a Story about Naked Short Selling

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Strange Occurrences, and a Story about Naked Short Selling

27 January 2009

Mark Mitchell

DeepCapture, 27 January 2009

Evidence suggests that Bernard Madoff, the “prominent” Wall Street operator and former chairman of the NASDAQ stock market, had ties to the Russian Mafia, Moscow-based oligarchs, and the Genovese organized crime family.

And, as reported by Deep Capture and Reuters, Madoff did not just orchestrate a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. He was also the principal architect of SEC rules that made it easier for “naked” short sellers to manufacture phantom stock and destroy public companies – a factor in the near total collapse of the American financial system.

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Article: Bernard Madoff, the Mafia, and Naked Short Selling

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Bernard Madoff, the Mafia, and Naked Short Selling

Mark Mitchell

DeepCapture, 19 January 2009

Bernard L. Madoff was once the chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange. He was one of the most important market makers on Wall Street. And he managed what was, by some estimates, the largest hedge fund on the planet.

Yes, Bernard Madoff was an impressive man. That much was clear even before we learned that his $50 billion Ponzi scheme may have been orchestrated in cahoots with the most powerful, sophisticated, and indiscriminately murderous organized crime syndicate the world has ever known.

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Web: Goldman Sachs and Madoff – Mr. Paulson Shocked To Learn There’s Gambling Going On In There!!!

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Goldman Sachs and Madoff – Mr. Paulson Shocked To Learn There’s Gambling Going On In There!!!

Bob O’Brien

Sanity Check via Wayback, 11 January 2009

Apparently, Goldman knew that Madoff was a fraud almost a decade ago. As this article in the Telegraph points out, there was a company-wide ban against doing anything with his firm after they did diligence on him:
“More than a decade ago bankers from Goldman Sachs’ asset management division were despatched to Bernard Madoff Investment Securities to discover how the legendary fund manager maintained such consistently good returns.

The American banking giant prided itself on managing funds in-house but if it could get a better deal for its clients at Madoff, Goldman would gracefully admit it and allocate some funds.

One former Goldman partner said: “I remember the guys came back baffled. Madoff refused to let them do any due diligence on the funds and when they asked about the firm’s investment strategy they couldn’t understand it. Goldman not only black-listed Madoff in the asset management division but banned the brokering side from trading with the firm too.”

Access archived page.

 

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Letter: To SEC from Dave Patch on Tick Test

Letter

January 12, 2007

Ms. Nancy M. Moms Securities and Exchange Commission 100F Street, NE Washington D. C., 20549-1090

As a follow-up to my previous memo regarding this proposal to eliminate the tick test/ price test, I would like to further emphasize the concerns the public has with regards to the regulations of market making activities as they pertain to this proposed and all other short sale regulations.

Continue reading “Letter: To SEC from Dave Patch on Tick Test”

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