Currently, I'm working on a post about funding and how it's led to employment problem in science....
Meanwhile, this bit about illegal short selling is jaw dropping. I have no idea of this very long article (pdf) is in tinfoil helmet territory or not, but, if it's at all accurate, it looks like Jim Cramer of CNBC is using his media perch to help friends profit from short selling stocks:
The story begins when a very highly respected journalist and business editor for the Columbia Journalism Review, Mark Mitchell, decides to look into allegations made by the CEO of Overstock.com, that some top hedge fund managers, in cahoots with a circle of financial analyst and reporters, had conspired to make a lot of money by betting short on companies and then systematically destroying those companies by spreading false negative information about them and employing other tactics such as flooding the market with "phantom shares" to drive down a stock's value.
I have no idea if it's true, but, if it is, it puts the lie to all of that "we earned it" bullshit coming from Wall Street. It is long, but reads really well. Here's a taste:
The reporters should also have known that Elgindy's information was suspect - and that his target companies were often victims of short-seller crimes. Data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act shows that massive amounts of phantom stock were sold in the companies that Elgindy and his cohort shorted. As Carol Remond and others surely knew, Elgindy was also among the dubious clients of Pacific International, the Canadian brokerage that has catered to Wall Street operators connected to the Genovese crime family. "Let's remember," says one member of Elgindy's website, "because of CANADA we can NAKED SHORT!"
Elgindy also brags on his website of having supplied the SEC and other government agencies with negative information. The SEC, especially, would helpfully open investigations into the companies targeted by Elgindy, precipitating huge declines in their stocks. One former SEC official interviewed by Deep Capture admits to having worked often with Elgindy. "I'd send his information up my up-line," he says. "My superiors would tell me to open an investigation." In most cases, the SEC never filed charges against the targeted companies.But the investigations left the companies' stock and reputations in tatters. Contributing to this, Herb and the rest of the Media Mob would write multiple negative stories about the companies Elgindy shorted. "These were good companies. A lot of them were pharmaceutical companies that had made important medical advances," says the former SEC investigator. "Elgindy hurt them badly. He stopped new cures. And the SEC helped. The media helped."
And that's not even the crazy stuff. If Carl Hiaasen, Stephen King, and Elmore Leonard were to co-author a book, it couldn't be this bizarre. I'll certainly never read Joe Nocera or Floyd Norris the same way ever again...
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I'm still not sure myself, but I've certainly heard of this controversy before - apparently those connected naked short selling manipulated the entry on wikipedia and at one point banned the entire neighborhood where the CEO of Overstock lives from making edits. Whether or not you believe all the stuff about naked short selling (and it is pretty bad if true), the controversy also exposed some serious issues with wikipedia,
Here is a link with some details (from a source that seems to have an axe to grind with wikipedia):
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/01/wikipedia_and_naked_shorting/
There are many things WE are not at liberty to tell you. But, miscreants: be it known that your day is fast approaching. We might all be living under a bridge somewhere as a result of the war that is being waged on our financial system, but as a result of that war, there will be a lot of famous names in some prison, somewhere soon. In my heart of hearts, I envision the good Dr. Patrick Michael Byrne leading us to that prison and allowing us to take out our frustrations and desires for justice on these un-forgiven captives. All I want is to be a part of it in some small way. We'll see, won't we???? I can wait. I have been shown information that you and your friends are never going to be qualified to see or allowed to alter with your inside players. I know what is in store for the evil scum that are bent on ruining our world. We have a little something for you boys. Be ready for us.
Obama is an empty suit. That's pretty obvious. Just ask yourself why they had Stanford employees inside of FINRA. Yeah, inside. See, we knew that, you didn't. But we did. You may have won some battles, but we will win this war. In fact, that information on Stanford we had was minor in comparison to what is about to break. Stanford isn't anything we didn't know about before. At least now, you've heard. Again, we are very lucky we have a leader in front of us on the magnitude of Patrick Byrne. In the end, I think we win. Not everybody will be so lucky. That's why you have to join us now. We will not pluck you from the fires when the end days come. You have to be with us today to be among the chosen few tomorrow.
You may wonder why there are many things I am not at liberty to tell you. I'm just trying to imagine the hedge fund boys and trading desk managers who read these posts squirming in their seats and fearing our information. You need to be afraid. We have you. We won. You can rest assured that a judgment day is fast approaching. I hope that's enough to ruin your day as you have ruined so many of mine.
Looney Toons to the nth degree, as explained three days ago here. Kinda reckless to repeat something which you "have no idea if it's true." That's how misinformation spreads and makes your entire blog suspect.
http://www.stockwatch.com/newsit/newsit_newsit.aspx?bid=Z-U:OSTK-158147…
Thanks for carrying this information. It is rapidly spreading, much to the chagrin of those running the scam and their lackeys in the regulatory agencies, media, Congress, etc.
BTW, Bloomberg's Emmy nominated exposé of naked short selling from March 2007 can be seen here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4490541725797746038
(Bloomberg transcript: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aEOpTqmLZB7A )
And here is a lecture presented at the University of Texas which clearly explains the criminal enterprise:
http://www.deepcapture.com/lecture-on-abuse-of-social-media-by-stock-ma…
And, of course, spend more time at Deep Capture (which won the 2008 Best Business Blog). There you can find much data garnered from FOIA requests and various court documents detailing e-mail exchanges between the manipulators,media, etc.
Thanks, again.
The hardworking and innovative folks who produce the wealth of this country no longer trust leaving the decisions to the lobbyists. The legislators know that everything is at risk. The Republicans failed.. worse than that they were run by a minority of people who lined their contributors pockets with war profits, banking deregulation, and a public discourse that ignored the corruption while espousing values. Put your hand on your heart, say that you believe in God and say something meaningless. Then jump on a plane to some Carribean Island for R&R. Pocket a little campaign contribution and hope that the constituents don't see the video. Democrats take those trips, too.
We need dissent. We need two parties. Better yet, we need to purge the parties with more mainstream people getting involved. We don't need a far right reactionary party and a liberal spendthrift for the other.
The saddest part is that our government can't even balance its books. The corruption is rampant and the theft is enormous. It is not a partisan issue. Fire the contractors who can't balance the books... and find out where the money went.
My praise to Deepcapture. They have it documented in the words and emails of the miscreants. These criminals were so arrogant as to believe they would never get caught. They wouldn't have if P. Byrne and P. Watsa hadn't stood up to them and taken these rotten beings to court. There was no regulation that wasn't subverted by the insiders and lobbyists. There was no recourse through the regulators.
I've watched this whole thing unfold, the attempt of a cover up by the MSM shills, the disinformation campaign, and the continued assaults on those who want the corruption stopped.
Ms Annette Nazareth didn't get past the vetting process as Under Secretary of the Treasury. She was instrumental in gutting the market with grandfathering fails and insulted investors' intelligence. She was the Marie Antoinette of Wall Street. I guess that enough of us made it clear we didn't want her at Treasury.. I hand-delivered a note to my Senator stating same. I guess I wasn't the only one.
This self-serving, uncaring appointee somehow missed the big picture. If you are in charge of keeping a market fair and functioning and you fail... honey, you don't get a second chance to screw up somewhere else. Nazareth was not just worthless.. she was a negative for this country.
Stopping her appointment is a big win for the American people. This is the change we need. Keep the dogs out of public office.
Folks, I can do my own ranting. I really don't need to have some pieced, tattooed schmuck working out of a broom closet, trying to work his way up the scum-0-meter.
Now, please, if you won't me to go ballistic on people who ruin many lives, threaten others, just call, or write. I am more than willing to chip in and continue to do my part.
thank you, Lenofus
Mike,
I like the way you have the most recent comments available on the left. That is very convenient..
Joe Nocera.. he did a decent spot on the Daily Show when CNBC was taken to task for its role in the market, but it doesn't excuse the years that he and others denied the NSS problem. The worst I've heard were Dan Colaruso's words about how SABEW members had so much ink and resources that they could crush Patrick Byrne. There is an audio clip of him saying this at a SABEW conference stored at DC. MSM representative espoused the intent to stop a whistleblower. Either Colaruso was completely ignorant of the rampant NSS and failures to deliver or he was in on it. I don't give him credit for being misinformed and saying this. He was either ignorant and didn't investigate the problem(gross incompetence by a journalist or he was too stupid to understand the data) or he knew that the miscreants were doing this and he went along with it(if he were getting quid pro quo for his stance and influence, it is unethical if not criminal). The press acted like a bunch of thugs. That was the state of the NY financial press. Some are just cheerleaders and hawkers for the market, others are shills for their hedgefund handlers and they will stoop to any level of deceit and misrepresentation to help them.
One has to ask, if there is no truth to what Patrick Byrne is saying, why would the Business Editor of the NYT be suggesting that the press should crush Byrne? Colaruso did not know that he was being taped while on this "professional" panel discussion at a business conference. If Byrne were as "crazy" as the NY Press tried to portray him, why did they need to crush him? I wonder if the Jeff who is posting here is Jeff Matthews. Jeff Matthews was part of the onslaught to discredit Byrne. He repeated misinformation about Stormy Simon, one of Byrne's VP's implying that this courageous lady was a stripper. He was so anxious to discredit OSTK and Byrne, he failed to mention that Stormy Simon was responsible for putting a murderer in jail while her own life had been threatened by the murderer. Read "Death in a Fish Pond". It tells the story of how this guy was brought to justice and Stormy was the key.
Nocera... didn't have time for it... What exactly does he have time for?
"And Joe Nocera says ânaked short sellingâ¦makes my eyes glaze overâ¦So I asked Patrick Byrne exactly this questionâ¦I said, âWell why do youâ¦why are you in this naked shorting fight since itâs not really what you are litigating?â And he said, âWell, itâs like supporting education; itâs a good thing to do.â
At this, there is uproarious laughter from the journalists in the room. It should be said that most of the journalists in the room are Herbâs friends. Dave Kansas, formerly of TheStreet.com, is there. So is Dave Evans, the Bloomberg reporter who, along with Herb and Kansas, worked closely with the online short-seller group led by Amr Elgindy, who is now in prison. So these journalists - these creeps who think it is hilarious that Patrick has embraced what he believes to be a good cause - are by no means typical journalists.
They just happen to be the journalists who control the financial media.
âSo,â continues Nocera, The New York Timesâ top business columnist, âitâs hard to take [Patrick] seriously on that issue when you hear him say something like that. Having said that, you know, I think it probably would be worth somebodyâs time to say, Is there something to naked shorting or not? What is naked shorting? What does it mean? What is the problem here? But, you know, lifeâs too short. I donât want to do it.â
Nocera thinks Patrick is not credible because Patrick said that going after naked shorting was something good for the community.. like supporting education. And it brings laughter from the "professionals"... Nocera, a financial journalist said his eyes glaze over when talking about naked shorting. He pretends he doesn't know what it is and refuses to investigate. Joe is not that stupid.
Now these failures of the press, their complicity in the corruption is documented. Their attempt to stifle a whistleblower and discredit him is documented. And it will be here for posterity to see. These folks couldn't understand someone doing something just because it was the right thing to do. They laughed at doing the right thing. They couldn't comprehend someone doing something that was didn't have pecuniary gain. It is all about money..and they didn't care that people were stealing it from innocent investors. It is not in their advertisers' interest to let people know that the market is rigged and there is no regulation in this area.... or for Ponzi schemes or credit default swaps that brought the world to an economic crisis. What does Joe have time for?
Ladies, I can do my own ranting. Just ask my wife. I really don't need to have some hot, pieced, tattooed schoozer working out of a broom closet, trying to work his way into my favor.
Now, please, if you won't me to go ballistic on people who ruin my life, threaten my cat ... just call, or write and I'll be there. I am more than willing to chip in and continue to do my part.
thank you, lenofus
Posted by: therealLenofus
Jeff,
Bloomberg News ran with a similar story. And one company had its shares traded--after it had bought up all of the shares. Do I think they got everything correct? Probably not. But to say that naked short sells never happen is absurd.
Sen. Bob Bennett held hearings about Global Links who bought up 100% of its shares: the next day 37 million shares of Global Links were sold into the market. That's phantom stock. Hell, even the SEC thinks hundred of firms have been affected by this.
By the way, Lee M. Webb's parent company, Canjex Publishing, has had problems of its own.
Mike,
Global Links? That was discredited back in 2005 and proved to be a major embarrassment for Senator Bennett. Sounds like you are doing Google searches instead of actual research.
http://nakedshortlie.blogspot.com/2005/04/global-links-corp.html
Lee Webb never said naked shorting does not exist. Not sure why you even mentioned that. The NY Times has lost lawsuits but to say this discredits their journalists is a rather silly argument. Lee Web is one of the best journalists in the biz. If you are going to challenge him, at least do so on the merits of what he wrote.
I like candy.
That "jeff" guy says, "at least challenge him on the merits of what he wrote."
Now that's a knee slapper. The network of naked short selling apologists has yet to debunk the facts of the damage of NSS and prefers to mock those who sincerely try to address and eliminate this fraud. The old,"Gee, you're right and we have nothing to counter you, so we'll call you ugly, etc....."
For jeff to whine in such fashion reflects that network's M.O.
Good job, Mike. FYI,here is a lecture presented at the University of Texas which clearly explains the criminal enterprise:
http://www.deepcapture.com/lecture-on-abuse-of-social-media-by-stock-ma…
DeepCapture's story is absolutely true. FOIA and Google are your best friends :)
Hey Mike,
Have you had a chance to read my story on Patrick Byrne? I'd like to know your thoughts on it.
Cheers,
Bill
Hi Mike,
Have you had a chance to read the piece by Mark Mitchell that is currently being serialized on Deep Capture?
"Michael Milken. 60,000 Deaths, and the story of Dendreon"
http://www.deepcapture.com/michael-milken-60000-deaths-and-the-story-of…
I'd love to see your thoughts on that.
Best,
Patrick
The network of naked short selling apologists has yet to debunk .
Mike,
Two years ago you wrote about "The Story of Deep Capture". We have just started publishing a 20 chapter work on economic warfare.
The Miscreantsâ Global Bust-Out: Preface
Posted on 28 April 2011 by Patrick Byrne
âA bust-out is a scheme customarily employed by organized crime to deplete the assets of a legitÂimate business, thus forcing it into bankruptcy.â State of New Jersey Commission of Investigation 1988 Report, âSubversion By Organized Crime And Other Unscrupulous Elements of the Check Cashing Industryâ
âBUSTOUT: a confidence scheme in which an established business is taken over, a large stock of merchandise is purchased on credit and quickly sold, and the business is then abandoned or bankruptcy is declared.â â Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Mark Mitchell has continued exploring the financial instability of the last four years, including the crash of 2008 and the Flash Crash of 2010. His conclusion is that various activities associated with market manipulation (e.g., naked short selling, high frequency trading, synthetic derivatives, sponsored access, regulatory capture, press manipulation) have been elements in a massive leverage-and-loot scheme by a network that includes Genovese and Russian organized crime, Sunni extremist financiers with ties to Al Qaeda, the Russian FSB, the Albanian Mafia, the Iranian regime, and the closest associates of Michael Milken.
The result, âThe Miscreantsâ Global Bust-Outâ, is 230 pages long. DeepCapture will be publishing it in approximately 20 installments over the coming weeks.
To continue, click: Chapter One: Was the United States Attacked By Financial Terrorists?