Post by kranker on Nov 7, 2005 18:06:08 GMT -4
STOCKGATE TODAY
An online newspaper reporting the issues of Securities Fraud
Bankruptcy brings out Wall Street Looters – November 6, 2005
David Patch
It was not that long ago we all sat by our Television sets and watched Hurricane Katrina destroy New Orleans. As we all watched the events unfold, the media became fixated on the reactions of the people that were left behind. The fixation was on looting and denigrating the individuals involved. The media felt a sense of superiority.
In a natural disaster such as this one, those that could afford the opportunity to leave New Orleans ahead of the hurricane did so. Left behind were the less fortunate, the desolate. In the wake of the disaster, those desperate people, along with some questionable police officers, began looting the stores of New Orleans and the stereotypical comments began. The media felt it was important to show the integrity of a lower financial class of individuals.
Well here is a story that deserves similar media coverage but it will never happen. Here is a story of how some of our nations wealthiest loot the investors of Wall Street during a time of catastrophe. This story fails to be displayed because money buys silence. Money buys media complacency and protection.
On October 10, 2005 Refco announced that Chief Executive Officer Phillip Bennett had repaid a $430 Million debt owed the company. The debt became the center of an accounting controversy that ultimately led to the arrest of Phillip Bennett on October 12 by the US Attorney on charges of securities fraud.
It was only 3 days after the arrest announcement that the NYSE halted trading in the stock of Refco after the stock had plummeted from $30.00/share to $8.00/share on volume that quadrupled the entire tradable public float of the company. Eventually, On October 17, 2005 Refco filed for bankruptcy. Exactly one week to the day after the controversy was exposed.
While this story has more twists that a Sherlock Homes Murder Mystery the bottom line to the story is simple. Wall Street Institutions, and the wealthy clients and Hedge Funds that trade through these Institutions looted the investors of Refco during a time of turmoil. The Industry effectively stole every item on the shelf and did so to achieve greater personal wealth.
As an investor advocate focused on the lack of regulatory controls over stock trading/stock settlement process, I predicted in a publication dated October 20, 2005 that the trading of Refco would soon expose the illegal practices of Wall Street. In the October 20 article ‘SHO-ing a crack in its Armor, the cast of Refco puts the SEC on Notice’ it was clearly predicted that soon we would be seeing Refco show up on the Regulation SHO threshold security list representing an excessive number of shares that have traded with extended settlement failures.
As of November 3, 2005 Refco was officially published on that listing. Refco now trades with greater than 750,000 shares in a perpetual settlement failure. The stock presently trades near $1.00/share after hitting lows of $.65 on October 18, 2005 when trading resumed.
Am I clairvoyant? Not a chance. The predictability of this was easy. Wall Street, the greatest set of white-collar looters in this nation, would never turn away money that they see sitting in an unattended store. Wall Street Executives are not the kids that return the bag of lost money because it is ethically the right thing to do. Wall Street Executives are the bullies that rip the bag of money out of the old ladies hand and are proud of it.
While the trading of Refco was crashing from $30.00/share to $15.00/share that Monday October 10, 2005 scuttlebutt was circulating that a major Hedge Fund was all over the sale of Refco securities. The head of the Hedge Fund recently identified as one of America’s wealthiest in a recent Forbes 400 Richest American publication.
With nearly the entire public float trading that day, and a 50% drop in Market Capitalization, the short sellers were having a feast. How the entire public float traded for 3 consecutive days, while the stock collapsed more than 75% was a clear indicator that shares were being sold that had no pedigree. The ‘Bear Raid’ was on.
In a diversionary tactic, critics of the campaign to force the settlement of trades repeatedly focus on the company financials and blame the companies for the decline in stock valuations. I guess we could thus claim it is the store owner’s fault for not protecting his store from looters during the hurricane. They never should have had the inventory there to steal.
How small minded these individuals including our own SEC Commissioners are.
Looting is illegal and the looting that takes place on Wall Street is not about the theft of a Television, Stereo, or a few articles of clothing. Looting the Wall Street way is about stealing innocent investor’s life savings forcing years of extra employment and financial hardship. Looting is stealing our nation’s next greatest developments. Most important, Wall Street looting risks the overall integrity of this nation. Have we become a nation so fixated on greed that we would destroy everything in our power to attain infinite wealth?
Regulation SHO created a publication that identifies those companies who have been systematically looted by the white-collar criminals of Wall Street. On that list you will find many distraught companies financially. But each company deserved the protections of the law and the Securities and Exchange Commission has turned them away. The SEC became looters themselves.
If you were to research the Regulation SHO publications dating back to the first publication in January 2005 you will find several companies on the verge of filing for bankruptcy or having already done so. Those companies, each and every one of them, have employees who deserve better. They have investors that deserve better. And they have rich and powerful people who have systematically tried to steal everything they have. There was nothing legal about the way Wall Street operated.
Companies looted by Wall Street’s wealthiest include our travel lifelines in Delta Airlines, United Airlines, Continental Airlines, and Northwest Airlines. Automotive Parts Manufacturer Tower Automotive was looted, as was Southern Food Chain Winn Dixie, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and natural gas and electricity supplier Calpine Corporation. But these are the companies looted under the guise of financial distress. There are literally hundreds to thousands more looted…for the mere sake of looting.
The price for this thievery is our Nations future. You disagree; follow the story of Hedge Fund Millennium Partners L.P and Billionaire ‘Izzy’ Englander. As was reported in the NY Post, the Hedge Fund reportedly stole hundreds of millions of dollars in the markets to better the funds position for their clients, like a billionaire needs more money.
For more on this issue please visit the Host site at www.investigatethesec.com .
Copyright 2005
An online newspaper reporting the issues of Securities Fraud
Bankruptcy brings out Wall Street Looters – November 6, 2005
David Patch
It was not that long ago we all sat by our Television sets and watched Hurricane Katrina destroy New Orleans. As we all watched the events unfold, the media became fixated on the reactions of the people that were left behind. The fixation was on looting and denigrating the individuals involved. The media felt a sense of superiority.
In a natural disaster such as this one, those that could afford the opportunity to leave New Orleans ahead of the hurricane did so. Left behind were the less fortunate, the desolate. In the wake of the disaster, those desperate people, along with some questionable police officers, began looting the stores of New Orleans and the stereotypical comments began. The media felt it was important to show the integrity of a lower financial class of individuals.
Well here is a story that deserves similar media coverage but it will never happen. Here is a story of how some of our nations wealthiest loot the investors of Wall Street during a time of catastrophe. This story fails to be displayed because money buys silence. Money buys media complacency and protection.
On October 10, 2005 Refco announced that Chief Executive Officer Phillip Bennett had repaid a $430 Million debt owed the company. The debt became the center of an accounting controversy that ultimately led to the arrest of Phillip Bennett on October 12 by the US Attorney on charges of securities fraud.
It was only 3 days after the arrest announcement that the NYSE halted trading in the stock of Refco after the stock had plummeted from $30.00/share to $8.00/share on volume that quadrupled the entire tradable public float of the company. Eventually, On October 17, 2005 Refco filed for bankruptcy. Exactly one week to the day after the controversy was exposed.
While this story has more twists that a Sherlock Homes Murder Mystery the bottom line to the story is simple. Wall Street Institutions, and the wealthy clients and Hedge Funds that trade through these Institutions looted the investors of Refco during a time of turmoil. The Industry effectively stole every item on the shelf and did so to achieve greater personal wealth.
As an investor advocate focused on the lack of regulatory controls over stock trading/stock settlement process, I predicted in a publication dated October 20, 2005 that the trading of Refco would soon expose the illegal practices of Wall Street. In the October 20 article ‘SHO-ing a crack in its Armor, the cast of Refco puts the SEC on Notice’ it was clearly predicted that soon we would be seeing Refco show up on the Regulation SHO threshold security list representing an excessive number of shares that have traded with extended settlement failures.
As of November 3, 2005 Refco was officially published on that listing. Refco now trades with greater than 750,000 shares in a perpetual settlement failure. The stock presently trades near $1.00/share after hitting lows of $.65 on October 18, 2005 when trading resumed.
Am I clairvoyant? Not a chance. The predictability of this was easy. Wall Street, the greatest set of white-collar looters in this nation, would never turn away money that they see sitting in an unattended store. Wall Street Executives are not the kids that return the bag of lost money because it is ethically the right thing to do. Wall Street Executives are the bullies that rip the bag of money out of the old ladies hand and are proud of it.
While the trading of Refco was crashing from $30.00/share to $15.00/share that Monday October 10, 2005 scuttlebutt was circulating that a major Hedge Fund was all over the sale of Refco securities. The head of the Hedge Fund recently identified as one of America’s wealthiest in a recent Forbes 400 Richest American publication.
With nearly the entire public float trading that day, and a 50% drop in Market Capitalization, the short sellers were having a feast. How the entire public float traded for 3 consecutive days, while the stock collapsed more than 75% was a clear indicator that shares were being sold that had no pedigree. The ‘Bear Raid’ was on.
In a diversionary tactic, critics of the campaign to force the settlement of trades repeatedly focus on the company financials and blame the companies for the decline in stock valuations. I guess we could thus claim it is the store owner’s fault for not protecting his store from looters during the hurricane. They never should have had the inventory there to steal.
How small minded these individuals including our own SEC Commissioners are.
Looting is illegal and the looting that takes place on Wall Street is not about the theft of a Television, Stereo, or a few articles of clothing. Looting the Wall Street way is about stealing innocent investor’s life savings forcing years of extra employment and financial hardship. Looting is stealing our nation’s next greatest developments. Most important, Wall Street looting risks the overall integrity of this nation. Have we become a nation so fixated on greed that we would destroy everything in our power to attain infinite wealth?
Regulation SHO created a publication that identifies those companies who have been systematically looted by the white-collar criminals of Wall Street. On that list you will find many distraught companies financially. But each company deserved the protections of the law and the Securities and Exchange Commission has turned them away. The SEC became looters themselves.
If you were to research the Regulation SHO publications dating back to the first publication in January 2005 you will find several companies on the verge of filing for bankruptcy or having already done so. Those companies, each and every one of them, have employees who deserve better. They have investors that deserve better. And they have rich and powerful people who have systematically tried to steal everything they have. There was nothing legal about the way Wall Street operated.
Companies looted by Wall Street’s wealthiest include our travel lifelines in Delta Airlines, United Airlines, Continental Airlines, and Northwest Airlines. Automotive Parts Manufacturer Tower Automotive was looted, as was Southern Food Chain Winn Dixie, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and natural gas and electricity supplier Calpine Corporation. But these are the companies looted under the guise of financial distress. There are literally hundreds to thousands more looted…for the mere sake of looting.
The price for this thievery is our Nations future. You disagree; follow the story of Hedge Fund Millennium Partners L.P and Billionaire ‘Izzy’ Englander. As was reported in the NY Post, the Hedge Fund reportedly stole hundreds of millions of dollars in the markets to better the funds position for their clients, like a billionaire needs more money.
For more on this issue please visit the Host site at www.investigatethesec.com .
Copyright 2005