VERY INTERESTING POST FROM YAHOO SITE:
About StreetSweeper
Ecosphere took a 17% hit today following the online publication of a hatchet-job ("Under Surveillance: Why Can't Ecosphere Score a Deal With BP?") on a website that calls itself TheStreetSweeper.org . Unfamiliar with the site, I did a bit of research and learned from Network Solutions that the domain was only registered a few months ago - in February of this year. Both it, and its affiliate, "AmericanFraudFighters.com" are owned by a firm named AFB Media, Llc.
The sites boast an "expert advisory board" that includes the author of today's putative report, Melissa Davis. Formerly a writer with Thestreet.com, her entry on Seeking Alpha lists her interests as "Stocks - short." The other experts, all of New York, include an aging private investigator named Warren Flagg; entertainment lawyer Robert Hantman; and a man named Hunter Adams.
Of the three, Mr. Adams is perhaps the most cerise. A penny-stock manipulator, he was indicted in 2001 in a $100-million boiler-room stock fraud. The indictment was brought by the U.S. Attorney's office in the Eastern District of New York, and it alleged that Mr. Adams was an associate of the Gambino organized crime family. (See the March 9, 2001 issue of the New York Times/Region.) He eventually pled guilty to racketeering, fraud and money-laundering, and served a stretch in the joint. (He is now said to be "reformed.")
So who are these people? What does the website actually do?
In essence, it appears to be a lint-trap for the collection of rumors damaging to companies in which the website's principals may have (or may take) an interest. (Or not.) Publication of the rumors, even if publication consists only of saying that the rumors are under investigation (or "Under Surveillance"), seems calculated to send a company's shares crashing.
So it is that the FraudFighters' website solicits anonymous tips, or rumors, supposedly about companies that may be involved in fraud. Lest the tipsters fear reprisals, they are promised enrollment in "a special Witness Protection Program." (At the risk of seeming churlish, this would seem to be a deliberate effort to mislead the naive into thinking that the so-called "program" is sponsored by, or affiliated with, law enforcement agencies such as the FBI. To which I can only say, "Please - get real.")
It is possible, of course, that the StreetSweeper and the people beind it are highly-motivated do-gooders, hell-bent upon cleaning up Wall Street. If that's the case, however, it's hard to understand why the site would publish the kind of report that it did today about Ecosphere, a report that relies on distortion, innuendo and guilt by association - without ever actually making an allegation of fraud or any other impropriety. One might suppose that this was simply a case of bad reporting, but with Mr. Adams looming in the background, I very much doubt it. Millions of dollars were lost today, which makes me question the motives of those involved.
To its credit, Street Sweeper declares on its website that "we agree to disclose any conflicts that could potentially color our judgment." Accordingly, I would ask if any of the advisors, relatives, employees, clients or affiliates of Street Sweeper, American Fraud Fighters, AFB Media or their law firms have or have had a long or short position in Ecosphere Technologies, Inc.?
(Ms. Davis's hatchet-job can be found at www.thestreetsweeper.org/article.html?c=... Full disclosure: I'm long, but you probably guessed that.
