OWC Pharmaceutical Research Corp (OWCP)

[irisa]

Hi, congratulations to all who are now receiving checks :)
I sent all the documents on time, and did everything as required. When I read that many of you have received a response card from them, while I haven't, I wrote to them, to inquire, and was told that there was nothing further I needed to do at the time regarding my claim. I wrote several more times, and received the same response. So I believed all was ok. Now people are getting checks, and I still haven't been contacted, so I wrote again, three days ago, but received no response.
I tried calling this number specified in their website: 1-877-379-5985, unsuccessfully.
I now feel that there is something wrong with the handling of my claim, but do not know what to do next.
If anyone has an advice for what to do next, or how to successfully talk with them, I'll appreciate it.
Thanks :)

[Jasper Jillionaire]

Got my check today via stork

[Specialneeds]

Got my check today via fed ex

[Blue Skys]

I looked into this carefully in regard to another stock where the company is clearly open for business and they had a recent proxy. I learned that the SEC only requires disclosure of the shareholder list in the event of a takeover bid or a proxy where shareholder votes are solicited. I was not entitled to the list in this case because insiders voted the proxy and did not solicit shareholder votes. If I knew during the last OWCP proxy I would have requested the list. Going forward I will do that every time a stock I own solicits share holder votes. That brings me back to paying $100 for the nobo lists. Not so interesting because most of the key shareholders are objecting.

[ChuckBits]

Ding ding ding

[Boyo8023]

Investment account

[ChuckBits]

Well, you can eliminate 1 of the 3 altogether...

[Boyo8023]

Now we have to guess who gets their money first, checks or direct deposits, or investment accounts. Lol

[swamp boy]

Thanks Chuck !! cant wait to put this ugly investment behind me.

[ChuckBits]

If you filed a "paper" claim, you'll receive a paper check. From the claim form you filled out:

If this claim is submitted for an IRA, and if you would like any check that you MAY be eligible to receive made payable to the IRA, please include “IRA” in the “Last Name” box above (e.g., Jones IRA).

Entry of your trading account number is "optional" and they don't even ask for a routing number or bank info.

IF you filed electronically, they "did" ask for bank details so you'll receive via direct deposit.

[Jasper Jillionaire]

Direct deposit…..I actually have no idea but wanted to keep the back and forth guesses going.

[swamp boy]

check by mail as they will send information with package.

[Boyo8023]

Direct deposit. They asked for bank account number on form.

[lokelo113]

Checks by mail

[Jasper Jillionaire]

October 5th.

[kbaz]

Sept Oct time frame anybody choosing a date? Tell us when you got your check. Earliest response wins!!!

[Torez]

Lol

[Jasper Jillionaire]

So are we getting checks in the mail or direct deposits into our investment accounts?

[De302]

FYI, When I looked into this at day one, I read the returned money would be put back into my ira accounts which had sold them for a loss, but that is how I bought the shares, through roth ira and standard ira accounts.

[lola4473]

You can only claim up to $3k/tax year on trade losses.

[swamp boy]

2023 is 15%for long term capital gains for most of us . I will use the rest of 50% as tax loss. What else can you do ?

[cleanliving]

I live in Canada, and we don't have the IRS, so perhaps it's different for us. Either way, I was planning on putting the entire amount into my RRSP (Registered Retired Savings Plan) which means the government gives you back all the taxes back on it anyways, and if they really do see it as income and add it to my regular income, it means they give me a HUGE tax refund because it would increase my income to a much higher tax bracket

[ChuckBits]

First & foremost, confirm anything I say with your accountant! And that example I posted was from a Schwab site about another "fair fund distribution".

https://www.sipdistribution.com/Home/portalid/0

You've already paid taxes on any money you invest in a traditional account, right? And if you sold shares at a loss, you were/are able to claim the loss. Maybe the IRS looks at the amount we receive like a "dividend"? I hold shares in a company that is trading at half of what I paid for it. But it pays a 10% dividend that I pay tax on every year.

The whole situation sucks, but at least we're getting something back...

[cleanliving]

This is crazy.....The money I invested was money I already paid income taxes on, and I'm only getting less than half of it back, and now it gets taxed again? It doesn't make sense at all....

[swamp boy]

thanks CB info very helpful .have a great weekend

[ChuckBits]

This is from a Schwab "fair fund" settlement & not OWCP but I'm sure it applies:

This distribution may be taxable depending on the Account Type you held, which was used for the distribution calculation. If the distribution is related to a Qualified account (such as an IRA), the distribution will not be taxable if it is deposited in the same Qualified account or another Qualified account you hold. If the distribution is related to a non-qualified account (such as a taxable brokerage account), this distribution may be taxed and you may receive a Form 1099.

Regarding claiming the "full loss", if you haven't already sold & taken the loss, you need to sell 'em. Since that isn't really possible, you need to call your broker and they will "buy" them which removes 'em from your account. I have previously done this with TDA more than once (unfortunately). They give you a few cents for all of your shares. Like if you have 10,000 shares that you paid $5,000 for, they will literally pay you .03 cents for the lot!

[swamp boy]

May be able to use the other 50% as a tax loss to defer the amount owed??? anyone familiar with tax law ,we are all in the same boat????

[lola4473]

not a tax expert but i believe so.

[swamp boy]

Bad news this is looking more like we will be taxed on this distribution check. imo

[Italia77]

So,
myself bought $OWCP in 2018 and in 2021 with 2 different brokers,
no chance to receive anything, except that Lazarus will escape from expert market!

[Waitsfan]

I sent an email to the Distribution Agent today (Sept.13) asking when we can expect our distributions and they replied:
" We are currently preparing for the distribution, which is estimated to take place within the next couple of months. "
So there you have it, we're getting close to the end of the line.

[fred26]

Now that we know what the distribution amounts are , I wonder how long it will be until the payment is made.

[ChuckBits]

Yeah, I "way over-simplified" & pretty much only covered shares that were "held". The figures in the chart are also mostly .39 or within a couple penny's of it. In 3 of my 4 accounts, it was as simple as subtracting .39 from price paid. Thanks for the additional info.
Cheers

[HomerBedloe]

That is not quite correct, Chuck. The $.39 was the price of OWCP on the last day of the "look back" period, December 22, 2017. If you sold after that date, you subtracted $.39 from your purchase price to determine the loss. Only purchases that occurred between Nov 18, 2016 and Sept 22, 2017 were eligible for settlement consideration.

If you purchased between 11/18/16 and 9/22/17 and sold between 11/18/16 and 9/22/17, the loss was the difference between what you paid and what you sold for. If you made a profit, there was $0 loss and those shares didn't qualify for consideration. If you purchased between 11/18/16 and 9/22/17 and sold between 9/22/17 and 12/22/17, your loss was the calculated lesser of: A) taking what you paid for the stock and subtracting the daily average price of the stock on the day you sold - those prices are shown by date in a table at the bottom of the agreement (Table A, pg 37) or B) taking what you paid for the stock and subtracting what you sold the stock for. Again, if you sold for a profit, your loss was $0 and those shares were excluded from the settlement.

For more detail, go to pg 32 of the agreement doc (start of Attachment A, which defines how the loss was determined and what shares qualified).

https://www.sec.gov/divisions/enforce/claims/docs/friedland-proposed-distribution-plan-120721.pdf

[ChuckBits]

The fund determined that .39 was a "fair" pps prior to the Friedland pump. So if you paid $1.00 for 1,000 shares, subtract .39 for .61 cents, multiply .61 x 1,000, & your "fund loss" is $610

I don't think anyone implied or was expecting to receive more than they lost?

[lokelo113]

49% my ass! They paid out 10% of loss during the proper timeframe. This will be a scam straight to the end!

[I-Glow]

Why would you have to subtract $0.39 - that is what you actually lost. They can't predict when you would have sold.

And no one was prosecuted for Securities Fraud - unless the Fair Fund is accepted by the IRS as fraud.

I am still not sure why anyone would receive more than your actual losses.

IG

[LoserTrying2Win]

CUT MY CHECK...Almost to the finish line here

[swamp boy]

Sounds good ,the last thing the fund needs is to make mistakes, hope they send it out with clarification .Have a great weekend remember September 11th

[ChuckBits]

Ok, I'm buzzed right now so hope I make sense! The fund formula for calculating your loss wasn't totally clear to me, specifically regarding shares bought under .39 cents. But when I went back to my spreadsheet & included shares I purchased under .39 cents, it equates to a negative number, ie a gain. Add that to the shares purchased over .39 and in my 1 account, I can see a didn't have a loss "during the period".

Regarding the 49ish percent, the fund total from dick Friedland was about 4 mil, but the total shareholder losses were about 8 mil, hence the 49.7%

[Jasper Jillionaire]

Yes actually. I had 7k worth of shares purchased during the eligible period that cost under 0.39/share. Would I not count that 7k at all in my loss since I need to apparently subtract 0.39/share? After doing your math of subtracting 0.39 for every share purchased, my value is getting closer to what the claim says. Still can’t figure it out exactly, but I guess this makes me more satisfied that my value on the claim is correct. A pro rata of 49% makes it sound like we get 49% back of our eligible losses. But when you factor in subtracting 0.39/share, our return on the claim takes quite a hit.

[lola4473]

Will we owe taxes on the distribution amount? Considering its a loss, I would think not but the govt finds all kinds of ways to tax us.

[swamp boy]

My accountant said you have to wait till you receive a distribution and we will file in that year. Hope it works out cause we were screwed by a thief .Also I think OWCP should have been held accountable as they knew he was being paid and did nothing to stop him from pumping the stock for months. Very shady !!!!

[LoserTrying2Win]

Thank you for posting! Finally something useful lol

Getting $3000 and very happy considering all the outcomes that could have happened.

[lola4473]

Although my distribution is way more than I thought it would be. I thought it would only be a few hundred, maybe.

[ChuckBits]

Curious: did you and others who believe their amount is short, purchase any shares "during the period" for less than .39 cents?

[Jasper Jillionaire]

Same regarding their loss being 20% less than my actual loss.

[ChuckBits]

This is a deja vu topic:

Investment and other theft losses are covered in the IRS section 165 of the tax code. If you wish to claim a deduction for any losses due to investment fraud, you must complete a theft loss report. Theft loss reports should be submitted using Form 4684 and Form 1040 Schedule A.

I'm definitely NOT an expert, but I recall things like "what year the loss happened, possibly re-filing a prior year return, must itemize", etc. Like Swamp Boy said, ask your accountant!

[HomerBedloe]

I don't think it's deductible. https://www.irs.gov/publications/p547

Unless you can get it to be declared a federal disaster...and it sure felt that way at the time!

[swamp boy]

thanks endo my number is accurate ,thanks for sharing ,it takes some of the stress off. As for all others check with your accountant but the the remainder should be a tax write off in 2023 as it was a fraud/ theft = deductible