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FWIW, foreigners entering the US get finger-printed now.
What kind of a name is "Derald", anyway?
WITH GREAT DANESS I INFORM MY FELLOW SRGE INVESTORS THAT MICHAEL DAVIES AND DERALD JOHNSTON CONFIRMED DEAD IN MEXICO!!!!
Uh oh - new twist; great danes join the story. Next up: armadillos?
Here's hoping, anyway.
Into a mass of confusion in a foreign jurisdiction that the SEC/DoJ won't have time/inclination/budget to unravel?
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
I wish, I wish he’d go drown his non-existent ass in a river in Mexico or something
-- H. Mearns
Prosecution's sentencing memo filed, not under seal fortunately.
- Asking for 9 years jail plus restitution of $7.5M (jointly & severally wih JL).
- Lower than their & probation's calculation of guideline range of 20+ years, but they made clear at JL's sentencing that they believe the guidelines are too severe & the judge tended to agree.
- The restitution would be to named investors, rather than to everybody buying LP stock over the period covered by the charges. Not really sure of the equity of this. Most of the amount would be to professional investors - Special Situations Fund, Greenberg etc. The memo says SSF performed substantial diligence but that's dubious. If some schmo positing on a message board (eg, me) could easily see that Omni, ASR, Paradigm & other activities not charged were obvious frauds just from LP's filings and simple searches, why couldn't they? About $1M of the $7.5M would go to LP itself, but that would get soaked up by LP's creditors; nothing for small investors.
JF's sentencing due on Feb 14th.
He's filed a blizzard of letters of support from family/friends/co-workers/ex-lovers/etc which leaves one wondering how he found time to conspire in a series of frauds over many years while digging out people's driveways, looking after their kids, paying their rents, helping them with their spreadsheets, saving their kittens from trees etc etc etc.
Disappointingly, his sentencing memo will be filed under seal - hopefully the prosecution's won't be.
Sentencing will be interesting - ~30 counts versus JL's one count; no guilty plea. On the other hand, I can't see the judge throwing the whole gadzillion-year book at him. A hard call, I think.
Looks like the PwC liquidators have had this motion granted.
Also:
Can I file my papers electronically?
Pro se litigants may not file electronically without the judge’s prior approval. If you would like to electronically file your papers, you must make a written application to the judge and include information regarding your ability to use a computer and what computer access you have.
PwC has filed in US Bankruptcy Court for status as a foreign petitioner, which would make it easier for them to sue CR, his entities and the US service providers; and also get court assistance in compelling all of these to turn over documents in their possession. They say that CR etc haven't complied with many requests for important docs.
CR jumped in saying it's rubbish; PwC says rubbish to his rubbish etc. Hearing scheduled for Monday.
Anyway, worth watching - better source of info than the Cayman proceedings, most likely.
Case is 8-13-70078 in US Bankruptcy Court, NY eastern division.
Bringing that up to date:
- Montagnier isn't listed as an advisor any more on the website (which isn't necessarily a bad thing as the guy has turned into a woo-woo). Anyway, there's little evidence that most of these advisors really do anything for VG. The actual board is just Haig and his bankrupt insurance-salesman brother Arthur.
- The VGV-1 candidate failed its tests and has been replaced by a new drug, "VGV-X". There is no potential for a fast-track FDA process, according to the company in its recent filings, and the company hasn't yet completed an IND for VGV-X (or any drug), despite saying it was going to happen real-soon-now for several years. (Have to laugh at Haig's statement in yr piece: IND to be filed by Q3 2009! If you go back over their history they've been saying the same kind of thing since ~2000.)
- Haig isn't a scientist. He's a tax attorney/CPA. He may not be running a "fly by night" operation but he's certainly running a printing press. The company has been funded mainly via toxic death-spiral deals with outfits apparently under the control a shady fellow who has a $100M+ default judgement against him in a civil case where he was accused of facilitating the Capwill viaticals fraud; and various other judgements including an unpaid casino debt, and a suit against his own mother, which he lost.
The most interesting thing about VG is how much longer Haig's going to be able to keep it going. He's done an excellent job of keeping the presses rolling for 12+ years without actually accomplishing anything concrete, burning $87M of bag-holder equity value along the way.
So some early dosage & toxicity work has been completed. Trust VG to tout this as "positive results of first stage of ovarian clinical cancer trial".
The bashers are out in groves!
Pigeons on the grass, alas;
Bashers in the grove, oh woe!
-- G. Stein
Really can't see any reason why Haig would ever give up the printing press ...
I notice that Monica Ord no longer appears as a "team member" on the web site. She wasn't listed as one of the insiders who got pref shares in exchange for effectively worthless options last year, either.
Hicks' is another SEC case moving sloooowly towards whatever its destination might be. Judge has agreed to postpone trial to April but indicated that approval for further delays is unlikely. There's a settlement conference scheduled for Feb 15th.
I guess Hicks' continued activity indicates that he/his investors are fairly confident of the outcome.
He's such a fruitcake I can almost believe he forgot he had a Glock in his luggage.
Actually, I'd like to know what else he carries around. My guesses: holy water, the Protocols of Zion, a signed portrait of Franco and an old teddy bear with its arms chewed off.
Patrick knows there's no time for dancing or lovey-dovey.
The Eiten case seems to have gone into a coma. There haven't been any scheduling orders. (But of course the court zapped poor ole Geoff's attempts to represent the corporate entites pro se.)
Just because it makes things more interesting, I'm imaging he's cut a deal with the feds & they're letting him continue in biz wearing a wire - wouldn't be the first time that's happened - think Bermuda Shorts :)
Docket:
12/12/2011 1 COMPLAINT against National Financial Communications Corp., Geoffrey Eiten (Fee Status: US Government), filed by Securities & Exchange Commission. (Attachments: # 1 Civil Cover Sheet with Category Sheet)(Bernstein, Deena) (Entered: 12/12/2011)
12/12/2011 ELECTRONIC NOTICE of Case Assignment. Judge George A. OToole, Jr assigned to case. If the trial Judge issues an Order of Reference of any matter in this case to a Magistrate Judge, the matter will be transmitted to Chief Magistrate Judge Judith G. Dein. (Abaid, Kimberly) (Entered: 12/12/2011)
12/12/2011 2 Summons Issued as to All Defendants. Counsel receiving this notice electronically should download this summons, complete one for each defendant and serve it in accordance with Fed.R.Civ.P. 4 and LR 4.1. Summons will be mailed to plaintiff(s) not receiving notice electronically for completion of service. (MacDonald, Gail) (Entered: 12/12/2011)
01/11/2012 3 WAIVER OF SERVICE Returned Executed by Securities & Exchange Commission. Geoffrey J. Eiten waiver sent on 12/16/2011, answer due 2/14/2012. (Bernstein, Deena) (Entered: 01/11/2012)
01/11/2012 4 WAIVER OF SERVICE Returned Executed by Securities & Exchange Commission. National Financial Communications Corp. waiver sent on 12/16/2011, answer due 2/14/2012. (Bernstein, Deena) (Entered: 01/11/2012)
02/14/2012 5 MOTION for Extension of Time to 2/28/2012 to File Answer by Geoffrey J. Eiten, National Financial Communications Corp..(Bernstein, Deena) (Entered: 02/14/2012)
02/23/2012 Judge George A. OToole, Jr: ELECTRONIC ORDER entered granting 5 Motion for Extension of Time to Answer re 1 Complaint Geoffrey J. Eiten answer due 2/28/2012; National Financial Communications Corp. answer due 2/28/2012. (Lyness, Paul) (Entered: 02/23/2012)
02/28/2012 6 ANSWER to 1 Complaint with Jury Demand by Geoffrey J. Eiten, National Financial Communications Corp..(Danieli, Chris) The answer is to be stricken from the record. (Entered: 02/28/2012)
03/06/2012 7 MOTION to Strike 6 Answer to Complaint as to National Financial Communications, Corporation by Securities & Exchange Commission. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit Local Rule 7.1 Certficate)(Bernstein, Deena) (Entered: 03/06/2012)
04/13/2012 8 Judge George A. OToole, Jr: ORDER entered granting 7 Motion to Strike (Lyness, Paul) (Entered: 04/13/2012)
04/13/2012 9 MOTION for Entry of Default as to National Financial Communications Corporation by Securities & Exchange Commission.(Bernstein, Deena) (Entered: 04/13/2012)
04/24/2012 10 NOTICE: Clerk's ENTRY OF DEFAULT as to National Financial Communications Corp. (Lyness, Paul) (Entered: 04/24/2012)
04/24/2012 11 Judge George A. OToole, Jr: ORDER entered. STANDING ORDER on motions for default judgment re 10 Notice: Clerk's Entry of Default (Lyness, Paul) (Entered: 04/24/2012)
04/24/2012 12 NOTICE by Securities & Exchange Commission as to Unavailabilty (Bernstein, Deena) (Entered: 04/24/2012)
05/22/2012 13 MOTION for Default Judgment as to National Financial Communications, Corp. by Securities & Exchange Commission. (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order)(Bernstein, Deena) (Entered: 05/22/2012)
05/22/2012 14 MEMORANDUM in Support re 13 MOTION for Default Judgment as to National Financial Communications, Corp. filed by Securities & Exchange Commission. (Attachments: # 1 Affidavit Sofia Hussain Declaration)(Bernstein, Deena) (Entered: 05/22/2012)
06/05/2012 15 Opposition re 13 MOTION for Default Judgment as to National Financial Communications, Corp. filed by Geoffrey J. Eiten. (Lyness, Paul) (Main Document 15 replaced on 11/20/2012) (Danieli, Chris). (Entered: 06/06/2012)
06/06/2012 16 MOTION to Strike 15 Opposition to Motion by Securities & Exchange Commission.(Bernstein, Deena) (Entered: 06/06/2012)
11/20/2012 17 Judge George A. OToole, Jr: ELECTRONIC ORDER entered granting 16 Motion to Strike 15 Opposition to Motion (Danieli, Chris) (Entered: 11/20/2012)
12/05/2012 18 NOTICE by Securities & Exchange Commission as to Unvailability (Bernstein, Deena) (Entered: 12/05/2012)
The Badian et al litigation release: http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2013/lr22593.htm
The content of this message is published by BLUEWATER ADVISORY, LLC ...
Bluewater is of course confessed securities felon Bryan G. Crane, who used to appear as VGLS investor relations until around the time his background became clear.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=76455625&txt2find=crane
So he's still working with VGLS - nice. A new promotion to go with new ticker is not very surprising.
What struck me was the seeming dissonance between Oritz' aggressive prosecution of Swartz and the restrained view on penalties for financial fraud expressed by one of her senior prosecutors here: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=80736771
"... the Guidelines for securities cases are out of whack and need to be revised" .... In this case, the accused Latorella was a nasty little douche who treated his female work force as brood-mares and coerced them into facilitating his multi-year scam, which involved blatant lies to sharehodlers, workers, auditors, regulators etc etc, for the purposes of monetary gain.
The prosecution let him plea to an admittedly "generous" five-year deal on the brink of trial, as against 20+ years in the Guidelines. It appears that Latorella basically confessed to everything in detail in his proffer sessions. His co-accused who went to trial was quickly found guilty of all the same counts, and as far as I can see there was never any real risk of Latorella avoiding the same outcome.
The aggressive prosecution of Swartz by the same USAO does seem "out of whack" by comparison.
I don't see the logic.
I mean, it might be that post-Madoff reforms have cut the number of Country Club fraudsters infesting the nation's golf courses from 3,926,000 to half that figure, which would be a significant improvement.
Sarcasm aside, that article is now the one to beat for "Silliest Financial Feature of 2013".
Sep quarter financials and info statement filed at OTC Markets.
On a quick look, nothing much new.
And it ends with a whimper: $450K restitution + penalty for Badian, minimal injunctions, no bars, no admission/denial of bad stuff ...
12/18/2012 322 FINAL JUDGMENT AS TO DEFENDANT POND SECURITIES CORPORATION D/B/A POND EQUITIES #12,2234 in favor of Securities and Exchange Commission against Pond Securities Corporation in the amount of $ 200,000.00. (Signed by Judge Laura Taylor Swain on 12/18/2012) (Attachments: # 1 Notice of Right to Appeal)(jno) (Entered: 12/19/2012)
12/18/2012 323 FINAL JUDGMENT AS TO DEFENDANT JEFFREY DANIEL GRAHAM #12,2232 in favor of Securities and Exchange Commission against Jeffrey Danny Graham in the amount of $25,000.00. (Signed by Judge Laura Taylor Swain on 12/18/2012) (Attachments: # 1 Notice of Right to Appeal)(jno) (Entered: 12/19/2012)
12/18/2012 324 FINAL JUDGMENT AS TO DEFENDANT EZRA BIRNBAUM in favor of Securities and Exchange Commission against Ezra Birnbaum. (Signed by Judge Laura Taylor Swain on 12/18/2012) (Attachments: # 1 Notice of Right to Appeal)(jno) (Entered: 12/19/2012)
12/18/2012 325 FINAL JUDGMENT AS TO DEFENDANT ANDREAS BADIAN #12,2233 in favor of Securities and Exchange Commission against Andreas Badian in the amount of $ 450,000.00. (Signed by Judge Laura Taylor Swain on 12/18/2012) (Attachments: # 1 Notice of Right to Appeal)(jno) (Entered: 12/19/2012)
12/19/2012 326 STIPULATION OF VOLUNTARY DISMISSAL It is hereby stipulated and agreed by and between the parties and/or their respective counsel(s) that the above-captioned action is voluntarily dismissed, against the defendant(s) Shaye Hirsch pursuant to Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(ii) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Document filed by Securities and Exchange Commission.(Guido, Kenneth) (Entered: 12/19/2012)
How good of him to share his stock picking mojo for only 299 quid per annum rather than just investing his own money in his picks.
A little insight into history. The prosecution says this in a footnote in a response to post-trial motions by JF's attorney for acquittal, dismissal etc:
The government initially thought the case would focus on Geoffrey Eiten, a stock promoter who had worked with Locateplus and who was the subject of the Massachusetts Securities Division’s ongoing investigation. Latorella’s and Fields’s proffer sessions, however,
coupled with documentary evidence the agents steadily uncovered, helped shift the government’s focus to events at Locateplus itself.
It seems from various court filings that in these multiple proffer sessions with the DoJ, JL & JF more-or-less admiited to everything they were eventually charged with, in substantial detail.
One of JF's attorney's arguments is that this means that JF, rather than O'Riordan, should have been offered a sweet plea deal. The prosecution scoffs at this:
During their proffers, Latorella and Fields both (eventually) admitted to perpetrating a brazen securities fraud, which in part led the government to give them closer attention. Later, the government better ascertained O’Riordan’s role and approached him as well. It soon became clear that, of these three co-conspirators, O’Riordan was the least culpable. The evidence at trial bore this out.
BTW, the DoJ so far doesn't seem to have charged poor ole Geoff Eiten with anything. The SEC has pinged him on non-LP matters (I think there might have been statute of limitations issues with suing him for LP, Paradigm etc) but that case seems pretty comatose at the moment.
I guess that could be a pretty significant action if the result is clearer precedents for holding fund directors accountable for valuations. Be interesting to watch. Bogus valuations are at the heart of most frauds by funds (of all types) and stupid LP's continue to sign up to agreements which give enormous leeway to fund mgt to value illiquid assets however they want to. Very often this obfuscates the exact nature of the fiduciary obligations fund directors bear toward fund investors; hopefully cases like this will help to set out some clear, rational, enforceable standards.
My favorite example continues to be Lancer. This was a dumb old-school market rigging, in which the fund got 95%+ control over a handful of penny shells, and used this control & their almost non-existent floats to keep the market values at nearly $1B. It was blatantly obvious to anybody who might have spent a few hours casually browsing filings.
The fund's board through most of this consisted of appointees from the fund's back-office administrator, CITCO. They did absolutely nothing until the stupid auditor finally started to wave some timid red flags. They resigned, far too late, and were replaced by a couple of Lancer stooges, including the ridiculous Richard Geist.
The result? A civil action against CITCO itself settled for a piddly $5M or so; no fed actions against any of the individual directors, and all civil actions dismissed - no sanctions whatsoever.
What price fiduciary duty?
I once had a cat called Jean-Pierre.
He would never have done anything like this (too lazy).
The fiasco gathers pace ...
Thanks for that.
One guy says: "Mine are still locked up by Schwab since the reverse split" - which could mean that, I guess.
Indeed. This VRAL/VRALD thing did a 1:600 the other day & hasn't traded since. I can't find any chill notice - but if was DTCC I'd certainly want to freeze it solid :)
Thankee. Are there categories of chill which wouldn't appear in those notices?
Dumb question: best way on-line to see if there's a DTCC chill on a stock?
Affidvait from Dworkin's attorney: he made a mistake re taking the 5th, before realizing that Dworkin's plea deal in the criminal case required him to submit to being deposed.
Only interesting thing really is how much CR's attorney seems to care: SEC attorney and Dworkin's attorney say that he started shouting at them, so they hung up on him.
Only in the sense of getting one new share to replace every 600 old shares.
Andreas Badian/Rhino - For history enthusiasts ... It looks like the whole Rhino/Sedona thing will whimper to an end soon, in a settlement of the Apr 2006(!) SEC action against Rhino's Andreas Badian et al for the Sedona affair.
I've always seen Rhino/Sedona as the start of all the NSS crap - Sedona went after Rhino, which quickly folded rather than subject itself to discovery. Like blood in the water for shark-ish plaintiff litigators like umm the tobacco guy, forget his name, juiced along by the fuzzily-composed DoJ indictment, which made it possible for people to claim that Rhino was being sanctioned for "NSS". And then this SEC action based mainly on the same allegations.
11/20/2012 320 ENDORSED LETTER addressed to Magistrate Judge James L. Cott from Joshua S. Sohn dated 11/19/2012 re: Request for an additional two weeks to file motions in limine to allow time for the settlement to be finalized. ENDORSEMENT: The extension requested is granted. The parties must appear for a conference before Judge Swain on Friday 11/30/2012, at 9:15 am in courtroom 11C. ( Status Conference set for 11/30/2012 at 09:15 AM in Courtroom 11C, 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10007 before Judge Laura Taylor Swain.) (Signed by Judge Laura Taylor Swain on 11/20/2012) (cd) Modified on 11/26/2012 (cd). (Entered: 11/20/2012)
11/26/2012 321 ENDORSED LETTER addressed to Judge Laura Taylor Swain from Joshua S. Sohn dated 11/21/2012 re: We represent Defendant Andreas Badian in this case. Consistent with our letter to Magistrate Judge Cott, dated November 19, and this Court's order, dated November 20, 2012, we write to respectfully request that the impending November 26 deadline for filing of certain pretrial materials be adjourned pending the November 30, 2012 conference recently scheduled by the Court. ENDORSEMENT: The request is granted. (Signed by Judge Laura Taylor Swain on 11/26/2012) (lmb) (Entered: 11/26/2012)
But those were forward splits, not reverse splits designed to let the company sell off more shares.
And Amgen had real management and funding, instead of (say) a tax attorney running a printing press in cahoots with a bunch of shady low-lifes.