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FLCR, check this one out again, look
at the charts, indicators are maybe in place?
question? off topic
Has anyone had any experience on level 3, and is it worth the $
omni, have you tried level 3, and if you did, is it worth it?
FLCR, little green
again
omni, is there an archive on traders nation from Dec 17, 2003
when you mentioned FLCR
wantobe, looks like for FLCR
the SUN has risen
Workers' health cover costs rise
[ SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2004 03:14:38 AM ]
The cost of providing health care to employees has risen 11.2 per cent this year, according to the results of an authoritative national survey.
It was fourth consecutive year of double-digit increases in health insurance premiums, which has resulted in a steady decline in the number of the nation's workers and their families receiving employer health care coverage.
The annual survey of 3,000 companies, conducted between January and May by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust, is considered a reliable indicator of health care costs paid by companies and their workers.
Perhaps the only good news in the report was its indication that the rate of increase slowed from the record 13.9 per cent in 2003, turning down for the first time since 1996.
But this year's jump was still more than five times the national 2.2 per cent increase in wages from the spring of 2003 to spring 2004, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Small businesses are being especially hard hit as the average family coverage in preferred provider networks, the most common type of health plan, has risen to $10,217, with employees paying $2,691 of the total.
In response to the soaring costs, many small companies are simply no longer offering coverage of a worker's spouse and children.
"Small employers just cannot afford to spend the bulk of $10,000 on a family health plan for a $30,000 employee," said KS Hare, ED of health care policy for US Chamber of Commerce. That same family coverage "used to cost $4,500 about six years ago," she noted.
The survey found the share of companies of all sizes offering health benefits to their workers declined to 61 per cent, down from 65 per cent in 2001.
As a result, an estimated five million fewer workers have access to employer health care coverage than the 127 million reported in 2001, said John Gabel, V-P of Health Research and Educational Trust.
Census Bureau said nation's total number of uninsured people had risen by 1.4 million in 2003, to a record 45 million. Health premiums are rising faster than the underlying cost of doctor and hospital care.
NYT News Service
OT: a must see
gets juicy in mid speech, runs about 15 minutes, worth it for sure
http://www.foxnews.com/video2/player.html?11874&Hannity_Colmes&Zell%20Miller&elec&Yo...
market orders can be brutal, eom
chip, what does it mean when you try buying on the ask and
and you don't get a fill, ie: FLCR
80K at .09's on bid and roughly 45k at .095's
had buy order in at .095's since 3:30pm or thereabouts and no fill, even letting mm's fill as they please on my buy order, yet nothing
yet mm's kept ask at .095 till about 3:55pm and bumped ask to .10
so for 25 minutes, got no fill on their suggested ask price of .095
any thoughts?
FLCR did break the
50dma, fwiw
RSI and CMF in positive territory
FLCR - RSI and CMF looking good, looking to break the neckline to comfirm the bottom reversal. Watch the 32dma
FLCR, getting jiggy, approaching to
cross the 32dma
Rapid Acceleration in HSA Activity
8/25/2004 4:11:00 PM
bunch of articles on HSA's
Consumer Choice Matters, #73
IN THIS ISSUE:
• UnitedHealth Reports "Rapid Acceleration" in HSA Activity
• Baltimore Sun - Workers Need More Control Over Health Insurance
• HSAs Give Consumers More Control over Medical Care
• The Pasternacks in New York Opt Not to Choose HSA
• The Wilders in Wisconsin Opt in Favor of HSAs
• The Phillips in Texas Also Choose HSAs
• Iowa Businesses Support HSAs
• Newt Gingrich Supports HSAs
• Can Massachusetts Legislators Learn From Mistakes?
• New Hampshire Legislators Have
UnitedHealth Reports "Rapid Acceleration" in HSA Activity
UnitedHealth Group reports a "rapid acceleration in HSA sales activity across its businesses," according to a company press release. The release says that "many large employers have re-opened and re-drafted their 2005 health benefit plans so they can offer an HSA to their employees next year. The company is forecasting 150,000 HSA enrollees in January, 2005, on top of some 1.3 million individuals already using the "first-generation consumer driven products" offered by the company. The company is working with Exante Bank to provide "a fully integrated HSA product," according to Andy Slavitt, CEO of Consumer Solutions.
SOURCE: Contact Mark Lindsay at 952-992-4297
Baltimore Sun - Workers Need More Control Over Health Insurance
The "Baltimore Sun" ran an editorial saying, "This nation's employer-based health insurance system has been increasingly challenged over the past decade to maintain benefits for current workers." They suggest, "The answer is twofold: Slow the growth of health care costs, and ease the ongoing transition from employer-paid benefits to a mix of individual policies and government subsidies." They argue that Senator Kerry has a more "ambitious plan for redesigning the health care system" than President Bush, but they conclude, "Both candidates tacitly acknowledge, though, that the days of employers providing lifetime medical benefits are in their twilight. So it makes sense to design a system that gives workers more control over their own health insurance."
SOURCE: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-ed.benefits23aug23,1,3296559.story
HSAs Give Consumers More Control over Medical Care
The "Baltimore Business Journal" makes a similar point in discussing HSAs. It reports that HSAs in Maryland may "make a splash" with consumers, but it will take "a few more years" for it to take hold. It discusses the development efforts of Aetna and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (there aren't very many insurance companies active in Maryland anymore), but adds, "HSAs are really part of a national movement in health care to give consumers more control over their medical care." Cindy Ottley, spokesperson for CareFirst is quoted as saying, "It's a movement that's really going to change the way health care is delivered. The goal is to create an engaged consumer instead of a passive patient."
SOURCE: http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2004/08/16/focus1.html
The Pasternacks in New York Opt Not to Choose HSA
"Newsday" features a family, the Pasternacks, that "worries about the rising cost of health insurance and is always looking for a better alternative." They considered an HSA, but decided against it because, "We're much more comfortable with having the full, basically guaranteed coverage, so we don't have to worry." The article goes on to quote Dan Perrin of the HSA Coalition, but devotes more attention to critics of HSAs like Public Citizen's Sidney Wolf and Kathleen Stoll of Families USA. The main benefit cited is the HSA's use as a tax shelter. It quotes Steve Putterman of Mercer Human Resources as saying, "If somebody has maxed out their 401(k) contributions, this is a great tax vehicle."
SOURCE: http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-bzheal223940034aug23,0,2189031.story
The Wilders in Wisconsin Opt in Favor of HSAs
The "Wisconsin State Journal" also features a family, the Wilders, who have looked at HSAs. Dr. Wilder is a chiropractor and a small business owner who has been paying $1,000/month for premiums for his family. He says, "Even though it's brand new, the possibility of having more control over my health care costs is very attractive to me." He will cut his premium payment by 70% to $300/month for a $5,000 deductible policy. Dr. Wilder says, "Because we have a healthy family, it makes more sense to have a high deductible and bear some of the risk ourselves." Not stated is the fact that he will be saving $8,400 a year - more than enough to cover a $5,000 deductible and have money left over. Sounds like a good deal for non-healthy families as well.
SOURCE: http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=wsj:2004:08:17:382814:BUSINESS
The Phillips in Texas Also Choose HSAs
"Newsweek" also follows the formula of starting with an illustrative family, this time the Phillips of Austin, Texas. With a wife and three kids, Rich Phillips was searching for coverage after leaving his job to start his own company. He was getting quotes of $1,000/ month until he discovered an HSA policy for $350/month. The article doesn't say how much his deductible is, but it does say he is putting $300/month into his HSA. Let's see -- $1,000/month for coverage versus $350 in premium, $300 in HSA savings, and another $350 left over to spend on food, clothing and shelter each month. I wonder which a low-income family would prefer? This article also quotes Dan Perrin and mentions his www.hsainsider.com as a resource for finding an HSA plan.
SOURCE: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5707823/site/newsweek/
Iowa Businesses Support HSAs
Recent surveys in Iowa find that "high health care costs have caused a loss in profits, delayed expansions, and job losses." Fred Buie, the president of Keystone Electrical Manufacturing says, "Up until this point, we have been able to get the sort of productivity increases we needed from employees to offset the cost increases. But we are rapidly reaching the end of that rope." In response, Mr. Buie has converted his coverage to health savings accounts. The article says, "84% of businesses surveyed support a tax exemption for money that workers spend on health care, while 56% favor employee-owned medical savings accounts into which businesses would pay a fixed, tax-deductible amount each month, instead of employer-sponsored health insurance." Also, "48% say that in place of Medicaid, the government should help low-income workers buy catastrophic coverage policies and pay medical expenses."
SOURCE: This was picked up from an Associated Press story dated August 17, 2004. I have not been able to find out where it was published originally and though the Iowa Department of Public Health sponsored the survey, it does not appear to be available on their web site.
Newt Gingrich Supports HSAs
The "New York Sun" includes an article by Jay Whitehead that features Newt Gingrich's commitment to consumer driven health care. The article describes the problems with rising health care costs and says, "An ideal solution, Mr. Gingrich says, is a Consumer Driven Health Plan [that] matches an HSA… with a high-deductible insurance plan…. This combination saves employers and employees 15% to 30% over the cost of traditional PPO coverage. Then add online comparisons of doctor and treatment prices and quality ratings, and health care becomes a lower-cost, higher quality consumer market." He gives diabetes care as an example of how "an information-rich, incentive-based plan" can prompt patients to take care of themselves and "postpone the onset of blindness and heart disease." He compares the third-party payer model to a rental car - "Nobody has ever washed a rental car."
SOURCE: You have to be a subscriber to access articles. The piece ran on August 18, 2004.
Can Massachusetts Legislators Learn From Mistakes?
Writing in the "Boston Herald," Conrad Meier wonders if Massachusetts lawmakers will ever learn from their mistakes. He writes, "To undo the damage wrought by two decades worth of manipulation and over-regulation" the legislature recently "voted for still more manipulation and over-regulation." He remembers how previous laws, including a universal entitlement, community rating and guaranteed issue, have driven insurance companies out of the market, reduced competition, raised costs, and increased the numbers of uninsured in that state. He says, "Other states have been more successful in keeping health premiums affordable, the uninsured rate low, and the quality of services high," through pro-market activities.
SOURCE: The article ran on August 21, 2004, but it's not available on their web site. You may e-mail the author at: meier@heartland.org.
New Hampshire Legislators Have
Neighboring New Hampshire is one state that has made a U-turn from excessive regulation. State Senator Robert Clegg writes in the "Manchester Union Leader" that former governor Jeanne Shaheen "spearheaded the effort to enact so-called 'community rating' laws." He adds, "Looking back, we now can see that in every state where community rating was implemented, it resulted in massive insurance company defections, spiraling rates and fewer choices for small businesses." He says in 2004 the legislature reformed the small group laws to allow for more market dynamics, and while "it is impossible to reverse eight years of destruction in seven months ... many positive trends have emerged," including going from 3 insurers offering coverage to 7, new products like HSAs being offered, and lowering the cost of coverage "for a large majority of small businesses."
SOURCE: http://www.theunionleader.com/Articles_show.html?article=42582&archive=1
Please send all comments/questions directly to me at gmscan@aol.com.
"Consumer Choice Matters" is a free weekly newsletter published by the Galen Institute, a not-for-profit public policy organization specializing in research and education on health policy. Visit our website at http://www.galen.org for more information.
GTRD
billy check this link, big buy signal came in.
http://www.americanbulls.com/StockPage.asp?CompanyTicker=GTRD%20%20%20%20%20%20%20&MarketTicker=...
may have to cut and paste
purple
IMO, I think the next 40-50k of buys puts the ask back to .08
Wantobe, guess it depends on who called in their buy order
first at .05, and how one sits in that list of orders to be filled
also maybe depend on if there is a seller and the quantity of
shares unleashed
as far as the shares let go the other day, It gave me a chance to grab some at .06 for a family member
Although I don't exactly prefer the 5 month downtrend, I did averaging down throughout the trendline. One thing I noticed is sometimes its hard to get shares.
For example, week and half ago, on a friday, bid was .09/.11
I had a buy order in for nearly 5 hours and got no fill, at .10,
jas, thinking there are only 11500 sh's left at .06 and then
ask should jump, jmho, been watching low volume tick for tick
too long
unless of course there is a seller
poster on rb just came on saying he wants to buy at .02 and
bashing away
just shaking my head, yeah right
GTRD getting jiggy
August 24, 2004 Health Care Under Fire
(Note: this is the second in a series of critical looks at George W. Bush's second-term agenda. Read Part One here.)
Everyone's talking about it, no one seems to have seen it. What is it? Why, President Bush's mythical, much-hyped, second-term agenda! On Tuesday the Washington Post reported that more than a few Republican strategists are antsy over the lack of any specific policy proposals from the Bush camp. His reelection website's "Agenda" page is devoid of detail, and his vague hand motions about an "ownership society" remain just that -- vague hand motions.
There is, of course, one big exception: health care. With over 43 million Americans lacking insurance, with health care costs shooting through the roof, and with 38 percent of Americans dissatisfied with the president's response, Bush apparently thought he had to say something. The only problem: his health care proposals, as stated, will do little to cover the uninsured, and run the very real risk of throwing our national insurance system into utter chaos. While the media obsesses over the all-important question of whether John Kerry spent Christmas in Cambodia or not, no one seems to notice that the president is planning a full-fledged assault on health care.
Essentially, the Bush plan breaks down into three major components. First, Bush plans to offer tax credits to those low- and moderate- income individuals who do not receive health coverage from their employers. Second, he wants to use Health Savings Accounts (HSA) to create a national "catastrophic insurance" program. Third, he plans to set up Association Health Plans (AHP) that would allow small businesses to pool their resources together and negotiate better prices from insurance companies. Each sounds good in theory, but as with any policy, the devil is in the details, and our policy-averse president has no intention of struggling with the details.
Tax credits. The Bush campaign has estimated that its plan to spend $70 billion over 10 years on health tax credits will cover anywhere from 4 to 5 million people. The credits -- $1,000 for individuals, $3,000 for families -- would go to those families slightly above the poverty line who do not qualify for Medicaid or other state programs. (John Kerry, by contrast, would simply expand state programs.)
Seems like a lot of bang for your buck, doesn't it? Unfortunately, the tax credits are much too small to help most families. The National Coalition on Health Care has calculated that the average family premium will rise to $14,500 by 2006 (and that's if none of Bush's other policies, which will likely raise premiums for low-income families, are enacted). How, exactly, does the president expect those families to come up with the remaining $10,000? Not even the sunniest of conservatives believe that malpractice reform and other gimmicks will ratchet down premiums by that much. It's no wonder, then, that the independent Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) figures that Bush's tax credits will cover, at best, 10 percent of the uninsured. CBPP also pointed out that Bush expects to pay for the tax credits through cuts in other programs -- the sort of budgeting chicanery that usually doesn't add up.
More importantly -- and this is a common theme in all of Bush's health proposals -- the credits offer incentive for businesses to drop their current employees. Jonathan Gruber, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, predicts that many firms will simply drop coverage for employees, letting workers take advantage of the tax credit instead.
Two problems will then emerge. First, less-healthy individuals usually get better premium rates when they can pool together with other employees. When left to fend for themselves in the open market, these individuals will only be able to get rates far in excess of what the tax credit can cover. Hence, Gruber estimates that 1.2 million of these dropped employees won't get any insurance at all. Second, since many young and healthy workers will simply leave their company plan to get the tax credit, premium rates would rise for all of the remaining workers in the company (since they would become, as a group, less healthy). That, in turn, would provoke the next batch of healthy workers to leave the company plan, leading to a vicious cycle of rising rates and declining coverage. In the best case scenario, then, after everything shakes out, Gruber estimates that Bush's plan would only cover a net 1.8 million new workers. That's it. 82 percent of the tax credits would go towards workers who are already insured, while raising rates for everyone else.
Health Savings Accounts. Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) were included in the 2003 Medicare Reform Bill, but Bush is planning to expand their scope in his second term. Basically, the government would provide high-deductible insurance to individuals -- in which a family has to pay the first $2,000 in health care costs before coverage kicks in. But, they can take money out of their tax payments and put it in a Health Saving Account, where they can withdraw the money tax-free to pay for those initial costs. Furthermore, in his State of the Union address, Bush proposed that individuals who choose this "catastrophic health care coverage," along with HSAs are allowed to deduct 100 percent of the health plan's premium from their taxes.
Again, in theory, this isn't a terrible idea. As the Los Angeles Times reported, many consumers like having control over how that first $2,000 is spent. Plus, when individuals are responsible for initial costs, they tend to think twice before getting unnecessary treatment, which can keep health costs down.
But in practice, Bush's program would devastate health care as we know it, offering massive benefits to "the wealthy and the healthy", while leaving everyone else in the dust. For starters, notice that HSAs are only attractive to a small subset of the population. A person making $25,000 a year usually can't afford to spend $2,000 on initial health care costs, let alone save up enough to put money in a HSA. So they'll probably opt instead for a plan with a much-higher premium. On the other hand, someone making $100,000 a year can easily afford those initial costs, and can also save up enough money to create a sizable, tax-free health care kitty in the HSA. Oh, and notice that the second, wealthier person basically pays no insurance premium (since it's tax-deductible). It's quite the deal. Notice also that younger, healthier individuals will take the HSAs, since they can likely avoid paying that initial $2,000, and thus get free catastrophic insurance -- along with a nice little tax shelter to pay for future medical costs!
Would this actually happen? It has in the past; consider that only 80,000 people nationwide have bought into Archer Medical Savings Accounts, a close cousin of Bush's HSAs. Furthermore, Health Services Research, a medical journal, recently published two studies showing that such "defined contribution plans" attract primarily the wealthy and healthy -- everyone else stays away.
We then get the same vicious cycle that we saw with the tax credits. Employers start purging their employees from the ranks -- sending them into individual HSA plans -- and premiums go up, provoking a new round of purges. Meanwhile, the premiums for traditional plans go up -- since the healthy folks are no longer around to subsidize the sick. That means insurance companies try to find ways to avoid covering the sickest and most expensive individuals. Note also that wealthier seniors would likely opt in to the accounts, so as to save on out-of-pocket expenses, meaning that Medicare coverage for the elderly would be adversely affected.
In essence, Bush's proposal aims for the exact opposite of what John Kerry is trying to do. By getting the government to cover the priciest medical bills, Kerry's health care plan would give insurance companies incentive to cover more people, and hence let everyone share the risk. Bush's health care plan would shatter the very concept of community pooling -- a surefire way to drive up insurance costs.
Most distressingly, the savings accounts would further bankrupt the federal government by diverting away a large share of tax revenue, leaving Washington unable to respond if and when the private insurance system implodes. In an April study, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities noted that the savings accounts "breached a longstanding bright-yellow line" by making both deposits and withdrawals tax-free. While the Bush campaign has estimated that the HSA proposal would only cost $150 billion over the next ten years, in the long term the program would divert "some hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars of what otherwise would have been taxable income."
Oh, and this fiscal crisis will get us -- even by the Bush campaign's most over-bloated calculations -- would cover a mere 1.9 million of the 44 million uninsured. (The actual number, according to MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, is probably closer to 350,000).
Association Health Plans. Bush's final proposal would create Association Health Plans (AHPs) for small businesses, allowing those companies to pool their insurance risk on a national level in order to negotiate better premium rates. Again: laudable in theory, disastrous in practice. Studies have shown time and again that AHPs do little to cover the unemployed. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated in 2003 that the plan would only cover an additional 600,000 workers, at a price of $245 million. Meanwhile, a study by Mercer Risk, Finance, and Insurance Consulting found that AHPs could increase the number of uninsured by over a million -- in part because the plan would spur (yet again!) a vicious "adverse selection" cycle among employers.
Indeed, the CBO estimated that the vicious cycle would raise premiums for 80 percent of businesses, mainly because those companies that joined an AHP would likely band together with healthier groups and individuals. Everyone else gets left out. Meanwhile, the Center for American Progress observed that those workers who stay in an AHP will no longer be protected by state regulations, meaning that businesses could craft insurance policies to weed out the less healthy. Indeed, because businesses would no longer operate under state oversight, consumers would find themselves at greater risk for fraud. (This sort of thing happened in the 1970s, when Congress experimented with a similar program -- the "multiple employer welfare arrangements.)
All of Bush's major health care proposals have a few characteristics in common. They would give large businesses a chance to cast their workers out into the open market. The proposals would eradicate the practice of community pooling, instead creating a two-layered system of healthy individuals with low premiums and sick individuals with unaffordable premiums. And they would allow insurance companies to jack up premiums for those who need medical coverage the most. And together the proposals would cover only a tiny fraction of the 44 million uninsured Americans. Tell us again why Swift Boat Veterans are dominating the news cycle?
-Bradford Plumer
FLCR, bottom reversal from here?
How many otcbb stocks have NO dilution by means of printing press
and insiders funding their OWN company with their OWN monies?
CEO, Issac Boutwell owns 2 super cinemas in Louisville, KY and an 1800 acre cattle ranch, funding this company. That has got to be good. What can be said of other otc's?
Maybe no pr's in last two months, but, maybe soon to come?
Just picked up a .05 trend reversal signal.
Chip, can you comment on this one?
Looking forward to higher highs, chart will tell, and time is on my side, :)))))))))))
wantobe, you're right about one thing,
flcr is funded by the insiders, hence there is no printing press,
good sign!
imagine the printing press chugging away to generate
money for company operations, like nearly the rest of the other otc stocks do, ain't happening here, good sign.
been in flcr since jan 04 and haven't seen the printing press even oiled, yep, real good sign!
bright side, no bashers on raging bull:), or on Ihub :)
good sign is today's walk down was quickly met with support.
what is the next holiday, maybe we can send them a pr press, for a gift. :))))))))))))))))))
FLCR guys, If you read this board, maybe an idea for your
company to approach these guys, you have the greatest product
that should offered in the United States. Your bright star
child i.d. registry could be part of the AMW program. How can you go wrong. Your company logo should be on their website!
Cool find Locus,
I google everyday, wow, guess I better sharpen my skills, missed that one :)
Vaz, glad to see you are on top of things, too.
Got a fairly large buy order in, let's see how it fills this
week, good sign Q came out timely, Q seems to tie in perfectly
with last pr as far as guidance, in a sence!!!
locking and loading :)))))))))))))))
FLCR picked up green buy signal on clearstation,
nice to see :)
Q is out and filed timely !!!!!
FLCR, We got a buy signal on the trend spotter on
barchart.com, hit advanced
nice to see :)))))))))))))))))))
cats, Hi, picking up
some points on barchart.com
We got buy signals!!!
OT: and last post on this, lxCimi as
we can chat private message :)
I hope for your son's safety over there. He is a
true American hero, In my eyes.
March 2000 marked a 17 trillion dollar stock market
crash.
At least now, I believe new regulations have been mandated, for
ceo's to sign off on financials.
Cooked books as a general practice is a thing of the past.
lxCimi, are you sure, all off topic
you want Bush out,
watched fox news today for a couple of hours, and
morning money channels on fox news had guest speakers
like steve forbes, ben stein, and others, all said
kerry is bad for stock market, all two hours of
shows on fox , speakers were againt kerry
ex mayor of new york, ed koch, stated today on fox news saying
kerry has no stomach to fight terrorism, ex mayor stated
he was a staunt democrat, but changing parties
stated problem in america is trial lawyers and, yet, want
to put edwards in as vice president
kerry wants to put us military in hands of united nations
kerry wants to repeal bush tax cuts
kerry wants to reinstate tax on corporate dividends
kerry wants to raise the capital gains tax
kerry wants to remove the $1000.00 per child tax credit
the republicans put in
why is warren buffet shorting the US dollar,
treason is around us
media didn't ring clinton when his bell was rang by monica,
lies on tv in front of nation, yet puts on a deaf ear
figures liberals own media anyways
I am not sheep to this crap
hey jasman and wantoberich, what's up
looks like we got a fire under the kettle and its
starting to boil :)
like to see schb taken out at the .125 and watch bid
hit .12
got a tickling feeling its going to get interesting
soon
:))))))))))
chip, FLCR, RSI at 64 now, heating up,
off omni board, article, good read, lenghtly though
August 4, 2004. (FinancialWire) Charles Schwab & Co. (NYSE: SCH), eTrade, Inc. (NYSE: ET), Automatic Data Processing (NYSE: ADP) and NASDAQ (OTCBB: NADQ) are described as players, bad and good, in the new book from Austin-based 3DIntel, “Naked Short Selling: The Illegal Hacking of the U.S. Financial System,” by Alan Lomax.
Information about the book is at http://www.thirtythumbs.com , which the authors say describe the fifteen staffers involved in putting it together.
To complement its publication, 3DIntel said it has unveiled a new patent pending program, called The Naked Short Virus Scan, which enables US based public companies to determine their short position in their stock. “The scan will identify in the size of short, date of occurrence, and the brokerage houses holding the short positions,” the company stated.
“U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission regulations in the US prohibit the shorting of all but a relatively small number of stocks that are ‘marginable,’ usually stocks that are traded on major stock exchanges. However, the practice of naked shorting OTC stocks by some broker-dealers has become a major factor in the falling price of some issues,” said the company.
It noted that illegal shorting has been linked to various stock manipulation schemes, and the practice has come under increasing fire from ADP, DTC, CDS, the Berlin Exchange, as well as by various transfer agents.
3Dintel claims that its unique patent pending process can identify the share volume of illegal shorts, and identify the broker dealers originating these positions. “Armed with this information, an issuer is enabled to pursue these nefarious actives in their shares.”
The book offers case studies of several U.S. issuers, their cases against U.S. and Canadian
Twenty civil cases have now been filed by O'Quinn, Laminack & Pirtle, Christian Smith & Jewell, and Heard, Robins, Cloud, Lubel & Greenwood, LLP, all of Houston, Texas. The consortium of law firms, famed for the giant awards they obtained suing tobacco companies. The group recently brought suit against the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp. for allegedly participating in the short-selling conspiracy through its “stock borrow” program which the attorneys say is nothing more than an illegal electronic printing press for stock certificates.
Lead counsel John O'Quinn said: "We are committed to the relentless pursuit of justice.”
All this has led to some major changes on Wall Street, if not regulatory attentiveness.
Charles Schwab & Co. recently said it is exiting the market-making business. It is one of several market makers that have been the subject of accusations and/or legal entanglements over naked shorting allegations and issues.
The company had said it is either the number one or number two market-maker in more than half of all of NASDAQ’s (OTCBB: NDAQ) listed stocks.
Recently observers were surprised to find a comment letter submitted to the SEC by Mike Alexander, Senior VP of Charles Schwab, that admits outright that brokerages regularly ignore rules and regulations, saying it is not rules that need to be written; it is changes in behavior that is needed.
The comments were directed towards proposed changes in the U.S. settlement system, but could easily apply to other regulations as well.
“Improvements in the U.S. settlement system will only be truly achieved if and when regulations are rationalized to ensure that all market participants are held accountable for compliance. For example, the industry has struggled with the issue of institutional trade affirmation for quite some time now. While the benefits to the clearance and settlement system are self-evident, Buy-Side firms and Custodian banks have been resistant to make those changes that provide for same-day trade confirmation / affirmation and assurance of trade settlement,” said Alexander.
“Schwab opposes the notion that securities intermediaries such as broker-dealers be required to police compliance,” he stated. “The NYSE and other SROs have had trade affirmation rules on their books for some time. However, such rules have not been effective in changing the behavior
of Buy-Side firms or their custodians; nor do the rules provide assurance that the affirmed trade will settle.
“Recognition of this fact is evidence that changes to the settlement cycle not only require overhauling systems, but also changing behavior. We believe that only by holding all market
participants directly accountable for making required affirmations will the necessary changes to behavior,” he stated at http://www.sec.gov/rules/concept/s71304/charlesschwab061604.pdf .
In a June 23 release, the SEC stated it has put into place Rule 202(T), which establishes procedures to allow the Commission to temporarily suspend the operation of the current "tick" test in Rule 10a-1, and any short sale price test of any exchange or national securities association, for specified securities.
Through a separate order, the Commission will suspend, on a pilot basis for a period of one-year, the tick test provision of paragraph (a) of Rule 10a-1, and any short sale price test of any exchange or national securities association, for approximately one-third of stocks in the Russell 3000 index.
The order also will suspend, on a pilot basis for a period of one year, the tick test provision of paragraph (a) of Rule 10a-1 for short sales executed in any security included in the Russell 1000 index after 4:15 p.m. Eastern, and all other securities after the close of the consolidated tape, and until the open of the consolidated tape the next day.
The pilot will commence on January 3, 2005 to permit broker-dealers and self-regulatory organizations to make the necessary programming adjustments.
The Commission deferred consideration of the proposal to replace the current "tick" test of Rule 10a-1 with a new uniform bid test. The Commission could reconsider any further action on these proposals after the completion of the pilot.
Rule 203, which will incorporate current Rule 10a-2 and will create a uniform Commission rule requiring broker-dealers, prior to effecting short sales in all equity securities, to "locate" securities available for borrowing.
There will be limited exceptions from the locate requirement, including for short sales by registered market makers in connection with bona-fide market making.
Rule 203 also imposes additional requirements on designated "threshold securities." Rule 203 defines a threshold security to mean an equity security for which there is an aggregate fail to deliver position for five consecutive settlement days at a registered clearing agency of 10,000 shares or more and that is equal to at least 0.5% of the issue's total shares outstanding.
Where a clearing agency participant has a fail to deliver position in threshold securities that persists for ten consecutive days after settlement, the participant must take action to close out the position. Until the position is closed out, the participant, and any broker-dealer for which it clears transactions, may not effect further short sales in the particular threshold security without borrowing or entering into a bona fide arrangement to borrow the security.
Rule 203 will become effective 30 days after publication with a compliance date of January 3, 2005, to permit firms to make programming and procedural adjustments.
Rule 200, which among other things, will redesignate current Rule 3b-3 with some modifications to define ownership and aggregation of securities positions, and include a requirement to mark all sell orders in all equity securities. Rule 200 will become effective 30 days after publication.
The Commission also adopted amendments to Rule 105 of Regulation M to remove the current shelf offering exception, and issued interpretive guidance addressing sham transactions designed to evade the rule.
The amendment applies to short sales effected within five days prior to the pricing of a shelf offering. Such short sales may not be covered with offering securities purchased from an underwriter or other broker-dealer participating in the offering.
The Rule 105 amendments will be effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, and the interpretive guidance will be effective upon such publication.
Opponents of naked short selling were, however, quick to denounce the provision that allows market makers an exemption, and many market observers said that the SEC should provide a public list of companies that fall into the “threshold security” category.
“The SEC claims that the number of companies involved in this ‘threshold security’ category is 4% of all publicly traded companies. If in fact it is that small the process is certainly manageable,” said the website InvestigatetheSEC.com at http://www.investigatethesec.com . “It is also the right of every issuer, in protecting their business and their investors to know the status of their stock trading.”
Some were discussing whether the SEC can keep such information private under the Freedom of Information Act.
The marketplace is already upset over promises by the Berlin Stock Exchange, since broken, that it would delist any company upon request.
“Please understand that cessation of trading in the shares of XRAYMEDIA Inc. (OTCBB: XRYM) is not possible,” the exchange told one such requester.
It’s not just U.S. companies such as Whistler Investments (OTCBB: WHIS), Sonoran Energy (OTCBB: SNRN), Celsion Corporation (AMEX: CLN), and eLinear Inc. (AMEX: ELU) or Israeli companies that have had serious concerns about their unannounced and unathrorized listings on the Berlin-Bremen Stock Exchange.
Apparently, some 150 British companies are protesting the same fate.
A number of UK-listed companies have demanded a London Stock Exchange investigation after they found that their shares are being traded.
Meanwhile, Whistler, Sonoran and eLinear have announced they have successfully secured their delistings, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has rescheduled its open hearing to consider the adoption of amendments to Regulation Sho to August 4 at 9:30 a.m. The announcement is at http://www.sec.gov/news/digest/dig061504.txt .
According to the London Money Telegraph, “several companies believe the market for their shares has been distorted and that they have fallen in value after trading started on the Berlin-Bremen exchange.
“Some smaller companies, whose shares are lightly traded in London, fear the Berlin market has been used by speculators to short-sell their shares.”
The Telegraph said the number of companies are thought to be as high as 150, including even “larger companies” such as Matalan (OTC: MATNF) and Halfords.
Mladen Ninkov, the chairman of Aim-listed Griffin Mining (OTC: GFNMF), was quoted as saying: "We were put on the Berlin market without our knowledge by a German broker and now we've got about 8m shares out in a short sale. It is horrifying - that is about 4 per cent of the company and it is forcing the price down."
A spokesman for the London Stock Exchange said: "If there is evidence of market abuse we would refer that on to the appropriate authorities."
Whistler said that according to its transfer agent records, “we have 5,504,680 shares held by DTC, but the ADP broker search indicates of 6,217,458 shares being reported by broker/dealers as being held on behalf of their customers, indicating a short position of more than 700,000 shares. A summary report can be viewed at http://www.whistlerinvestments.com/shorts.html .
“We have therefore commenced work with DTC for a formal review of the reported excessive broker/dealer holdings of our stock so that we can conduct our corporate affairs properly in view of our planned stockholders meeting and other upcoming corporate matters. We again advise our stockholders make sure that they receive delivery of any shares that they purchase, and also that their stock is not being borrowed without authorization.
Holly Roseberry, President of Whistler Investments, states "We intend to get to the bottom of the excessive short position and bring stability back into the trading of our stock. We're happy to say that we have 5,133 stockholders and we expect all our stockholders to benefit from the shorters having to cover their short positions.”
FinancialWire has reported on the disclosure that “Dateline,” the investigatory TV program aired by General Electric’s (NYSE: GE) NBC unit, has purportedly been preparing a blockbuster expose of “Stockgate” (see separate story at http://www.financialwire.net).
It is not known if “Dateline” has uncovered continuing underworld connections to the scandal, but FinancialWire reported that Dateline may be pointing a large finger of conflict at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission itself, which reportedly receives a slice of every transaction fee as part of its budget. According to court filings supported by the O’Quinn/Christian legal network, almost $1 billion annually is received by the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp. for its “Stock Borrow Program,” which the lawsuits claim is just a fancy name for counterfeiting, as the DTCC purportedly lends out many multiples of the actual certificates in the float. Apparently the SEC receives a transaction fee for each transaction facilitated by these loans of non-existent certificates, which could knock a hole in its budget should the revenues from the practice be halted.
The North American Securities Administrators Association, comprised of state and Canadian regulators, has pointedly told the SEC that either it must rethink its cozy DTCC relationship, or it hints, some of its more aggressive state practitioners (think Eliot Spitzer) may do the rethinking for the SEC.
Naked short selling is worrisome for hundreds of small U.S. companies, including those recently asking to be delisted from the Berlin Stock Exchange, such as Golden Phoenix Minerals, Inc. (OTCBB: GPXM), Nannaco, Inc. (OTCBB: NNCO), 5G Wireless Communications, Inc. (OTCBB: FGWC), CyberAds, Inc. (OTCBB :CYAD), Provectus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCBB: PVCT), House of Brussels Chocolates (OTCBB: HBSL), InforMedix, Inc. (OTCBB: IFMX), Tissera, Inc. (OTCBB: TSSR), Americana Publishing, Inc. (OTCBB: APBH), Celsion Corporation (AMEX: CLN), ChampionLyte Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB: CPLY), Pickups Plus, Inc. (OTCBB:PUPS), China Wireless Communications Inc. (OTC BB: CWLC), CareDecision Corp. (OTCBB: CDED), Titan General Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB: TTGH), IPVoice Communications, Inc. (OTCBB: IPVO), Whistler Investments (OTCBB: WHIS), WARP Technology Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB: WRPT), BGR Corp. (OTCBB: BGRR), ICOA, Inc., (OTCBB: ICOA), DICUT, INC. (OTCBB: DCUTE), NHC Communications Inc. (TSX: NHC; OTCBB: NHCMF), Stratus Services Group, Inc. (OTCBB: SERV), Golden Phoenix Minerals, Inc. (OTCBB: GPXM).
Berliner Freiverkehr (Aktien) AG has been singled out as the broker and market maker that has been “listing” the companies. It is suspected that one broker, RA Angsar Limprecht, is involved in all if not most of the listings.
Small public companies are squeezed not only by hedge funds, naked short sellers, overseas listers such as the Berlin Stock Exchange, and the out-of-control “Stock Borrow Program” run by the governance-conflict-laden Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, but to the amazement of the industry, as often and not by their own regulators.
A new staff recommendation by Annette Nazareth, director of the division of market regulation at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to “outlaw” ownership of paper certificates at the same time the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation is under intense scrutiny for alleged electronic counterfeiting has begun hitting the small public company markets, company executives, shareholders and manipulative short-selling opponents like the proverbial ton of bricks.
A Dow Jones (NYSE: DJ) article by Judith Burns sparked the uproar, as the inextricably intertwined web of connections between the SEC and the DTC, which is sagging from the weight of conflicted governance by representatives from a rollcall of industry heavyweights, including NASD, which owns NASDAQ (OTCBB: NDAQ), the New York Stock Exchange, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH), to name only a few.
The rule proposal would bar stock transfer agents from handling shares that carry any limitations on transfer. Control over stock certificates is one of the ways that small companies have combated illegal naked short sellers. Burns quoted Nazareth as saying that these companies’ “self-help” efforts “aren’t helping U.S. markets overall.” Nazareth was quoted as saying restrictions on stocks are “a significant step backwards” in the “move from paper stock certificates to automated computerized trading.”
Nazareth said that abusive “naked” short selling has been a problem “in some cases,” but that is “best dealt with by a pending SEC proposal,” presumably Regulation SHO.
SEC Commissioner William Donaldson purportedly publicly refused to answer any questions from the NASD about the timing of the Commission’s consideration of the Regulation at a conference where he was simultaneously proposing early reforms of the mutual fund scandals. The Dow Jones said, however, that Robert Colby, SEC deputy market regulation division director, predicted the SEC will take that to a vote in early June.
The Dow Jones report noted that “naked short-selling occurs when sellers don't buy shares to replace those they borrowed, a manipulative practice that can drive a company's stock price sharply lower.
The stock certiticate plan has been put to a 30-day comment periodl Then the SEC would have to vote to adopt it. If adopted, Colby was quoted as saying that regulators might “sue firms that seek to impose restrictions on stock transfers.”
The recent lawsuit filed by Nanopierce Technologies (OTCBB: NPCT) alleges that the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp. has a lot of reasons, almost one billion of them a year, to keep illegal naked short selling in operation. It was the shot across the bow by the legendary Houston law firms of Christian, Smith, Wukoson and Jewell, and OQuinn, Laminack and Pirtle, whose notches already include environmental targets, the breast implant industry and the tobacco industry, all brought to their knees.
In comments to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, C. Austin Burrell, who is providing litigation support and research for the law firms, said that StockGate is more massive than anyone may have imagined. “Illegal Naked Short Selling has stripped hundreds of billions, if not TRILLIONS, of dollars from American investors,” and have resulted in over 7,000 public companies having been “shorted out of existence over the past six years.” Burrell said some experts believe as much as $1 trillion to $3 trillion has been lost to this practice.
He stated that the restrictions on short selling were deliberately put into the Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934 because of the first-hand evidence then available that the “sheer scale of the crashes was a direct result of intentional manipulation of US markets through abusive short selling by a massive conspiracy.”
Burrell noted that the 65-lawyer team presided over by lead lawyers Wes Christian and John O’Quinn has uncovered more than 1,200 hedge fund and offshore accounts working through more than 150 broker-dealers and market makers in a joint cooperative effort to strip small and medium size public companies of their value.
Recently the NASD and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved an interim naked short-selling band-aid, requiring U.S. brokers to make an “affirmative determination” that short-sellers, even foreign short-sellers, mostly Canadian, can find certificates to cover before processing the order.
Last year, many besieged public companies sought refuge from the manipulation by seeking to exit the DTC, but on August 4, 2003, the SEC stated “the issues surrounding naked short selling are not germane to the manner in which DTC operates as a depository registered as a clearing agency. Decisions to engage in such transactions are made by parties other than DTC. DTC does not allow its participants to establish short positions resulting from their failure to deliver securities at settlement. While the Commission appreciates commenters' concerns about manipulative activity, those concerns must be addressed by other means.”
The Nanopierce lawsuit, said to be the first of many out of the box, emphatically suggests otherwise. According to lawyer Christian, et.al., the DTC is at the very heart of the problem, and has almost a billion dollars a year at stake in keeping the problem.
The Depository Trust Company (DTC) is a member of the U.S. Federal Reserve System, a limited-purpose trust company under New York State banking law and a registered clearing agency with the SEC. The depository supposedly brings efficiency to the securities industry by retaining custody of some 2 million securities issues, effectively "dematerializing" most of them so that they exist only as electronic files rather than as countless pieces of paper. The depository also provides the services necessary for the maintenance of the securities it has in “custody.”
According to the suit, the DTCC has an enormous pecuniary and conflicted interest in the entire short selling scandal through the huge income stream they were realizing from it every day. They have made literally billions of dollars lending individual real shares, in most cases over and over, getting a fee each time they made a journal entry in the “Stock Borrow Program.”
The Stock Borrow Program was purportedly set up to facilitate expedited clearance of stock trades. Somewhere along the line, the DTCC became aware that if it could lend a single share an unlimited number of times, it could collect a fee each time, according to Burrell. “There are numerous cases of a single share being lent ten or many more times,” giving rise to the complaint that the DTCC has been electronically counterfeiting just as was done via printed certificates before the Crash.
“Such re-hypothecation has in effect made the potential ‘float’ in a single company's shares virtually unlimited and the term ‘float’ meaningless. Shares could be electronically created/counterfeited/kited without a registration statement being filed, and without the underlying company having any knowledge such shares are being sold or even in existence.” Burrell said the Christian/O’Quinn lawsuits will seek to show that the “counterfeiting/creation of unregistered shares is a specific violation of the Securities Act of 1933, barring the ‘Sale of Unregistered Securities’.”
While the Nanopierce lawsuit has been filed at the state level, another companion lawsuit just heading to the courts on behalf of Exotics.com (OTC: EXII) will be argued at the Federal level.
Nanopierce’s suit in the 2nd Judicial District Court in Nevada, is Case No. CV04-01079, alleges that the DTC’s “stock borrow program” was “purportedly created to address SHORT TERM delivery failures,” but that the “end result of the program has been to create tens of millions of unissued and unregistered shares to be traded in the public market,” and in some instances resulting in “two or more shareholders who purchase shares in separate transactions to own the same shares.”
The complaint alleges that the DTC has a colossal disincentive to stop the “stock borrow” program, booking revenues from services of $425,416,000 and similarly, the NSCC deriving revenues of $293,133,000.
Further, the suit alleges that “open positions” resulting from this activity at the close of business on December 31, 2003, “approximated $3,025,467,000” due to NSCC, and $2,303,717,000 due by NSCC, and unsettled positions of $721,750,000 for securities borrowed through the NSCC’s “Stock Borrow Program.”
Nanopierce claims that DTCC and NSCC have joined in a “scheme” to “manipulate downward the price of the affected securities, thereby reducing the market value of the open fail to deliver positions.” The suit also claims that the s have permitted sellers to maintain open fail to deliver positions of tens of millions of shares for periods of a year and even longer.
It quotes the National Association of Security Dealers as admitting that “concerns have been raised by members, issuers, investors and other interested parties about potentially abusive short selling activities occurring in the marketplace. In particular, naked short selling, or selling short without borrowing securities to make delivery, can result in long term failures to deliver, including aggregate failures to deliver that exceed the total float of a security. NASD believes such extended failures to deliver can have a negative effect on the market. Among other things, by not having to deliver securities, naked short sellers can take on larger short positions than would otherwise be permissible, which can facilitate manipulative activity.”
Nanopierce claims that it had “relied on material misrepresentations and omissions by DTC and NSCC in trading its shares in the stock market “without knowledge of s’ fraud-on-the market through statements they made about the clearing and settlement services they provided.” Further, it claims that the s acted with “scienter” since they had a major financial financial motivation to falsely represent their services, which Nanopierce claims are also anticompetitive.
The largely unregulated DTC has become something of a defacto Czar presiding over the entire U.S. markets system, wielding more day-to-day influence and control than the SEC, the NASD and NASDAQ combined. And, as the SEC’s August 4 ruling indicates, its monopoly over the electronic trading system appears even to be protected.
The Depository Trust and Clearing Corp.’s two preferred shareholders are the New York Stock Exchange and the NASD, a regulatory agency that also owns the NASDAQ (OTCBB: NDAQ) and the embattled American Stock Exchange! Regulators, regulate thyself?
In an era when corporate governance is the primary interest for the SEC and state regulators, the DTCC is hardly a role model. Its 21 directors represent a virtual litany of conflict:
They include Bradley Abelow, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS); Jonathan E. Beyman, Chief Information Officer, Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH); Frank J. Bisignano, Chief Administrative Officer and Senior Executive Vice President, Citigroup / Solomon Smith Barney's Corporate Investment Bank (NYSE: C); Michael C. Bodson, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MWD); Gary Bullock, Global Head of Logistics, Infrastructure, UBS Investment Bank (NYSE: UBS); Stephen P. Casper, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Fischer Francis Trees & Watts, Inc.; Jill M. Considine,Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC);
Also, Paul F. Costello, President, Business Services Group, Wachovia Securities (NYSE: WB); John W. Cummings, Senior Vice President & Head of Global Technology & Services, Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE: MER); Donald F. Donahue, Chief Operating Officer, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC); Norman Eaker, General Partner, Edward Jones; George Hrabovsky, President, Alliance Global Investors Service; Catherine R. Kinney, President and Co-Chief Operating Officer, New York Stock Exchange; Thomas J. McCrossan, Executive Vice President, State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT); Eileen K. Murray, Managing Director, Credit Suisse First Boston (NYSE: CSR); James P. Palermo, Vice Chairman, Mellon Financial Corporation (NYSE: MEL); Thomas J. Perna, Senior Executive Vice President, Financial Companies Services Sector of The Bank of New York (NYSE: BNY); Ronald Purpora, Chief Executive Officer, Garban LLC; Douglas Shulman, President, Regulatory Services and Operations, NASD; and Thompson M. Swayne, Executive Vice President, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM).
In their comments to the SEC regarding Regulation SHO in January, the 50 state regulators, through their association, the North American Association of Securities Administrators (NASAA) issued what many consider to be a strong warning that if the DTC is not dealt with in the final regulations, state regulators such as New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer may step to the plate.
In what many considered to have been explosive comments, Ralph Lambiase, NASAA president and Director of the Connecticut Division of Securities, warned "NASAA urges the Commission to reconsider its stance regarding the role of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (the DTC). As a threshold matter, NASAA believes that the Commission should explicitly prohibit the DTC from lending more shares of a security than it actually holds. The ability of the overall proposed rule would be severely impared unless the Commission undertakes to implement such a prohibition.”
As the Nanopierce lawsuit reveals, those were indeed strong words, meddling as it did, in a substantial revenues base for the DTCC.
Recently, leading market makers and brokers named in various lawsuits and other actions, including FleetBoston (NYSE: FBF), Goldman, Sachs & Co. (NYSE: GS), H. Myerson & Co., Inc. (NASDAQ: MHMY), Olde / H&R Block (NYSE: HRB), Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCH), Toronto-Dominion’s (NYSE: TD), TD Waterhouse Group, Bank of America's (NYSE: BAC) Banc of America Securities LLC, Societe Generale's (OTC: SCGLF) SG Cowen Securities Corp. vFinance, Inc. (OTCBB: VFIN), Knight Trading Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: NITE), A.G. Edwards, Inc. (NYSE: AGE), Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: AMTD), Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB), and ETrade Group, Inc. (NYSE: ET), were forced to comply with new short-selling market regulations imposed by the NASD after the SEC had “sat on” the NASD request to plug material loopholes for almost 2-1/2 years.
“The new rules expand the scope of the affirmative determination requirements to include orders received from broker/dealers that are not members of NASD ("non-member broker/dealers").
The new rule is on the web at http://www.nasdr.com/2610_2004.asp#04-03
The rule itself, while welcomed by small companies and their shareholders in the U.S., nevertheless raised an outcry because the NASD’s request to put it into effect had set on a shelf at the SEC since 2001.
The scandal has embroiled hundreds of companies and dozens of brokers and marketmakers, in a web of internaitional intrigue, manipulative short-selling and cross-border acctions and denials.
Comments on Regulation SHO ended January 5, and may be viewed at http://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/s72303.shtml .
Some 122 companies, including 13 brokers, such as FleetBoston (NYSE: FBF), Goldman, Sachs & Co. (NYSE: GS), H. Myerson & Co., Inc. (NASDAQ: MHMY), Olde / H&R Block (NYSE: HRB), Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCH), Toronto-Dominion’s (NYSE: TD), TD Waterhouse Group and vFinance, Inc. (OTCBB: VFIN). A.G. Edwards, Inc. (NYSE: AGE), Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: AMTD), Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB), Knight (NASDAQ: NITE) and ETrade Group, Inc. (NYSE: ET), have been embroiled for over a year in a raging controversy
The remaining 109 companies among the 122 named to date have issued press releases or been named in the media as having been victimized, or as taking various actions, either alone or in concert with other companies, to oppose manipulative trading in the form of illegal naked short selling. The actions have ranged from lawsuits to withdrawals and threatened withdrawals from the electronic trading system managed by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., to withdrawals from toxic financings, to the issuance of dividends or name changes designed to squeeze manipulators, to joining associations or networks or to contacting regulatory authorities to provide documentation of abuses or otherwise complain.
The complete list of those 108 companies include Advanced Viral Research Corp. (OTCBB: ADVR), AdZone Research, Inc. (OTCBB: ADZR), Amazon Natural Treasures (OTC: ANTD), America's Senior Financial Services (OTCBB: AMSE), American Ammunition, Inc. (OTCBB: AAMI), AngelCiti Entertainment (OTCBB: AGLC), ATSI Communications, Inc. (OTC: ATSC), Federal Agricultural Mortgage / Farmer Mac (NYSE: AGM) Allied Capital (NYSE: ALD), American Motorcycle (OTC: AMCYV), American International Industries (OTCBB: AMIN), Ameri-Dream (OTC: AMDR), Adirondack Pure Springs Mt. Water Co. (OTCBB: APSW), ATSI Communications,Inc. (OTC: ATSC) Bluebook International (OTCBB: BBIC), Blue Industries (OTCBB: BLIIV), Bentley Communications (OTCBB: BTLY), BIFS Technologies Corporation (OTCBB: BIFT), Biocurex (OTCBB: BOCX). Broadleaf Capital Partners, Inc. (OTCBB: BDLF), Chattem, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTT), Critical Home Care (OTCBB: CCLH), Composite Holdings (OTC: COHIA), CyberDigital, Inc. (OTCBB: CYBD). Diamond International Group (OTCBB: DMND), Dobson Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: DCEL), Eagle Tech Communications (OTC: EATC), Edgetech Services (OTCBB: EDGH);
Also, Endovasc Ltd. (OTCBB: EVSC), Enviro-Energy Corporation (OTCBB: ENGY), Environmental Products & Technologies (OTC: EPTC), Environmental Solutions Worldwide, Inc. (OTCBB: ESWW), EPIXTAR Corp. (OTCBB: EPXR), eResearchTechnologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ERES), Flight Safety Technologies (OTCBB: FLST), Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE), FreeStar Technologies (OTCBB: FSRCE), Front Porch Digital,
Inc. (OTCBB: FPDI), Geotec Thermal Generators, Inc. (OTCBB: GETC), Genesis Intermedia (OTC: GENI), GeneMax Corp. (OTCBB: GMXX), Global Explorations Inc (OTC: GXXL), Global Path (OTCBB: GBPI), GloTech Industries, Inc. (OTCBB: GTHI), Green Dolphin Systems (OTCBB: GLDS), Group Management (OTCBB: GPMT), Hop-On (OTC: HPON), H-Quotient, Inc., (OTCBB: HQNT), Hyperdynamics Corp. (OTCBB: HYPD), International Biochem (OTCBB: IBCL), Intergold Corp. (OTCBB: IGCO), International Broadcasting Corporation (OTCBB: IBCS), InternetStudios, Inc. (OTCBB: ISTO), ITIS Holdings (OTCBB: ITHH), Investco Corp. (OTCBB: IVCO), Lair Holdings (OTC: LAIR), Lifeline BioTechnologies Inc. (OTC: LBTT), Life Energy & Technology (OTCBB: LETH), MBIA (NYSE: MBI);
Also, MegaMania Interactive (OTC: MNIA), MetaSource Group, Inc. (OTCBB: MTSR),Midastrade.com (OTC: MIDS), Make Your Move (OTCBB: MKMV), Medinah Minerals (OTC: MDMN), MSM Jewelry Corp. (OTC: MSMC), Nanopierce Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: NPCT), Nutra Pharmaceutical (OTCBB: NPHC), Nutek (OTCBB: NUTK), Navigator Ventures (OTC: NVGV), Orbit E-Commerce, Inc. (OTCBB: OECI), Pitts & Spitts (OTC: PSPP), Sales OnLine Direct (OTCBB: PAID), Pacel Corp. (OTCBB: PACC), PayStar Corporation (OTC: PYST),Petrogen Corp. (OTCBB: PTGC), Pinnacle Business Management (OTC: PCBM), Premier Development & Investment, Inc. (OTCBB: PDVN), PrimeHoldings.com, Inc. (OTC: PRIM), Phlo Corporation (OTCBB: PHLC), Resourcing Solutions (OTC: RESG), Reed Holdings (OTC: RDHC), Rocky Mountain Energy Corp. (OTCBB: RMECE), RTIN Holdings (OTCBB: RTNHE), Saflink Corp. (NASDAQ: SFLK), Safe Travel Care (OTCBB: SFTVV), Sedona Corp. (OTCBB: SDNA);
Also, Sionix Corp. (OTCBB: SINX), Sonoran Energy (OTCBB: SNRN), Starmax Technologies (OTC: SMXIF), Storage Suites America (OTC: SSUA), Suncomm Technologies (OTC: STEH), Sports Resorts International (NASDAQ: SPRI), Technology Logistics (OTC: TLOS), Swiss Medica, Inc. (OTCBB: SWME), Ten Stix, Inc. (OTCBB: TNTI), Tidelands Oil (OTCBB: TIDE), Titan Construction (OTC: TTCS), Trezac Corp. (OTCBB: TRZAV), Universal Express, Inc. (OTCBB: USXP), Valesc Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB: VLSHV), Vega Atlantic (OTCBB: VGAC), Viragen (AMEX: VRA), Viragen International (OTCBB: VGNI), Vista Continental Corporation, (OTCBB: VICC), Viva International (OTCBB: VIVI), Vtex Energy (OTCBB: VXENE) and Wizzard Software (OTCBB: WIZD), WorldTradeShow.com (OTC: WTSW) and Y3K Secure Enterprise Software, Inc. (OTCBB: YTHK).
Earlier in 2003, the SEC fined Rhino Advisors, Inc., $1 million for its representation of Amro International in the financing and manipulation of Sedona Corp. Amro, also known as AMRO, was registered in Panama, a secretive offshore haven, but was not named in the SEC settlement. Another 60 public companies may have been manipulated by the fined Rhino Advisors and its indicted principals, or its funding apparatus, Amro.
These include:
All American Food Group Inc (OTC: AAFGQ), Amanda Co Inc (OTC: AMNA), Antra Holdings (OTC: RECD), Aquis Communications Group Inc (OTCBB: AQUIS), Avanir Pharmaceuticals (AMEX: AVN), Bionutrics Inc (OTC: BNRX), Brilliant Digital Entertainment Inc (AMEX: BDE), Bravo! Foods International Corp. (OTCBB: BRVOE), Butler National Corp (NASDAQ: BUTL),Calypte Biomedical Corp (OTCBB: CYPT), Chemtrak Inc/DE (OTC: CMTR), Clicknsettle Com Inc (OTCBB: CLIK), Corporate Vision Inc (OTC: CVIA), Crown Laboratories Inc/DE (OTC: CLWB), Dental Medical Diagnostic Systems Inc (OTC: DMDS), Detour Media Group Inc (OTC: DTRM),
Also, Digital Privacy Inc/DE (OTC: DGPV), Senior Services Inc (OTC: DISS), International Inc (OTC: DYNX), Endovasc Ltd Inc (OTCBB: EVSC), Esynch Corp/CA (OTCBB: ESYN), Focus Enhancements Inc (NASDAQ: FSCE), Frederick Brewing Co (OTC: FRBW), Greystone Digital Technology Inc (OTC: GSTN), Havana Republic Inc/FL (OTCBB: HVNR), Henley Healthcare Inc (OTC: HENL), Hollywood Media Corp (NASDAQ: HOLL), Ibiz Technology Corp (OTCBB: IBZT), Diagnostic Systems Inc/FL (OTCBB: IMDS), Imaging Technologies (OTCBB: IMTO), Integrated Surgical Systems Inc (OTCBB: RDOC),
Also, Interferon Sciences Inc (OTC: IFSC), Interiors Inc (OTC: ITRNA), Laminaire Corp (OTC: THMZ), Medisys Technologies Inc (OTC: SCEP), Milestone Scientific Inc/NJ (AMEX: MS), Nevada Manhattan Group Inc (OTC: NVMH), Innovations Inc (OTCBB: NTGE),Systems Group (OTC: OSYM), Pacific Systems Control Technology Inc (OTCBB: PFSY), Professional Transportation Group Ltd Inc (OTC: TRUC), Rnethealth Inc (OTC: RNTT),
Also, Sand Technology Inc (NASDAQ: SNDT), Sedona Corp (OTCBB: SDNA), Silverado Foods Inc (OTC: SVFO), Stockgroup Information Systems (OTCBB: SWEB) Surgilight Inc (OTC: SRGL), Tasty Fries Inc (OTCBB: TFRY), Tech Laboratories Inc (OTCBB: TCHL), Teltran International Group Ltd (OTC: TLTG), Titan Motorcycle Co of America Inc (OTC: TMOTQ), Trans Energy Inc (OTCBB: TSRG), Motorcycle Co (OTC: UMCC), Universal Communication Systems Inc (OTCBB: UCSY), Medical Systems Inc (OTC: UMSI), Vianet Technologies Inc (OTC: VNTK),Viragen Inc (AMEX: VRA), Webcatalyst Inc (OTC: WBCL), Worldwide Wireless Networks Inc (OTCBB: WWWNQ), and ZAP (OTCBB: ZAPZ).
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chip, FLCR not much volume, but mm's uptick bid,
any meaning?
way way way overdue for news
sitting at .09/.10
wantoberich, how's this for a chart
still laughing, live the rest of my life broke, but celebrities
crank
good for them for the $$$ but how do they go broke???
top notch work, Vaz rules, eom
stoch_hippie, guess the tyson team tried to arrange 8
fights to get him out of debt
sickning, considering most of us work for a living, JMHO
stockhippie, how do you go bankrupt on 300 mil salary,
imagine how much stocks you can play with that after tax :)
glad tyson got his lights knocked out
cool board update :) eom