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Again, saying MRIB is "paying down debt" is the misleading term. That represents some type of overall reduction of existing long term debt. If MRIB had $1.8 million in debt on the books September 2013 and $2.4 million as of September 2014, would you say there was a debt reduction or a debt increase? Those are the numbers MRIB published and I don't see any way they can be characterized as a debt reduction.
MRIB did not "pay down debt" as it were. They simply incurred new debt and paid for the new money in shares. The existing debt was not paid down. Saying MRIB paid for their new money in shares would be ok, even call it debt if you want but nothing was reduced. They traded new shares for new cash plain and simple. All the old and existing debt remains on the books.
MRIB debt is being misrepresented here. What is being called "debt" is represented only by the fact that a note was issued in agreement to exchange shares for cash to pay expenses. Safe harbor is the only technicality that allows one to call the convertibles as debt. It is a misnomer. There was never any intention to repay any debt so to speak but to delivery shares at what was considered safe harbor. I question that as well because I see no basis for exemption and the removal of legend.
Furthermore, for the record, a company may in fact sell free trading shares directly for cash. There is rule 504 that allows for an annual exemption to sell free trading shares up to a limit of $1 million IIRC. MRIB did in fact use this exemption in 2014.
The use of the term debt reduction is misleading and deceptive. The inference is that MRIB in some way reduced overall debt which would be a good thing but that's not what happened. Every share issued out to satisfy convertibles was for bringing in new cash not pay off old debt as is being represented or suggested. At best debt remained static and not reduced in any way. We're it not for regulatory requirements MRIB would have been more than happy to issue out free trading issues in exchange for cash for expenses.
Bottom line is the supposed debt was actually just new expenses and the shares were gone the day the deal was done with no recourse associated with real debt. If I buy something from you and sign over a CD that matures in six months as payment would it be incurring a debt or a secured payment? That's essentially what we're talking about here. Without intention or option to pay the note and cancel the pledge of shares it's clearly a sale of shares at inception, nothing more and nothing less. It certainly is NOT a balance sheet improving debt reduction as being represented.
MRIB is an OTC STOP. Dark or defunct. Selling now before trading is halted gets you out with something versus a total write off. But I guess most people holding are at a total loss anyway.
MRIB wasn't paying down old debt they were adding new debt. And the result of doing such resulted in nothing but massive dilution on top of the old $2 million in debt still on the books. It hasn't been reduced at all. It was there on the last report. It actually increased!
MRIB didn't pay down any debt. It increased. A quick look at the financials they did post over that period clearly shows no debt repayment of significance and an increased balance. The only significant debt reduction was to Margrit for money she said MRIB owed her for back pay from 2009 and she got well over a million in stock for it. The only debt that got paid off went straight into Margrit's pocket.
First, there are no shorts. That has been proven without the shadow of a doubt. The short interest has been consistently under .1% for years and is currently less than $50. So please stop with that. Second, what is going to cause MRIB to run up? Losing more than half the Costco locations? No sales at Total Wine? Letting go of all the employees? No shipment to Brazil or any of the other foreign contracts hyped? Margrit's incredible skill, experience and track record as a CEO? No sales or revenues? The OTC STOP No informtaion designation that MRIB is doing nothing about labeling them dark or defunct? No advertising or marketing? Total silence from the company? Failure to file financials for six months? What exactly is going to move this stock upward?
Only news to expect now with respect to MRIB now is confirmation that the company is in fact shut down or trading halted. Like OTC posted, "Dark or Defunct, No Information." sort of the MRIB story. Saw it in 2009 and history is repeating itself in an identical fashion.
OTC STOP, Dark or Defunct non-reporting company. MRIB is certainly confirming all that through their silence and non-performance. If it's no problem to rectify the designation why hasn't it been done? What is the excuse for MRIB now? Why can't they just file the financials? What is it MRIB is hiding? Or are they just shut down and no need to do anything more?
Again with the silly "ask" price sale argument. It's a moving target and subject to interpretation either way. If someone drops their ask to the current bid in order to sell it's considered selling at the ask and a positive thing? Nonsense. The majority of the volume is at the lower of the day's ask price and indicates a willingness to drop one's ask in order to sell, sell, sell! It's stagnating. Volume at price X takes precedence not just a sale at any given arbitrary ask price. The drop of the ask at higher volume is clearly a bearish indicator.
There's also no liquidity. You have 149 shareholders of record holding less than $300K in value almost all of which is probably at a total loss or at least seriously under water. That's around $2000 average holding per investor. It's nothing. Those aren't traders, they're bagholders who waited too long and who've now accepted the loss, holding and praying for a miracle from a dark or defunct MRIB. It's somewhat sad that those false hopes for MRIB recovering are also being extended through false and misleading overly optimistic information. Sort of like telling a terminally ill patient everything is going to be ok.
The lack of interest and trading in MRIB would indicate you are correct. Traders don't want to touch a dark or defunct MRIB with a ten foot pole. When something is "no problem" but doesn't get done it tells you a lot about where the company stands and where it's going. Coincidentally the investor relations firm for MRIB has three other clients. All have no sales, two are dark or defunct and all have lost 90% plus of their value in the past year. Bang up job!
And just to add on the MRIB reporting. MRIB was tagged limited last quarter as well and quickly addressed it just a day later. Not only did they not address the limited tag this time but they allowed it to go to the full STOP where it has been all week. There doesn't seem to be any effort to resolve it. No one home at MRIB I guess.
We've been waiting for those MRIB financials for two months now. Doesn't look like we will ever see them. Point is the limited information warning is bad enough. To get the full STOP No Information Dark or Defunct designation is a sign of a dire situation especially given that MRIB has had more than two months to avoid the situation and the stigma attached to said designation. And even now, a simple two hour job to get the financials done is not being done. Why not?
OTC has posted the STOP No Infomation warning on MRIB and designated the company "Dark or Defunct". Be warned! MRIB has had more than two months to resolve this situation and has failed to do so.
I'm wondering where Margrit's million share trade at $.0006 is. You're OTC STOP now though. Any trade is potentially criminal.
Also understand that true naked shorting is illegal. Period. It has been since the 20's. Has it happened? All the time. SHO stemmed the practice and made it more difficult with more stringent regulations and reporting requirements.
I tried to short MRIB at $.035 and only one company would participate in the trade. Interactive Brokers, an offshore broker. But they wanted huge margin requirements and only had 500,000 shares available to short. They required that I put up $1.25 million in cash margin to do the trade. End of story.
If naked, which is pretty much impossible without wrongdoing, they will get called when value exceeds 50% of the margin requirement. For MRIB you need to put up $2.50 cash per share for every share you short. Do the math.
The only way to get the OTC STOP removed would be to file the financials for Q4. But MRIB will be back in the same boat before too long as new financials are due in a month.
News is no longer pending. It's out. OTC STOP no information warning is now publicly posted with warning to all insider, principals and affiliates regarding potential criminal consequences regarding stock transactions. Looks like the situation for MRIB is dire. New really couldn't be worse. MRIB doesn't even have the option to seek convertible debt even if there was someone foolish enough to consider it.
I'd say it's pretty much game over. As if it wasn't back in October. Shipment to Brazil just went from "soon" to "never". I doubt MRIB could even afford to ship anything. With no positive cash flow and no more convertibles it would be surprising if they could pay the rent.
Interesting... The OTC STOP was to be expected if no financials were forthcoming but I never thought MRIB would let that happen. The stock has been the MRIB life blood.
Now that the OTC STOP no information status is in effect a lot of things change. The negative stigma aside, it also means that the company can no longer participate in stock transactions or insider arrangements such as private financing through stock sales. Any activity could be deemed illegal and in the case of an affiliate, principal or other insider selling any stock, potentially criminal. Margrit certainly cannot convert anything so the money is now tapped out and MRIB will be entirely dependent on profits from vodka. Not gross sales mind you, net revenues. And the debt and tax situation certainly isn't improving.
So the question is how does the MRIB ship stay afloat now? Five Costcos aren't going to keep the doors open and lights on. And that's assuming the doors are actually still open. Starting to look like the company is more than just dark and silent. The lack of financials is one thing but the OTC STOP is quite another. Not looking good. Probably the worst possible news MRIB could get.
10 MRIB buys? So I guess there were 10 MRIB sells as well.
Watching the tiny trades trying to inflate the PPS artificially looks like the same old deal. Probably a million or two shares to be dumped at $.0006 again then a quick paint at the end of the day back to $.0008.
No, no one is selling because all that's left are the bag holders. I mean what's out there? Maybe half a million in share value? People just holding on praying for a miracle. Might as well because the loss is total. Other than what looks to me like Margrit making her daily withdrawals there's no action at all and doubt there will be until end of year selling for taxes.
Even for those that got in at $.02 it's not worth selling now. A $10,000 investment is now worth a pitiful $400. Might as well hang around and see if it can get to $500 before December 31.
So is it the position of short conspiracy theorists that some rogue MMs shorting MRIB are responsible for the PPS death spiral? Is not the PPS drop the result of terrible sales and no revenues or earnings? Did massive dilution not play a significant role?
What I'd like to know is what these folks believe the value of MRIB should be? How would the valuation be calculated? The current market cap is roughly $1 million. Since MRIB has no earnings there's no way to do a valuation or estimate PPS using traditional means. The only way is to set value is as a function of gross sales. Simply, taking the last reported quarter sales of approximately $20K were reported. Let's call it $80K annually. What's the multiplier? Three times would be the high end. So, $240K. 1.2 billion shares gives a valuation of $.0002 per share. Pretty simple.
Shorting isn't and wasn't a factor. MRIB is clearly not under priced and looks to be significantly over priced. The market reacted accordingly given sales and share structure. Massive dilution and no revenues are the culprits and nothing else. Honestly, anyone paying more than $.0002 is going WAY out on a limb IMO. No matter how you cut it the value isn't there. The shorting excuse is nonsense. To think that MRIB was at a $20 million market cap a year ago on $2,500 in gross sales is testament to the absurdity and over valuation created by hype and lies. Truth then destroyed it not some trading conspiracy by MMs.
There is no evidence that any MMs are involved in shorting MRIB. Does it happen in other stocks? Sure it does. Are there unscrupulous MMs doing illegal stuff? I'm sure there are. But it's not happening at MRIB. And for a MM to trade for their own account they have to play by the rules the rest of us play by right down to margin. They lose their free pass on locates once they are no longer a market maker.
I don't disagree that the MMs are given some leeway but I don't believe it is termed "naked" which I think is part of the confusion. The shares as I read it in the regs are marked simply "short" with or without a SHO locate until physically delivered. If there is no locate, the MM can still execute with the "short" marking as long as there "is a reasonable expectation of locating available shares." The term naked would represent no physical delivery, no locate and no reasonable expectation of delivery.
And at what time or in what period did MRIB fall into the FTD category described in Rule 203? I don't think anyone is arguing what the rules are but how and when does it apply to MRIB and/or any evidence of shorting? Just posting the rule is meaningless.
Actually, any naked short selling is illegal. That's pretty much what SHO was put in place for. Naked short selling has always been illegal. SHO just firmed up the regulations and made reporting and supervisory criteria more stringent in the hope of curbing violations. That said, MMs are given some leeway in locating shares but must always do so. To be considered naked the MM would have to have no reasonable expectation of share availability and ignore the FTD marking which is highly illegal.
Most cases in which this happens is not a true illegal naked short. Most of the sanctions and fines enforced on the 19 MMs disciplined last year were for failure to carry out SHO custodial and supervisory issues in an attempt to save money on administrative costs to make the brokerage department of the member more profitable. Cutting corners is still a violation but the MMs weren't really doing anything with respect to trading and were not profiting by such. Just spending less.
In what period(s) was there a FTD trade(s) for MRIB?
Shorting does happen in all markets. And from time to time I'm quite sure illegal naked shorts exist as well. But it's not the case with MRIB as there is no market or money in it for anyone as discussed earlier. And MMs cannot do anything they want at any time. Any shares that go beyond 14 days are automatically classified FTD and the MM might choose to not do anything about it but it is a violation. It's a moot point with respect to MRIB as MRIB has never had a trade marked as such and carries less than .1% short interest on average. Hence its quite obvious there is absolutely no shorting let alone illegal naked shorting going on with MRIB.
There is no record of any FTD markings for MRIB.
I did not say it doesn't happen but it isn't happening and hasn't happened with MRIB for the obvious reasons stated earlier. A simple check of the SHO reports for MRIB confirm that. The short interest at any given SHO reporting period rarely exceeds .1% of float or just a few hundred dollars. Given a three day settlement period those are most likely undelivered shares marked short in the last day or two before any given SHO report filed on the 15th of each month.
As far as broker dealers being marked FTD without resolution, they are regularly disciplined. Merrill just recently paid FINRA $6 million for minor violations and basically sloppy housekeeping. True naked shorting abuse without reasonable expectation of delivery is taken very seriously and MMs do not get a free pass. And to reiterate, even those few who may be acting unlawfully and willing to accept the risks of such wouldn't touch MRIB with a ten foot pole. The crime would not be a profitable one.
That is not true Percival. If marked short, the trade must be settled in 72 hours with physical delivery of the securities. Theoretically the MM would have 14 days to resolve it before being marked FTD which would have the MM in deep dookie and would probably be facing problems regardless of resolution. There's too much risk for any MM to play around in this arena especially with a stock like MRIB where there is so little profit to be made. It's like risking an armed robbery to knock over a fruit stand.
Quite simple. The supposed naked shorting is simply a classification required by SHO rules. Shares are commonly marked short until physically delivered but that's not abuse. Violation of those rules and/or requirements would amount to abuse but if you check the monthly SHO reports for MRIB no such abuse exists and there has never been any FTD reports in MRIB records.
A MM may execute a trade without physical possession of the securities but must still have an SHO locate and reasonable expectation of availability and delivery within three days. At the time of the trade the trade must be, by regulation, marked short regardless of the locate until physical delivery of said securities. If not delivered the regular rules apply for a short sale for the seller/member's account and standard margin requirements must be met.
This is not possible in the case of MRIB as it is prohibitively expensive. The regulation requires a margin of $2.50 cash per share or $5.00 per share in marginable securities or a combination thereof. So, in the absurd example of a 50 million share short sale and carried short interest, the seller would have to come up with $125 million in cash or $250 million in marginable securities regardless of the MRIB PPS. This makes MRIB short proof so to speak. Who in their right mind would tie up that kind of cash to make a paltry $25K or .02% max return not to mention whatever extended period of time the money is tied up waiting for a zero sum result? As I said, absurd.
So, no. There is no short abuse with MRIB. Just some member firm housekeeping technicalities in the way shares are marked for SHO requirements. And keep in mind, naked shorting is and has always been illegal. Not that it hasn't or doesn't take place and SHO was put in place as a more strict set of regulations. But it surely is not relevant with regard to MRIB.
If I could short this stock at virtually anything right now I would. It's like selling my garbage. You want to buy it? all you want. I'll sell you 50 million shares at $.0005. But I'm not putting up the multi million dollars to wait for it to go to zero, which eventually it will, to make $800.
You're so wrong. First he has to either locate the shares immediately and has only three days to put up the shares or put up $2.50 per share margin to consummate the trade. That's in the trillions! You have to learn the SHO requirements. No MM is risking that on MRIB. You're pipe dreaming.
Less than a dozen trades with an aggregate of $100 possible gain for commoners. No more liquidity. Just Margrit with zero cost stock making ATM runs for her daily cash. I've seen this before. The CEO had multiple accounts and would reel in $800 a day or around there. He'd go to the ATM, make a withdrawl and head straight for the track for the afternoon races at Aqueduct. Margrit is probably more like headed to Neiman-Marcus.
Is not reporting because there were no sales the truth? MRIB is concealing the truth. Yes, we want the truth but not reporting because the news is not good is a lie by omission. Margrit has proven herself a liar on numerous occasions and it continues through deceptive practices of both false disclosure and lack of disclosure.
People keep making excuses for this Iraqi circus midget but she's going down fast. No credibility left and a dark and silent company with no sales. She's probably off doing something else like playing the real estate market with the millions she's collected over the past few years.
You're wrong. MMs still have to commit to the SHO locate. No one is going to risk their entire company or put up the ridiculous cash required to short MRIB in the hopes of making $80.
There are no reasons for not reporting. There are no excuses. It doesn't matter what MRIB says. Not reporting is simply witholding the truth and status of the company from the shareholders, good or bad, regardless of any excuses. It's absolutely unacceptable. Those financials shouldn't take any more than a few hours to complete and file. Very simply, for whatever the reasons, MRIB doesn't want to tell the shareholders what has happened the last two quarters, where they stand or what they've been up to. Total non-transparency and a lie by omission.