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Re: Yvonne - I am pasting my post of a couple days ago. Do not give her a pass. She is the mouthpiece of the company that the overwhelming majority of us speak with. Only a small minority have spoken/met with KD, AH, LS, LC, etc.
We need to not be so naive and keep giving Yvonne and her husband and the employees of Grannus a free pass. If there was any intentional dishonesty by EGMI, Yvonne, her husband, employees that worked for Grannus are 95% as guilty as KD, AH, etc.
Yvonne, husband, and Grannus employees are "over the (Chinese) wall". That is the nature of investor relations. IR reps know everything that goes on with the company they rep. Yvonne is the mouthpiece that delivered much of the info we relied on. Yvonne verbally answered our questions and implicitly assured us all was OK. Yvonne wrote the transcripts for conf calls. Yvonne wrote the scripts for conference presentations. Yvonne's staff created conference presentations in power point. Yvonne proofed all such presentations. Yvonne can't claim to the SEC "but I was just the messenger". Yvonne crafted the message with the details/deceit supplied to her by KD, AH, LC, etc. Yvonne knows the truth of why the CFO resigned. Yvonne always knew the address was a PO Box. Yvonne knew there was no HQs bldg. Yvonne had to ask KD "if there is no HQs bldg, then gee what corporate address will you use?"
Let's all pull our heads out of the sand and realize Yvonne will be investigated just as much as the company executives if the SEC sees a reason for such an investigation for a company with 12 employees. She is an employee just as much as as everyone else!!! The likely only way to avoid such investigation is to have an announcement of the company being acquired.
It is definitely helpful to have wickedtomato post what he may learn, but please wake up to reality with her.
I agree on the BDO. Maybe Wickedtomato can suggest that. Would do wonders for valuation once the dust settles
I left Steve Larson a voice mail at 212-336-0142. He is the SEC lawyer on this case. (Thank you Melissa for your quick post of his info) Urged him not to allow EGMI to open for trading or else it will get pummelled. We have not gotten updated information. I left him my name and phone #. I urge others to call him and almost certainly only get vmail. SO, it is a quick 60 second call. Probably best to avoid a rambling 3 minute message. I did not state anything about the assets/accounting clarification we seek. Perhaps someone can do so.
I realize some may want this stock to open and some may not. Apologies if this is divisive for the board in any way.
Will someone post the phone number and name of the SEC employee that had been posted previously on this board. Myself and hopefully others can call him and urge him to not lift the halt on shares until information is disseminated by mgmt. Who knows what his workload is and it is possible he may have not looked closely enough at this.
Wonderful. Almost funny. EUMBC address is
EUMBC Limited
35 Catherine Place
London SW1E 6DY
These clowns are placing an initial order in April 2008 for an Indian tribe based on the tip of Long Island. An order of 25,000 game cards. I suspect the brilliant LC booked the revenue despite never delivering one card. The tribe just got its Class II license in Dec 2009. Why would the tribe want to order these things if they apparently had not even broken ground on the casino they will build. I assume they had not broken ground given the appvl did not come until Dec 2009. Developers would be unlikely to start such a capital project in this economy on speculation of a govt approval of such a gaming license. Wonder if they even drew up plans yet.
For what it is worth. Dated Dec 22, 2009. Looks like they hit the jackpot. Wonder which big gaming company will win on this deal. No idea how this links with EGMI. I can't find a phone number for the tribe. This tribe claims its territory as Southhampton, NY. Way out on the tip of Long Island where the wealthiest of the wealthy and see and be seen crowd likes to pat each other on their backs (KD and AH probably hang there). Not a bad place to put a dumpy little casino.
Publication: The East Hampton Press
Shinnecock Indian Nation wins preliminary federal recognition
The Shinnecock Indian Nation received a preliminary ruling granting federal recognition to the indigenous East End tribe on Tuesday afternoon.
A community meeting for members of the tribe was held at 4 p.m., when word of the decision was announced by tribal leaders, who received a phone call from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, a division of the Department of the Interior.
The preliminary ruling brings the Nation a step closer to ending a process that began in the 1970s, according to U.S. Representative Tim Bishop. In May, a federal court mandated that the BIA issue a proposed finding on the status of the tribe by December 15, 2009, which would be followed by a comment period and an official determination by June 2010.
Mr. Bishop said federal recognition would make the tribe eligible for funding that would aid health care, housing and child care costs, among other things. Federal recognition is also the first step in the ability to engage in Class II gaming, which the tribe has expressed interest in since at least 2003, he said.
“But what it really is to the Shinnecock people, and I agree with this, is a long-sought and I think well-deserved validation of their heritage and their existence as a tribe,” Mr. Bishop said.
All privileges are dependent on a final ruling, he said, and this week’s ruling is just a step toward that. He said the comment period is open to all parties, so if the BIA later rules against the tribe’s recognition, the tribe will be able to object, and if it rules in favor of recognition, outside parties would be able to file objections.
Mr. Bishop said the tribe’s application dates back to 1976 but was incomplete and unattended for years until the process was reopened around 2001. He said the process is typically a long one, but that this case has been especially lengthy. The tribe claimed in a 2006 lawsuit against the BIA that its application was unfairly treated. Within the last six years, the tribe has also been involved in several other lawsuits that claim it was wrongly removed from federal lists of recognized tribes compiled in the 1940s.
If the preliminary ruling is followed by another favorable ruling after the comment period, the Shinnecock Indian Nation would be immediately eligible for benefits, but that would only be the first step to opening a gaming facility, Mr. Bishop said. “The gaming process itself is a three-step process,” he said. The first step is federal recognition; after that, the tribe would have to identify the land they want to use to open a facility and once again apply to the BIA to take that land into trust. The third step, which he said can run concurrently with the application to the BIA, is to enter into discussions with the governor and State Legislature to outline the terms and conditions of what could take place in the facility, and what the state would share in terms of tax revenue.
Last Updated Dec 22, 09 3:06 PM
Using the bottom link in your post I copied/pasted these contacts.
Contact: Yvonne L. Zappulla Managing Director Grannus Financial Advisors, Inc. 212-681-4108 Yvonne@GrannusFinancial.com or Roger Holdom Electronic Game Card, Inc. +44 207 451 2480 Investor.relations@electronicgamecard.com
I called the UK # and it gives the same exact v-mail message and female voice as if you call the 866-924-2924 listed on most recent filing. I assume the 866 # is forwarded to the UK number.
For what it is worth....
What was year on that press release. I see month and date.
As discussed in previous post.....Yvonne was IR rep that communicated the correction. Do you think she did not ask what was reason for needing to do a corrected release? This all seems like such a web of deceit.
I go back to my prior posts where I state in disbelief that in this era of SEC, regulator, prosecutor, investor and general disgust toward such frauds that Yvonne, her husband, KD, AH, LC, etc could possibly risk so much (freedom, ill-gotten gains on EGMI, personal wealth to be paid in fines and legal fees, lost wages from being imprisoned, inability to find gainful employment after a prison term) for so little gain (from Grannus fees, wages to KD LC AH, option gains).
Such illogic on the part of reasonably intelligent people provides me hope that things will be ok. Once again, nobody could be so dumb.
We need to not be so naive and keep giving Yvonne and her husband and the employees of Grannus a free pass. If there was any intentional dishonesty by EGMI, Yvonne, her husband, employees that worked for Grannus are 95% as guilty as KD, AH, etc.
Yvonne, husband, and Grannus employees are "over the (Chinese) wall". That is the nature of investor relations. IR reps know everything that goes on with the company they rep. Yvonne is the mouthpiece that delivered much of the info we relied on. Yvonne verbally answered our questions and implicitly assured us all was OK. Yvonne wrote the transcripts for conf calls. Yvonne wrote the scripts for conference presentations. Yvonne's staff created conference presentations in power point. Yvonne proofed all such presentations. Yvonne can't claim to the SEC "but I was just the messenger". Yvonne crafted the message with the details/deceit supplied to her by KD, AH, LC, etc. Yvonne knows the truth of why the CFO resigned. Yvonne always knew the address was a PO Box. Yvonne knew there was no HQs bldg. Yvonne had to ask KD "if there is no HQs bldg, then gee what corporate address will you use?"
Let's all pull our heads out of the sand and realize Yvonne will be investigated just as much as the company executives if the SEC sees a reason for such an investigation for a company with 12 employees. She is an employee just as much as as everyone else!!! The likely only way to avoid such investigation is to have an announcement of the company being acquired.
It is definitely helpful to have wickedtomato post what he may learn, but please wake up to reality with her.
I drew up such a scenario in a prior post, but as time has ebbed forward my optimism has diminished. It has diminished despite the logic simply because the odds of such a lottery ticket are just that - a lottery ticket. But, maybe this is a fabulous technology or else LS would not have been so duped with his foresight.
Maybe these execs were brought on board on a strictly part time basis with the understanding that the company would be positioned for such an acquisition upon the expiration of the SciGames contract.
I agree with your thoughts on tossing the bums out. But who will be left to hold the place together? Toss out KD and AH and have just Lee Cole.
If a press release announces the part time, senior execs are gone then the press release would need to also state some replacements or there won't be anyone left to check the UPS box.
They absolutely said they would monetize it. It was on a conf call and I believe it was the last conf call.
EGMI is too small of a company to be making equity investments. If the company can't survive without an EGMI investment it should go under. Comparing the asset values on the books for these flawed investments vs the total assets is an outrage. Great companies like Cisco, etc make such investments, but such investments are rounding errors. If not a rounding error then it is in a sound investment. The Cisco's of the world that invest their shareholders cash have tremendous track records of success in their core products and we have none of that at EGMI. If anything, EGMI should be looking for a strategic partner/investor.
It is very common to accept shares of stock as payment when an IR firm represents such a small company. Does that mean Granus ever got paid cash? Don't know. However, it really worries me that Grannus and Yvonne are shareholders and could have motivation be in on any sleight of hand that may have occurred. That could serve as motivation to create a hype machine. Afterall, no written word or prepared comments at conferences or conference calls are made without Yvonne proofing and advising on those words. Such words are packaged in a logical manner to condition investor expectations and our expectations were way too high.
In her defense, if there was an accounting error, I doubt it was possible for her to know.
I think you are referring to Trafalet Capital. They liquidated in 2008. Their liquidation drove the EGMI share price to about 20 cents. However, if they had warrants I do not know what would happen with those. Do they just disappear? Does anyone know?
What is the conflict you allude to with mgmt? Prior postings on this board have alluded to internal conflicts. I am hoping you can advise us of this aspect of the soap opera.
Junewong
I've read on a couple posts over the past weeks that there was some mgmt dissension or infighting. I am hoping you can educate me on that.
Thanks
I have little doubt someone on this board will call her and ask what is going on. It might be me. I just got her voice mail. No need to leave a msg. She deserves a call.
Thanks for the extensive reply. Very helpful. Nice sleuthing.
Perhaps we can all place an order for some gamecards so they can book the revenue and claim the accounts receivable. Sell the receivables to boost cash. We can exit the stock and leave the ponzi scheme to the next investor.
Just a joke.
I am almost convinced you are correct, despite my hopes for a BYI acquisition. A recent post stated: First London Securities Limited has the same London address as Prize Mobil
UPS Store as the corporate address.
Yvonne Zappulla's relative Joseph (husband? father? brother?) tied to ownership of the domain name (someone posted the linkage previously)
My biggest hope is moving toward a belief that in this day and age nobody could be so dumb to commit such a securities fraud. They will exhaust so much money on lawyers to defend themselves and the money is not worth trying to hopscotch the globe in avoidance of a prison sentence. Juries and the feds will not show mercy in these cases. There is no public patience for such mercy.
The cash was only stated at about $12 million. If it was a scam, then the cash was likely even less. Why would KD, Housels, Cole, Zappulla get involved for so little money? Perhaps they somehow had shares that they were selling without reporting to the SEC, which would be a logical assumption if this were a scam.
If there is a scam then hopefully, EGMI mgmt got scammed by a lone wolf based in the UK that they had no reason not to trust and that person figured out how to embezzle the money. If so, then we may have some hope that the company can survive. I guess the assets in question are the UK cash.
I also agree. Not a good idea. Please think through the ramifications before doing something, especially contacting an EGMI customer. Those are the lifeline to the viability of our investments. I suspect the HIT revenue is not so much, but ChinaLot has the potential to be a grand slam. We may be pissed off at EGMI mgmt and Yvonne, but please don't do anything to kill the company we want/need to succeed.
The person who would run the game cards for Thomas The Tank or the ChinaLot person would have no idea of the SEC issues with EGMI. Do you really think the HIT people are watching the press releases of their publicly traded vendors or perhaps their large privately held vendors. No, they are doing their jobs. They will only notice one of those press releases if it is so big that it is reported in the media.
That middle mgmt person is focused on day to day business issues and probably deals with 50-100 products, of which a game card is likely a small piece (look at EGMI's sales - it can't be a big piece of that person's revenue stream). HIT is a very large company with strong mgmt. If you actually reached the correct person they will forward the info to their boss and then up the chain it may go. HIT could cut EGMI off and not worry about a rounding error to HITs revenue, but this is not a rounding error for EGMI.
Great. Exactly what I was hoping to confirm. Boosts my hopes that there is an honest and logical explanation to everything that is going on
Give what up?
That is nice to read, but have you or anyone met him? What is your impression based on such a meeting? I am talking about meeting him within the past few years and not 5 or 10 years ago. Can anyone vouch to say based on personal knowledge that he was intricately involved? Look at all the smart people that got duped by Madoff.
Aren't we not seeing lottery game card revenue because the game cards are tied up with the SciGames contract for the past three years?
Good to see IR acknowledged your reply. I am hopeful that it would be very difficult to con BYI. If anyone has access to the analyst emails who cover ChinaLot synergy, please do post here so we can send them an email and ask them of their opinion of the EGMI deal.
The Bally IR guy acknowledged it was a small deal. But small deals are not too small for BYI. They did acquire the employees of games4you and I would have to think that would be a smaller deal than one to acquire EGMI. Maybe BYI sees an opportunity in this market segment.
I agree. I would like the moderators of this group to enable gurupup access. He did not like my posts regarding EGMI being acquired by BYI. It took me a couple requests to get him to state why and he never really did shoot holes in my case. However, he was correct by saying something to the effect of my post merely creating hope and hype when the data points are so negative. It sounds like he really knew the company. I guess he met with the major players. I am curious if he believed they were of high integrity, honest, etc. What ran through his mind when he met them and did his opinion evolve from that day and why did his opinion evolve?
In all the posts I have read, Lord Steinberg is held in such high esteem and glorified. Curious. Had anyone here ever met him? Was he an energetic 76 year old prior to his death? Was he truly active in the company?
I doubt at 75 or 76 he put the energy and effort into this as when he built his empire. People's priorities change as they age. Maybe he was focused on grandchildren, enjoying life after working so hard for so long. Maybe he got conned by KD & Zappulla (fascinating the connection someone exposed on Zappulla's family). Now we know why Yvonne says she was a shareholder. Her family was intertwined in the fabric of the company.
I think we'd all love it if you staked out the UPS Store, waited for KD or Anna or whoever and asked them what is going on? Perhaps follow them from the store to the real "home office" and let us know if there really is a corporate office. If you gave the UPS Store guy a tip, he'd let you know who the EGMI person is or when they typically come to pick up mail. That would be a tall order on your time, but it should would be interesting.
This is a really deflating series of posts. Business address is a UPS store and they "completed" their HQs move to Irvine. Was this all just a scheme to justify a free corporate relocation for everyone to California? Are they all just working out of their homes life Sovereign Games was? Maybe I can install my rose-colored glasses again and hope they were just being financially astute, saving on overhead and using their dining room table as a conference table. Maybe that is how the margins were so strong. Let's hope. I am really stunned about the UPS store.
This really reeks. I just have to wonder in this day and age of perp walks and Madoff scandals how could any group of executives be so stupid if these EGMI execs are committing fraud. I just can't believe anybody could be so dumb, especially with a voluminous paper trail. The thought of anyone being so dumb gives me hope that nobody could be so dumb.
Read below for what happened to an obscure CEO and CFO for their fraud at a jeweler that was larger than EGMI, but still one that few even know about.
Bradley Stinn, the former Chief Executive Officer of Friedman’s Inc. and its affiliate, Crescent Jewelers, was sentenced today to 12 years’ imprisonment for securities fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy. On March 24, 2008, following a six-week trial, a federal jury in Brooklyn convicted Stinn on all counts in the indictment and returned a forfeiture verdict against him in the amount of $1,019,000. The trial and sentencing proceeding were held before Senior United States District Judge Nina Gershon.
The sentence was announced by Benton J. Campbell, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
During the period of the conspiracy, Friedman’s was a national jewelry chain whose shares were traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The evidence at trial established that Stinn led a multi-year securities fraud scheme that inflated Friedman’s reported financial performance and hid from the market the serious problems the company had collecting money owed for hundreds of millions of dollars of jewelry that it had sold on credit. As part of the scheme, Stinn and his co-conspirators repeatedly lied to shareholders and the investing public about Friedman’s financial performance, made false and fraudulent representations to Friedman’s auditors, and manipulated the company’s accounting in order to prevent auditors from discovering the falsity of Friedman’s financial statements. As found by the court at sentencing, Stinn’s fraud scheme resulted in Friedman’s shareholders and other victims of the scheme losing more than $20 million.
Several months after the announcement of the government’s investigation in November 2003, Friedman’s stock was de-listed from the New York Stock Exchange. Friedman’s ultimately filed for bankruptcy in January 2005.
Curious. What is your interpretation? My interpretation may be off, but it is a stunning percent to the total each day to see shorted. It would seem as though someone knew something that was very bad for a while and was shorting like crazy and then knew the SEC would act and really piled in on the short in the last two days.
Again, you have a meritless post. You may be correct, but why? I will re-post exactly what I posted before.
Why? Please write a well thought out argument as to why I am wrong and lay out your expectations of the what is happening and what will happen. Your post has no merit if you can't do this.
Keep in mind, mine is an opinion based on connecting dots and drawing conclusions. I could be wrong, but I hope not.
I agree with you. I am trying to be optimistic since I have had to stare down the barrel of such negative data points. It is so hard to predict acquisitions, thus odds are it does not happen. The Yahoo earnings date that someone posted of March 15 is what tipped me toward connecting the dots on an acquisition by BYI. It is interesting though to connect the dots as I have and add in the additional dots others have raised.
Another poster had mentioned other OTC stocks with trading halts and the optimism of a takeover. But, in those cases I wonder if the optimism was grounded in data points or just prayer/hope.
The data points myself and others are seeing are legitimate. But, the negative concerns are also highly legitimate.
Referencing your Class II comment, I just re-read the Games4you press release from BYI. They seem to be an expert on Class II also. Further evidence? Is BYI making a strategic push to acquire the knowledge, human capital, intellectual capital, patents, copyrights, etc for the business segment of Class II. Reminder, the below linked press release was Jan 22, 2010.
Here's the key quote: The company said that the Games4you team is a strategic addition to Bally's games business, which includes reel spinning slot machines, video slots, wide-area progressives and Class II lottery and central-determination games.
http://www.intergameonline.com/intergaming/news/3418/bally-acquires-games4you/
This is a great idea to post our concerns and why this stock could be in trouble.
My biggest worry is the poorly explained resignation of Tom Schiff as CFO. It is hard to believe he resigned over the lack of D&O insurance. Couldn't he have just re-upped the D&O with electronic payment and he'd be all set? Or did he look at the books and smell a rat? Or did EGMI decide he was not the right guy. He started Sept 1, 2009 and resigned effective Oct 31, 2009. He would have known the D&O was not re-upped at least by mid-September if he was so concerned about his vast personal wealth. I believe we are not getting the full story. I suspect the reality is that he was not the right guy for the job and EGMI (KD, Cole and Boyne) voted him out , but wanted to give him a face-saving exit. We will never, ever know the truth to this issue.
I looked up Schiff's profile on LinkedIn, Zoom Info, and through the Stanford MBA alumni base and I see no evidence of him working since resigning EGMI. I also have come up with no evidence to indicate his vast family fortune, though I probably do not have nearly the appropriate resources to do that.
I also worry about the unexplained radio silence from what previously was a communicative mgmt team that seemed on a role. KD closed his comments at an investor conf in the fall (I believe it was Roth) with (I paraphrase) "I believe you should invest in our stock". Rarely will you ever hear a CEO say such a statement. Thus, another reason, for the possibility of the company falling apart not making any sense.
Based on my posts, I clearly hope you are correct. However, I guarantee I do not know the topic of BYI as well as you. Why do you feel it is a great buyout for BYI? Why not SciGames? Is it a strategic fit? Are they ramping up in the business sector that EGMI operates? I am serious. I really want and value your insights. Please, other posters, add your insights on why or why not this makes sense. No one person ever has all the answers.
BYI acquired Games4you employees on Jan 22, 2010. Interesting that that is so close to the date that Poken fell apart (I still believe it was EGMI that killed that MOU). As I read the press release tied to the link below, I can imagine lots of synergies with EGMI. However, I believe lots of posters on this board know the EGMI technology and the marketplace far better than me. So, do any of you see Games4you as having synergies with EGMI?
http://www.intergameonline.com/intergaming/news/3418/bally-acquires-games4you/
My brief look at Yahoo finance shows BYI has Cash $71 mil and debt $142 mil, but free cash flow of $140 mil. With such high FCF I'd think the cash balance should be higher. However, in the gaming industry it seems like cash can be fairly predictable, thus no need to have such a big rainy day fund. Maybe they have been using cash toward debt pay down, capex, or share buybacks. An acquisition of EGMI could be viewed as capex for them.
Why? Please write a well thought out argument as to why I am wrong and lay out your expectations of the what is happening and what will happen. Your post has no merit if you can't do this.
Keep in mind, mine is an opinion based on connecting dots and drawing conclusions. I could be wrong, but I hope not.
I agree about the CFO resigning. That is very troubling.
The stock has tanked and they are getting it much cheaper. However, maybe it was allowed to tank by KD since EGMI knew such negotiations were going on and it made no sense to hire a new CFO, re-brand as cirQ, hire Bd members, etc. and it made sense to go radio silence.
Maybe SciGames is interested and Bally has to pay a bit more than it would like.
Perhaps we only get $1.50/share or maybe $2.00 or $5.00. Who knows. While EGMI mgmt works for its shareholders they also have a vested interest in themselves. Thus, it may be in their best personal interest to allow this to be taken over. Stay the key leaders of EGMI as a subsidiary of Bally and probably have incentive plans for themselves that would be even more favorable than what they may hope to achieve as an independent company.
Keep in mind anything I write is pure speculation and connecting the dots of evidence that I see and interpret. Maybe I am wrong.
I can only speculate, so here goes.....Deloitte does due diligence for Bally and tells Bally there is a problem with asset values going back three years at EGMI. Bally is negotiating to acquire EGMI. Bally advises EGMI of this asset value deficiency and uses it as a chip in their favor to negotiate a more favorable price for Bally shareholders. EGMI scratches there head and wonders why this discrepancy would exist. EGMI realizes their rinky-dink auditors probably lack the skill set of Deloitte. EGMI probably wastes their time asking rinky-dink auditor their opinion. EGMI tells its rinky-dink auditor "don't worry about it" since "we are getting a free audit of our three year's of financials from Deloitte". EGMI has a regulatory responsibility to file an 8K stating rinky-dink noticed such discrepancy since rinky-dink is their auditor (even if Deloitte is really the discoverer).
In a friendly merger/acquisition both EGMI and Bally are "over the wall" (Chinese Wall). In an acquisition, all the books are opened and everything is exposed for the target. The amenable acquisition target will answer every question as honestly as possible. In this case EGMI would be quite wise to be acquired since it can never grow as fast on its own as it could with the market heft of a Bally.
I feel the pain of recalling those connections. I also wonder what the heck happened to those? Why haven't we seen the fruition of such connections? I've examined KD and Anna's backgrounds and they should have especially strong gaming connections. There is no logical explanation. Perhaps they can answer if there is ever a conference call. Hopefully, there will not be a call as hopefully we are all granted the lottery ticket of an acquisition.