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WG6 is busy iggying everyone who is saying bad things about his investment
Yeah, I think it does for the buyers. People like Rick who still have some shares can officially call them $0 value now on their 2004 returns.
If da boyz get indicted, they will have the exact opposite problem. All those funny shares dumped and proceeds put into trusts may end up coming back out of the trusts if it can be proven they went in there to hide them from liabilities - tax or otherwise. I seem to remember that Turino was paid in shares that also went into a family trust. That was 3 or 4 years ago.
Geo.
Note: Read it again. This revocation petittion wasn't started by the SEC. The Plaintiff was the Feds and the Respondent was the SEC. They were forced to take action. I belive that now some criminal indictments will come down.
I also believe it will never trade again via a market maker, not even at .0001. It is no longer a registered security and it is a crime to buy or sell unregistered securities. Just ask Turino. I guess Alan C. and Quietbrain could trade with each other, but it's over. I still want to see those who destroyed lives and marriages brought to justice.
Geo.
Rick,
I remember the good old days when I lived in Virginia Beach for 10 years. Forget about booze. No commercial sales of anything on Sundays. You could not buy anything in Va. Beach except tourist memorabilia. Tourists were fair game. Got so the store keepers were stamping toilet paper with "Souvenier of Virginia Beach" so they could sell it. Heavy duty baptist population there. Another strange VA law, if you were legally drinking in a bar and you wanted to move to a table, you could not pick up your drink and move. A waitress had to take it and move it for you. All in the name of protecting the sinners in the name of Allah or Buddah, or Jesus or Mohammed or whatever flavor of God you wished.
Ah yes, then I remember my time working in St. Louis. The beer cases were restocked on Sundays in the supermarkets. All regular beer had to be removed and replaced with 3.2% or lower alcoholic content beer. I tihnk real beer is maybe 6%, so you were drinking beer halfway between O'Douls and Bud. If you wanted to tie one on with beer you needed 10 bottles instead of 5. I remember Texas also. You couldn't drink in the dry counties unless you were a member of a private club. So you go to the local Mexican place and join "the club" for $3, then you can have your Margarita. I belonged to the local country club in Georgia when I lived there. You can't sell beer in Geogia on a Sunday period, but you can give it away, no problem. Our dues covered the cost of a free keg out by the 18th green every Sunday. We do have some bizzare laws.
Geo.
You also might want to get in touch with Joe smydo- email addy at bottom. He will do more if anyone can give him more.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04186/340386.stm
Suspicious fires not car dealer's first trouble
Lo Castro was at center of stock scandal 2 years ago; disgruntled investors buzzing on Internet
Sunday, July 04, 2004
By Joe Smydo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A Canonsburg car dealer hit by suspicious fires June 23 and 24 was at the heart of a penny-stock scandal two years ago in which investors allegedly were misled into buying shares of an over-hyped company.
Disgruntled investors have posted dozens of messages on an Internet message board speculating about a link between the decline of Pinnacle Business Management Inc. and the $1 million fire damage to Vincent Lo Castro's All Pro Auto Mall. Officials have called the fires suspicious but have not ruled them arson.
Lo Castro's auto mall once was a centerpiece of Pinnacle, based in Clearwater, Fla. From early 2001 to last August, Lo Castro was Pinnacle's chief operating officer and president of the All Pro unit he had sold to the company.
In 2002, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Pinnacle, Lo Castro and another executive of fraudulent stock practices stemming from an effort to spin-off the All Pro unit for 20 times more than its value. Pinnacle later fell apart because of financial problems, and the auto mall reverted to Lo Castro.
"Shareholders lost money," SEC spokesman John Nestor said last week.
On a message board at www.ragingbull.lycos.com, investors have posted messages wondering whether the June 24 fire, the one that caused virtually all of the damage, could have been set by one of their number, one of Lo Castro's business associates or another party.
"The fire started around 5:00 P.M. yesterday. OK folks, let's hear some of your alibis," one message said.
"I know most of us shareholders have one time or another felt burnt," a second message said.
"If it is one of the shareholders, it would not surprise me," said another message.
During a brief interview outside the dealership's makeshift office, Lo Castro last week said he did not believe the fires were related to Pinnacle. Canonsburg police Chief R.T. Bell said he was not familiar with the stock controversy.
Under a December settlement with the SEC, Lo Castro and Pinnacle's chief executive officer, Jeffrey G. Turino, permanently were barred from serving as officers or directors of a public company. Lo Castro, 41, of Peters, was fined $25,000 and Turino was fined $60,000.
Some postings on the financial message board expressed support for Lo Castro. But others joked about the fire, criticized Lo Castro and recalled bad experiences with Pinnacle. A few writers expressed concern that Pinnacle-related documents had been lost in the fire.
In an interview, shareholder Chad Luce, of Lewiston, Maine, said investors didn't know the full story of Pinnacle's decline. He said they wanted to see the books or have Lo Castro address their questions.
"People want answers from Vince," Luce said.
Federal records, Pinnacle news releases and the Web site at www.stockpatrol.com jointly offered this account of Lo Castro's association with Pinnacle.
Lo Castro, a Washington and Jefferson College graduate who, by his mid 20s had found success in the telecommunications field, sold a group of car and communications companies to Pinnacle in December 2000. These became Pinnacle's All Pro division, formally known as Lo Castro and Associates.
The sales price was $8 million. Lo Castro became a Pinnacle official and president of the All Pro unit. He and his wife, Kim, at one point owned more than 83 million Pinnacle shares, about 4 percent of the company by the SEC's reckoning at the time.
Pinnacle heralded the acquisition of Lo Castro's companies as a first step in becoming a "multi-industry, multimarket holding company." Pinnacle, formed in 1996, had a venture called Fast PayCheck Advance but operated mainly through the companies purchased from Lo Castro.
With tens of millions of shares trading every day, Pinnacle was one of the most active "pink sheet" stocks, a term referring to stocks of companies that don't meet capitalization or other requirements for listing on most stock exchanges.
Penny stocks generally receive less scrutiny and offer higher risk to investors than those trading for higher prices on an exchange. Because the shares sell so cheaply, a company such as Pinnacle may issue millions of shares more than a blue-chip company.
Pinnacle issued a series of press releases citing All Pro's growth, including the acquisition of King's Auto Sales in North Strabane, expansion of wireless products and services and contracts to install telephone and closed-circuit television systems at businesses and government buildings.
Yet the Web site at www.stockpatrol.com said in February 2002 that Pinnacle was losing money and in danger of defaulting on payments owed to Lo Castro for acquisition of his companies. Two months later, Pinnacle took a step that brought trouble from federal regulators.
Pinnacle issued a news release announcing the proposed spin-off of its All Pro unit. It said All Pro would seek a listing on the American Stock Exchange, predicted an initial trading price of $4 per share and included an AMEX floor broker's enthusiastic statements about the company's plans.
The news release said Pinnacle shareholders would receive one share of All Pro for every 50 shares of Pinnacle penny stock they held May 31, 2002. After issuing the news release, Pinnacle issued another 300 million shares of stock, bringing the total shares to 2 billion, the SEC determined at the time.
The SEC sued Pinnacle, Lo Castro and CEO Turino in federal court in Tampa, Fla., alleging they "misled investors into purchasing Pinnacle shares based on the presumption of an 800 percent windfall in the form of the All Pro dividend." Regulators said Pinnacle and the executives didn't meet the exchange's listing guidelines, misquoted the broker and had no basis for saying All Pro shares would begin trading at $4 each.
Under the 50-for-1 dividend formula, the 2 billion shares of Pinnacle translated into 40 million shares of All Pro. To begin trading at $4 per share, All Pro's capitalization would have to have been about $160 million.
"Given that Lo Castro sold All Pro to Pinnacle in December 2000 for approximately $8 million, and All Pro has not disclosed any news indicating 2,000 percent growth in its value over the past year, the $4 initial price per share projection is baseless," the SEC said.
Lo Castro and Turino vowed to fight the allegations but later agreed to the settlement, in which they admitted no wrongdoing.
In an August SEC filing, Pinnacle announced it had defaulted on its financial payments to Lo Castro and had no assets or revenues. Lo Castro and Turino resigned from the company.
The auto mall reverted to Lo Castro, but the status of other businesses he had brought to Pinnacle was unclear last week. Also unclear was whether Pinnacle records wer e lost in the fire.
Lo Castro said he was unable to devote time to a detailed interview.
In December, Pinnacle announced it had elected new directors and appointed new officers. In April, the company changed its name to Serac Holdings Inc., said it was looking for "merger candidates" and thanked shareholders for their patience.
Luce said he sold some shares for less than he paid for them, losing $40,000. He said he still has more than 1 million shares.
"It dropped so low it's not even worth selling," he said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Joe Smydo can be reached at jsmydo@post-gazette.com or 724-746-8812. Post-Gazette business writer Len Boselovic and assistant technology systems editor Tim Rozgonyi contributed to this report.)
Reading some of yesterday's posts here this morning. I think the fire loss at Allpro was listed at $1.5 million. Didn't PCBM pay 83 million shares plus a $6.5 million note for it? Isn't that fraud in itself? Seems Vinnie forgot to mention that the land was contaminated and unsellable. No way that piece of contaminated land and a few dumpy shacks were worth $7 million plus. Of course PCBM's purchase price included a defunct Daewoo delaership and a defunct cell phone business, both worthless. A few garbage grade cars also, I guess. I seem to remember that he used PCBM's money (from share sales? to pay off the floor plan, so he really made out. As far as records, in his kind of operation I suspect everything was on paper. When was the last time you bought a car? My son manages dealerships in Tampa. Salesmen still fill out paper offers by hand. Only when you go to the F&I guy to they punch things into the computer. A two bit dealership like his with a half dozen lackeys probably didn't even own a computer, no less back it up.
No, I don't think Vince wanted solid records of his car dealership any more than PCBM did of their business. Remember when Andle went to visit LoC he was told the PCBM records were in his office. Strange, since Vince tried to deny he was even an officer of the company. Obviouly a plan well thought out by the evil short sellers. Now Alan C will nver be able to disprove his short sales theory as those 16 billion shares in escrow have all burned up.
Just a thought Geo.
Ha HA Ha Allpro up in smoke. In NY its called Jewish Lightning and he's not even Jewish. Do you realize all the PCBM records were kept on file there?? Now the TLs will never know the truth. All those shares held in trust- POOF!! they are gone now.
Geo.
Rick,
I did not. Should have. Should take a pop when the Fed increases interest rates 1/4% next week. I think it is still a good buy here under $3. I am headed south and will not get home before the market closes. It may be a Monday play for me.
Have a great weekend. I have a new Free to Air Satellite system to stick on the roof this afernoon when I get home. I love new toys.
Geo.
Rick,
Yes I did. In hindsight it had a few more bucks to give me instead of a small subtraction. NO Crytal Ball unfortunately. All is well overall. At least I don't have to watch CLSI closely. That is good because my client here in Tallahassee has kept me more than amused the last week or so. To paraphrase old Henry Ford "Work is the curse of the drinking class"
Geo.
That is true. Time to find a new penny play.
geo.
Rick-
and I took it too, out at .0051. Typical buy high, sell low maneuver, but on 100K shares, I lost less than $200. Better than holding to .0001.
Geo.
You may be right. Looking at the chart I will cancel. Just bored to do something.
PS on CMKX:
LAS VEGAS, Jun 16, 2004 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- CMKM Diamonds Inc.'s (Pink Sheets:CMKX) president and chairman of the board of directors, Urban Casavant, announced today that the company has begun working actively with D. Roger Glenn of Edwards & Angell, which it earlier retained, in connection with securities and corporate issues faced by the company. Glenn stated, "We have been retained by the company to resolve the problems it has been facing, and we expect to devote significant efforts immediately toward that goal. The company has advised us that it is dedicated to complying fully with all requirements on it, and we are pleased to act as counsel to it on that basis."
Note they never define what the goal is.
Thanks, I'm still holding it. Also still holding CLSI as no one has taken the bait yet
OT:
Well ATNG and CLSI are both up a little today. I just put a sell order in for 100K shares of CLSI at .0245. We shall see if there are any takers. I am in at avg. of a little under .021.
Geo.
Does his wife count? She certainly was a big shareholder. Can't say if he had sex with anyone else. Actually can't even say that about him and his wife. Don't know the man's sex life, sorry.
Hey if Vinnie gets in to CLSI then....OMG Wendy will be next! Sell everything!
Janice,
In the Tampa paper the other day they stated local doctors are refusing to treat lawyers.
I did it Rick! I just sold my house, the Mercedes, my dog, everything and bought one gazillion shares of CLSI and recommend everyone else do the same. This baby is gonna run. I got it straight from the horse's mouth - Randy
Geo.
To Heck with Rick pumping it. I need Chris Hall and that other pumper jerk to pump it. Not a share before $$$$dollars!! well, maybe .035 is OK too. LOL
Geo.
I wonder where that spamming jackass Lollybella is today. Do you think he feels bad about pumping his CMKX at .011 now that it is heading south and anyone who listened to him has already lost over half their money as he sold into the pump? Nah, not at all. I don't think these crooks can be stopped. It's Caveat Emptor in the market for sure but the pennies are in a league of their own. CMKX would have to find a zillion tons of quality diamonds for the pps to be .01. This s%^t just galls me. Also still sorry I didn't get into the pump. It seems Chris Hall has been very succesful in predicting pumps lately. I think next time I will listen to him. The boy should be making some serious $$$. Of course it's off the backs of fools that can't afford to lose it, but I guess morals are not a factor in the market.
Geo.
Hi Rick,
True a shakey play, but if they close the doors in the morning I'll lose $700. Doesn't keep me awake at night. It looks like my commissions to Etrade are about to rise. This is the first time in ages I won't have 30 trades for the quarter. I'll have to pay $14.99 instead of $9.99.
Geo.
Rick,
Nuttyfella is living proof that pumping pays. I guarantee he will be dumping as quick as possible as he tells anyone else who willing to listen to buy buy buy. Not limited to pennies, Ken Lay did the same thing.
I gotta admit there is nothing wrong with 10 times your money back and I am sorry I didn't buy into CMKM a week ago. I allowed common sense to cloud my ability to make profits. I guess I need to be reminded that it's all about trends and perception (and pumps), not reality. If the SEC doesn't shut this one down, pennyscam frauds have a bright and long future.
Yours diamondiferously,
Geo.
Yes I have it on a CD in my car. Makes your hair stand on end. He will be missed more than #40 in my mind
OT:
well guys I bought back into ATNG this AM at .0061. Only 100K shares, so $610. SHould make a few bucks from here on the next BS PR.
Geo.
Bummers. Yeah, before I left Tallahassee last Thursday, I put a sell order in, never expecting it to be taken. I was surprised when I got home after 4:00 PM and saw it was gone. Then yesterday I tried to steal it back and my whole 100K order filled in about 3 transaction over about 2 hours or less. I dumped all my WHT Friday at 3.02. Appears to have been a good move also. I had a ton of it in my real account. In at anywhere from .70 to $1.04. Only bought for the play money acct. at $2.70. Every once in a while I get lucky. Made a lot of money on the real account as I had about 10K shares all told.
Geo.
OT, especially Randy and Rick:
For all those into CLSI, I learned something this past week. Don't believe the B/A spread which is .020 X.025. I sold last Friday at .0245 iin about 3 hours and bought it back yesterday at .021 within 1 hour. That's a 12% profit after commissions, just playing the spread. Volume is pretty low so when you go in with 100K blocks, anyone who wants to buy or sell bad enough has to come to you on your terms.
FWIW
Geo.
Do you realize what the current market cap. of CMKX is at .0009? I almost run out of fingers before I get to a trillion by counting zeros plus a significant digit. My calculator doesn't go that high. Also means that except for a few smart ones, the run consisted of printed shares dumped on greedy mullet. The crazy buying is what made the price go up, but someone had to have those shares to sell (or short)to the mullet. I never realized in my younger years how much money could be made via hype and greed. Even if Cassavant really found diamonds, he'd need tons to provide any shareholder value. Just amazes me. Also amazes me how little the penalties are for this sort of activity if and when they get caught. To paraphrase Leona Hemsley; "only the little people rob banks". Banks don't hold this kind of money. Liquor stores don't either.
Geo.
"No but they did enroll Melvin in an 8th Grade Basic English Course. It's just a matter of time before he can read & rite corektly."
Well, then he won't make any more misteaks!
Geo.
Wow, that IS impressive. .0001 X .0003. Hurry up and buy all you can at .0003 and have guaranteed 66.67% instant loss. Beats the sheet out of a lousy positive 2% return at the bank.
On second thought, I like the bank a lot better. I can count that money without having to dream, pump or felch (whatever that means). Sick puppy!!
G.
Open Day High Day Low
0.0003 0.0003 0.0001
Bid Bid Size Ask Ask Size 52wk High 52wk Low
0.0000 0 0.0000 0 0.0090 0.0000
Come back when you learn how to spell "indefinately" It might indicate you had at least an 8th grade education.
Yes, not a desireable place at all. Worse yet they overpaid for it.
Geo.
Rick,
No it did not sell before the price dropped back to .02. I didn't look at it today- should I?
Rick,
I want to see him go down in full living color. Forget the Pulitzer Prize. You can sell that picture to millions of cheering Muslims. You may not get cash. You may have to trade that photo for camels. You will become the world's largest camel meat wholesaler. European sales will be great also, especially to the French.
Geo.
Ready for another ATNG ride yet? Looking very tempting.
Rick,
The same to you and yours and all the bunch here. I have to pick up my wife in Tampa after her being at the WWII dedication in DC. Her dad was held as a POW - a bomber pilot shot down over Germany. Her 92 year old stepmother flew in from California for the ceromonies.
Today is a lazy day after we return from Tampa. A dip in the pool and then dinner with friends. We should all give thanks to those who so bravely stopped the madmen of the world from taking it over some 60 years ago and those who have died since for both the righteous and unrighteous causes their govt. has called them to.
Geo.
Rick,
Just put a sell order in for 61,000 shares of CLSI at .026. We shall see if there are any takers.
Geo.
Rick,
That area is lovely. You live in a nice part of the country. To be sure it is hot at sea level in the summer, but the mountains and the beautiful sunsets etc. make it all very worthwhile. Nothing but fond memories of my year in Tucson 2 years ago.
Geo.
Now, now, Derf,
Like me, I think he is playing purely with funny money. He can't give it all to the Indians. Long term pennys are not your style nor mine, but hey he just will eat cheaper cat food until his ship comes in. What do you think those brownies he's been baking are made out of? Times are hard for us old folks. I had Kibbles and Bits last night. Not that bad with some cheap wine. Someone once told me that they saw a wine bottle with a cork. I thought they only come with screw caps.
Seriously, I think his money is safe. They have a good product line, steady revenues and little debt. I will sell it shortly because I like qucik short term action, but it is safe. It is cheap because their revenues are small at this point, but have steadily grown. Actually their revenues are smaller than my corporation. Maybe I should take mine public?? I could reverese merge with SRCI. Let's start the rumor that ERGE is merging with SRCI. I see that SRCI is about to go no bid again. Volume is a dismal 6 million shares at .0001. What a surprise!
I am outta here. Y'all have a nice holiday weekend. My wife will be up in DC for the WWII memorial dedication, so I will have an especially nice weekend.
Geo.
DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!! (ATNG)
Hi Randy,
I am very tempted to get into ATNG one more time. I think anything below .008 may be worth a shot, understanding the company is a complete scam and at some point it will spiral to .0000X. I need to sell something to get into it. I may sell CLSI if the spread narrows to .002. My other funny money stock is WHT, which has been very good to me. It is a real gold mining operation that is making good profits. I bought some also in my SEP account at .70 and some more at 1.04 it is at $2.90 today and a merger is on tap that should really blow it sky high. Got the prospectus in the mail last week. Bottom line is to have funny money to buy ATNG, I have to sell CLSI. I never put more than $10K play money into pennies. Too old for the risk. You get to the point in life where preservation of capital is the primary goal.
geo.
I think Paulie's new 'toon says it all. I see our beloved PCBM/SCRI is back to .0001X.0002 today, but there has been almost $200 worth traded today. Maybe it's a good buy at .0002 if there was another pump before the R/S and R/M into CBLH.
Geo.