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Geoffrey Eiten & NFC: It seems the SEC missed a procedural step in trying to get summary judgement against Eiten's NFC (on the grounds that NFC didn't answer the complaint via an attorney, but instead Eiten answered for them, which is a no-no).
They've come back with a new motion correcting this error. To show that Eiten/NFC do need to be squashed, the motion includes an affidavit detailing NFC's continued production of tout reports this year.
The companies involved are QFOR and FUEG, where the materials included forwarding of emails purportedly written by Stock Appeal LLC and Actual Investments LLC, and an analysis by YourChatterBoxStocks.com.
I'm shakin' in my blue swede shoes.
There goes the story ... This Wainstein is too young to be the GS guy, apart from anything else. 30-ish; the GS guy is in his early 40's.
http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyOfficers?symbol=OPTL.PK
He left GS early March after heading up their Brazilian IB for less than a year, with no explanation ... it could be the same guy but it would be pretty surprising.
It turns into a splashier story if he is actually the Goldman Sachs Wainstein: http://www.morningstar.com/invest/articles/680028-goldman-sachs-brazil-investment-banking-chairman-daniel-wainstein-leaving-firm-bloomberg.html
Maybe explains the fast action here ...
Perhaps one Daniel Wainstein
(18) Daniel Wainstein has sole voting and dispositive power with respect to shares held by Marjorie Group.
http://sec.edgar-online.com/your-internet-defender-inc/s-1a-securities-registration-statement/2011/11/29/section13.aspx
Just maybe, the same Goldman Sachs Wainstein who left as head of their Brazilian IB on 6th March less than a year after his appointment ??
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/goldman-sachs-brazil-investment-banking-chairman-daniel-wainstein-leaving-firm--bloomberg-20130305-01377
Dunno how they picked those particular companies. Generally, they say they want to see what's recovrable from them, but it's also pretty clear that they want to dig into whether there might have been any kickbacks etc.
BTW, apparently the various funds filed a complaint on 20th March against CR etc in New York state court.
The PwC guys have had their standing in the US confirmed by the court, which allows them to start digging. As part of this, they have asked the court to let them demand documents and depositions from portfolio companies, concerning their dealings with CR et al.
The portfolio companies they are interested in:
a. AVVA World Healthcare Products Inc. Issuer
b. Black Castle Developments, Inc.
(Green Worldwide Inc.)
Issuer
c. Clickable Oil Issuer
d. Camelot Entertainment Group Issuer
e. Connectysis Corporation Issuer
f. Edoorways, Corp. Issuer
g. Green Planet Group Inc. (EMTA
Holdings)
Issuer
h. Golden Patriot Issuer
i. INFE Human Resources (Rhino Human
resources)
Issuer
j. Ingen Technologies Inc. Issuer
k. Itronics Inc. Issuer
l. Kiwa Bio Tech Products Group Corp. Issuer
m. Michelex Corp. Issuer
n. Modern Technology Corp. Issuer
o. Netco Investments (Market Central) Issuer
p. Paradigm Medical Industries Inc. Issuer
q. Marathon Group Corp (Pediatric
Prothetics Inc.)
Issuer
r. Positron Corp. Issuer
s. PPJ Enterprises (Healthcare Bus
Services Group)
Issuer
t. Safeteck International Inc. Issuer
u. Highline Technical Innovations Inc.
(Systems Evolution Inc.)
Issuer
v. UNIVEC, Inc. Issuer
w. US Wireless Online Inc. Issuer
x. Valcom Inc. Issuer
Fields is appealing the conviction.
And the prosecution is appealing the dismissal of the identity-theft count, and (I think) the sentence.
On support letters: Martin Weisberg, the ex-Baxker & Mackenzie partner who pled guilty to involvement in the Xybernaut/Ramp scam and looting from an account controlled by Thomas Hackl (a familiar name from back int he day), has filed his sentencing memo with lots of support letters. Some comments here - http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=86325362
Will be interesting to see how this one turns out.
Weisberg has filed his sentencing memo. As always it includes a bunch of letters from family/friends/biz associates/etc saying what a fine fellow Marty is and how his "lapse of judgement" shouldn't lead to incarceration etc etc etc.
(Is there a business out there which specializes in drafting these things? So often they have the same kind of tone - like some saccharine saint's-life for children, where the saint is momentarily possessed by a demaon compelling him/her to money- launder/loot/defraud.)
But this kind of letter-writing can be very effective - see eg http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/02/25/the-challenge-of-sentencing-white-collar-defendants/
It seems kind of unbalanced - does the prosecution get to file letters from people hurt by bad stuff he did but was never charged with? And do they get to challenge any of Marty's letters - eg those from people associated with long-running pennyscam VGLS/ex-VRAL which Marty and his buds have used as a cash machine for years?
Or would that turn into a de facto "character trial" for the guy, something presumably the court would not want to see happen?
Anyway, at the prosecution's urging, Baker & Mackenzie have also filed a letter. They rue the day they made him a partner; they think he stinks; he exposed them to all sorts of low-lives, as well as financial and reputational liability; they believe the tarnished-halo hagiography from other letter writers is bunk.
Myron Landin, VG's outside accountant and another long-time Austin/Weisberg associate, also wrote a nice support letter for Marty.
I don't see anything from Austin himself, though, despite Weisberg having been counsel for various of his entities :)
The next court hearing for Weisberg is scheduled for May 9th at which I guess a new sentencing date will be set. In preparation, he's filed his sentencing memo, arguing for just probation time.
As always, this includes a slew of letters from supporters saying he's a fine fellow who must have suffered a "lapse of judgement" etc etc etc.
One of these letters is from Haig, penned last July not long after Weisberg's guilty plea. It's a knee-slapper.
As an advisor on business related issues, Marty guided me through the diificult waters of of the financial markets of which I did not have expertise, and hekped my company avoid the sharks and those on Wall Street who propose transactions of questionable merits and legalities ... without seeking remuneration.
I guess "sharks" here doesn't include Weisberg's associate Hugh a/k/a Eugene Austin and his Wonderland Capital, DMBM Inc, etc entities. And "remuneration" doesn't include the at least $160K worth of VG stock Haig issued to Weisberg in 2011/12, and the other shares issued in prior years back to at least 2007.
JF's attorney has blog posts focusing on some of the more bizarre features of the LP story, viz:
- The initial prosecutor, Victor Wild, was apparently a director of a pennyscam company (EVRM) for which LP's outside counsel/old associate of TM was also a fiduciary. The MA US attorney didn't see anything wrong with this & kept him on the LP case. As JF's attorney says: Wow!
Wild led the O'Riordan prosecution, "forgot" to tell the judge that O'Riordan had perjured himself & helped set the scene for O'Riordan getting a wrist-slap in return for singing nicely against JF & JL.
- Kenneth W. Kaiser left his job as head of national criminal investigation for the FBI and went to work for LP, immediately meeting with Wild and FBI agents on the LP case, apparently in violation of federal statutes barring retired FBI execs from involvement in cases for which they previously had supervisory responsibility. He apparently worked closely with LP's outside counsel, the one involved with Wild in EVRM, and also TM.
Why would Kaiser leave a prestigious national law-enforcement position to go work for a basket case like LP, and why would he put himself at risk of criminal prosecution for violating a federal statute? Again, wow.
http://www.psdfirm.com/government-misconduct-blog-should-a-federal-prosecutor-facilitate-conflicts-of-interest-contrary-to-18-u-s-c-207-part-2-of-a-3-part-series-on-simple-questions/
According to a suit filed in NY Supreme Court last week, Weisberg is still general counsel for radio group USRN (United Stations Radio Network, major NY-based radio programmer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USRN )
http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/116243/dr-david-kolin-sues-usrn
Bizarre, if true. I wonder if he'll continue in the role from prison?
USRN was founded by Dick Clark amongst others. Clark and Weisberg go way back; Clark's character testimony seems to have been a reason why Weisberg was found not guilty on a fraud charge in Texas back in the day.
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/10/25/should-firms-hire-a-previously-indicted-lawyer/
FWIW, Weisberg was supposed to be sentenced on 15th March, but he's had a heart attack so it'll be delayed.
I follow the case of Martin Weisberg, the Xybernaut director/outside counsel charged in this case. I guess the "$500K in April" might be restitution from him? - he's scheduled for sentencing on 15th March. But now he's had a heart attack and it looks like sentencing will be delayed until he's recovered.
So if things are waiting on wrapping up the case against him, expect some further delays.
According to court filings today, he's had a heart attack so sentencing looks like being delayed until he's recovered.
Fields' attorney has this blog post giving some excerpts from the sentencing hearing: http://www.psdfirm.com/government-misconduct-blog/
It's interesting, but would need to see the whole transcript to really get a handle on the judge's positions. As stated, it seems to call into question plea-bargaining in general.
Fields is appealing the conviction.
On sentencing again - Fields' attorney has this blog post giving some excerpts from the sentencing hearing: http://www.psdfirm.com/government-misconduct-blog/
It's interesting, but would need to see the whole transcript to really get a handle on the positions. As stated, it seems to call into question plea-bargaining in general.
Rumor has it that NITE is the earthly guise of the obscene deity Shub-Niggurath, The Black Goat of the Woods With a Thousand Young.
The SEC is not shorting junk stocks.
Of course not - they're too busy downloading dwarf-porn.
(Cheap shot.)
The sentence was a little bit interesting.
Latorella, the CEO, and Fields faced the same charges & there was no real question that both were equally responsible.
Latorella pled out to one count and got five years, with the other counts dismissed as part of the deal.
Fields in effect rejected the same plea bargain and went to trial on all ~30 counts and was convicted on all (except one which the court dismissed; not the count Latorella pled to). He also got five years.
This seems screwy: no incentive to cut a deal.
In the sentencing summary form for Fields, the court gives as reasons for downwards departure from the 20+ years delivered by the sentencing guidelines: need to be consistent with Latorella's sentence; and evidence of Field's being on the path to "rehabilitation".
The first reason doesn't support giving FIelds the same sentence as Latorella - you'd think on this basis Fields should at least get a couple of extra penalty points for not copping a plea.
As for the second reason - Fields filed a blizzard of support lettrs from co-workers, family, friends, business associates, ex-lovers etc which leave you wondering how he had time to run a business into the ground and engage in a multi-year string of frauds while he was baby-sitting children, clearing driveways, helping people with spreadsheets, rescuing kittens etc etc.
This seems to have worked pretty well.
Lesson: if you get convicted of securities fraud in federal court, have a whole bunch of people ready to write nice letters about you.
Which lawyer - Marty Weisberg?
His sentencing was originally set for Sep last year, then the probation dept asked for an extension to after Oct, but after that there's nothing on the court docket sheets - strange.
He could certainly tell interesting stories.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=76455625&txt2find=weisberg
One "tandoori Derald" to go, please!
Will be interesting to see the transcript.
Sentencing form gives evidence of rehabilitation and need to maintain some consistency with JL's sentence as reasons for downward departure from the guidelines.
From that it seems like JF's blizzard of support letters probably worked well for him.
Interesting piece on the same kind of thing: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/02/25/the-challenge-of-sentencing-white-collar-defendants/
Would be good but not holding my breath - just one of the thousands of pink-scams ...
Huh - so JF gets 5 years, the same as JL. Be interesting to see the transcript of the sentencing hearing.
ELECTRONIC Clerk's Notes for proceedings held before Judge Douglas P. Woodlock:Sentencing DAY 2 held on 2/25/2013 as to James Fields (2); Court makes parties aware of the materials/submissions it will rely on for purposes of todays hearing; further objections to PSR addressed; applicable sentence-guideline range calculated; sentence recommendations heard; defendants right of allocution exercised; on Count(s) 1, 2, 3-10, 11-19, 20-26, 27, and 31, defendant sentenced to 60 months incarceration followed by 3 years supervised release with standard and special conditions. $2,800 special assessment. No Fine; defendant shall surrender for service of sentence at the institution designated by the Bureau of Prisons as late as 4/22/13; proposals re restitution due by 3/11/13; defendant advised of right to appeal. (Attorneys present: AUSAs Lelling and Levenson for the Gov't; Pollack, Solomon, and Colmey for the deft) (Sr. USPO: J. Sinclair)Court Reporter Name and Contact: Brenda Hancock (617-439-3214). (Lovett, Jarrett) (Entered: 02/26/2013)
In another blow for VG, "advisor" C. Everett Koop has died at the age of 96: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-25/c-everett-koop-surgeon-general-who-took-on-tobacco-dies-at-96.html
Despite his being legally blind, very deaf & wheel-chair bound in recent years and there being AFAIK no evidence that he ever did anything for VG, I'm sure his name on the advisor list will be sorely missed.
"Incoherent" rather than "subtle", I'd say.
I don't see a slippery slope in, "Either you're reporting, or you don't have a public market for yr securities." No bureaucrat would be involved in assessing risk or investment suitability. This would just be the same as most securities markets in the world. Of course there would still be listed crap, but so what?
What was the other company?
One little thing you might enjoy: in the other case where Weisberg pled guilty, his B&M secretary said in a deposition that she was sure he was doing drugs all day. He was in the bathroom all the time, and the only thing he ever ate was raspberry candy.
XYBR was of course a complete scam.
Tangentially, Martin E. Weisberg, the ex-Baker MacKenzie attorney who pled guilty to his involvement in the XYBR fraud and to charges in another case last year, was originally up for sentencing in September.
But so far nothing has happened and there's no rescheduled sentencing date docketed - which leads me to wonder if he's cooperating with the DoJ on some other cases ...
Ummm ... a little joke.
Yes, but I think his argument is that since MDBX isn't registered he's doing the market a favor by giving out any balance sheet info at all, even if it's wildly misleading info :)
If only more pennyscammers could be this stupid.
Actually, shouldn't there be a Dumb Pennyscammer of the Year award?
I see that the supp info statement they filed recently doesn't seem to say anything about the rights attached to these prefs ...
JF's sentencing continued to Feb 25th. Court has dismissed one idnetity-theft count, presumably on JF's previous arguments to do with statute of limitations etc.
I know it's pure speculation until Mr MoMoRaptor says something, but do people really believe this stuff about being "too old"? Surely the timing can't be a coincidence? Who would be surprised if in a couple of days we see an announcement signed "Joe Ratzinger, CEO, Southridge Enterprises"?