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I'd guess that the bankruptcy action would have been a big push for CR to settle with the SEC, without admitting any guilt. Had he been found guilty in the SEC case I guess his position in the bankruptcy litigation would have been disastrous, rather than simply grim.
Corey Ribotsky - $14.5M consent judgement in the SEC case.
- CR is enjoined against doing further Bad Stuff - the normal things.
- He has to disgorge $12.5M plus $1M interest plus a $1M civil penalty.
- SEC gets to decide whether the money goes into a Fair Fund for distribution to victims or gets sucked into Treasury.
- CR loses any claims he might have against the funds for management fees etc etc.
- He gets away without admitting or denying any of the SEC's allegations, which is interesting (and disappointing) in terms of his position in any private litigation against him. Any damages awarded against him in any such litigation reduce his $14.5M liability under this judgement.
CR gives up in SEC case!
Final consent judgement entered:
- CR is enjoined against doing further Bad Stuff.
- He has to disgorge $12.5M plus $1M interest plus a $1M civil penalty.
- SEC gets to decide whether the money goes into a Fair Fund for distribution to victims or gets sucked into Treasury.
- CR loses any claims he might have against the funds for management fees etc etc.
- He gets away without admitting or denying any of the SEC's allegations, which is interesting (and disappointing) in terms of his position in any private litigation against him. Any damages awarded against him in any such litigation reduce his $14.5M liability under this judgement.
Obvious "Party like it's 1999" quip.
Something called "Center Stage Stocks LLC" has dumped a bunch of spam on me about this thing, whatever it is.
"See you at the bank!!" Blah blah.
"Center Stage Stocks LLC has been compensated $2,000 cash for awareness on Muscle Warfare International, Inc.by a non-affiliate third party (11/12/2013)"
It's not up to MB to prove anything. All they need to do here is say whether they agree or disagree with CDFT's statements. As MB clearly states in their previous letter, they don't agree that these pathetic pieces of paper are T-bonds.
Why would they need MB to go into that detail in an item 4.01 letter? They can just get it from MB directly.
Maybe I'm missing something.
More boringly, maybe it's just bureaucratic tidying up: a finalized amendment with details of new auditor; no dispute with old auditor concerning any annuals or quarterlies filed to date; dispute over fake bonds; auditors' letter.
But I hope you're right!
Does MB *have* to provide a new letter? In their position, I'd perhaps think that my last letter said everything that needed to be said.
Sherb & Co zapped for bogus China-play audits: http://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2013/34-70823.pdf
Good riddance ...
He got 6 months and a $1000 fine; see below.
Sucks that he never got pinged for this scam, which was surely bigger?
How anybody ever fell for it, though ... it was an utterly obvious scam from the outset.
10/02/2013 310 PAPERLESS Minute Entry for proceedings held before Judge Donald L. Graham: Sentencing held on 10/2/2013 as to Pedro Adriano Borges. brief presenttaion by defense counsel;agreed recommendation;The Court sentenced deft. to 6 mos. BOP to run consecutive to the sentence imposed in 94-60-TP-DLG; $1000. fine;$100.00Assessment;2years supervised releaase w/special conditions;supervised release shall be non-reporting while defendant resides outside U.S.;Defenant advised of his right to Appeal. Court Reporter: Carly Horenkamp, 305-523-5138 / Carleen_Horenkamp@flsd.uscourts.gov (cf) (Entered: 10/03/2013)
10/08/2013 311 FINAL PSI Revised After sentencing on Pedro Adriano Borges. This is a limited access document. Report access provided to attorneys Robert Thomas Watson, Raymond D'Arsey Houlihan, III by USPO (Attachments: # 1 Addendum)(lrn) (Entered: 10/08/2013)
10/09/2013 312 JUDGMENT as to Pedro Adriano Borges (4), Count(s) 1, 18s, 1s, 22, 6s-7s, 7-9, 9s, Defendant sentenced to six months to run consecutive with the four month term imposed in 94-0060-TP-DLG; 2 yrs supervised release w/special conditions;$1000.fine & Assessment $100.00. Remaining Counts Dismissed by the Government. Signed by Judge Kathleen M. Williams for Donald L. Graham on 10/8/2013. (cf) Modified text re judge on 10/10/2013 (dgj). (Entered: 10/09/2013)
Sucks that he never got pinged for this sca
They filed the Q2 info statement.
Contrary, to the PR, the MBVF investment isn't necessarily all "cash"; and it hasn't all been funded yet. The conversion pricing as deduced previously is around 6c.
Of the $2,235,000 convertible debenture funding arrangement closed in October 2013 provided by MedBridge Venture Fund, $1,500,000 was committed to be originally funded by October 31, 2013 with the balance provided in 21 equal installments of $35,000 per month in cash or services. The Company is in the process of formalizing the long-form agreement, which will extend the date to fully fund the $1,500,000 to November 15, 2013. Through October 31, 2013, the Company has received $1,204,500.
The debenture is convertible at a conversion price of $0.0588 per share with 25% of the debenture being convertible commencing 15 months from September 15, 2013 and an additional 25% quarterly thereafter. In addition, the Company will issue MedBridge Venture Fund, LLC 8,940,000 warrants to purchase the Company’s common stock at an exercise price of $0.45 per share. The Warrants have a term of five years beginning September 15, 2013, but cannot be exercised for four years. DMBM also participated in this funding on the same terms directly with the Company, committing to fund an additional $220,000 in six monthly installments beginning November 30, 2013.
No particular new news on any of the science work.
LoL! Thanks for that.
Paid promotion starting just as DMBM's lock up ends. An astounding coincidence!
Other things ...
See where they talk about the MVF deal:
Private Fund – In a press release dated October 2, 2013, the Company disclosed (among other things) that
Medbridge Venture Fund, LLC (“MVF”) intends to make a cash investment in the Company - $2,015,000 will
come from MVF directly based on a July 13, 2013 term sheet with MVF.
So, have they actually invested? It says MVF "intends to make a cash investment" ...
Also: The PR spoke of a $2.235M investment from MVF, but clearly that was inaccurate. MVF "intends to" invest $2.015M, with the remaining $220K coming from DMBM, over a long period, as noted previously.
See that they finally got around to filing their Q2 financials at OTC Markets, but not yet the info statement.
(Really, I suspect that the only reason they ever actually file these things is to protect insiders against insider-trading pings when they want to dump.)
DMBM is still around & there's a whole mess of stuff which I see as consistent with DMBM and Medbridge agreeing to share the VG picnic.
Just picking through some of it:
1. Medbridge and DMBM came to an arrangement whereby DMBM agreed not to convert and dump shares from the debentures it holds beyond $90K per month worth in August thru October. MB would take shares from them at 10c, to make up the $90K, if DMBM wanted it to.
After October, DMBM can once again start converting and dumping its debentures, with the familiar price reset, now to the lower of $0.05 and a 30% discount to trailing VWAP. Come November - look out below! DMBM also gets to buy out vendor liabilities from VGLS worth $187K and convert and dump them on the same terms. Plus they get a reset on 4M+ warrants they hold but the reset price isn't stated.
DMBM also gets to participate in the Medbridge Venture Fund financing for $220K, but they can do it over 6 months, their debentures will have an 8% coupon and they will be due in 15 months.
My reaction: WTF???
First, not disclosing these arrangements to the market in a timely fashion is absolutely unconscionable.
Second, it all looks very cosy between MB and DMBM!
Third, the arrangement seems to have been designed to keep the share price from being crunched during its run-up over the last couple of months, during the period when Medbridge Venture Fund presumably was putting together the financing from its own and/or 3rd party resources - recalling that the terms of that financing delivered a guaranteed maximum conversion price of about 6c.
2. Obviously an important question is what's happening with the T&T settlement payments. On the original schedule, the final $450K payment is due on 1st Nov.
Recall that the last payment obligation was acquired by DMBM in a classic VG/DMBM move which would have allowed DMBM another avenue to dump supposedly free-trading shares at some profit margin. That worked for a month, with DMBM getting 10c shares to dump, but then ...
DMBM has not satisfied its $37,500 monthly payment obligation after the initial month to T&T and therefore the
Company has not issued additional shares to DMBM under this arrangement. Consequently the Company is currently
negotiating with T&T to modify the terms of the Convertible Debentures originally issued to them and remain
unsatisfied, of which $412,500 is outstanding and was due November 1, 2012, and $450,000 also remains outstanding
and is due on November 1, 2013, for a total gross obligation of $862,500.
By itself that looks kind of like DMBM is being shoved aside: their paper margin over fair value on the first month was "only" 40% rather than the eg 4X+ from previous DMBM dumps, and if VG is going to keep them to these levels maybe DMBM doesn't want to play. Of course, it leaves open the question of how VG is going to pay off T&T's $862,500. And taken in conjunction with the comments above, things seem very murky.
3. DMBM seems to get an additional convert & dump opportunity via payments owed to Myron Landin's JTL, which provides accounting etc services to VG:
At June 30, 2013, the Company is indebted to JTL for $94,750 in cash compensation and is obligated to issue common shares of
the Company and VGE in the aggregate amount of $96,000 in stock based compensation for 2012 and the six months
ended June 30, 2013 as provided in the agreements. The Company issued a convertible debentures bearing interest at 1%
per annum due April 2013 and aggregating $94,750 which can be converted to common shares of the Company at $0.10
per share. In August 2013, JTL and DMBM entered into Note Purchase agreements obligated DMBM to make a series of
monthly bi-monthly payments commencing in August 2013 through March 2014.
We should probably be thankful for this:
Can I post nudity?
We understand that although you may be extremely proud of your anatomy and would like to share images of it with the other sugar daddies and sugar babies of our adult dating site, you agreed not to do so on SugarDaddyForMe.com per the Terms and Conditions when you signed up for our website for dating.
Perhaps he gives several hundred million dollars to charity every year. keeping just enough over to pay his chess-club subscription and dating-site dues.
Yep. In any case, even in the real world (as against the bizarro pennyscam parallel universe) trying to get value for NOL's in a deal is usually the last little thing after you've valued the furniture, the old issues of Life, the leftovers in the fridge etc etc etc.
The thing is registered to Jason W. "Jay" Abbott of Carrollton, TX. He's a pennystock tout - see eg https://talent.me/jay-abbott
His thebullreport.com looks defunct now, but it was being used to pump VGLS around the turn of the year.
The TX thing is interesting: VGLS now has a pennystock auditor in Odessa and a pennystock outside counsel in the Dallas area, and also in the Dallas area there's an apparently active VGLS stock tout.
Jason W. "Jay" Abbott of Carrollton, TX. https://talent.me/jay-abbott
Anybody have any color on him? His thebullreport.com looks defunct, but I vaguely recognize recall the name from past pumps.
Interesting ... somebody has set up what looks to me like a fake online newspaper with some generic stories about various big stocks ... plus a story about VGLS trading up 16% on Oct 24.
http://www.financialstrend.com/
Kind of reminds me of Hugh Austin's bogus "Wide World of Stocks" thing, which was obviously created to pump VG and a couple of other stocks, back in the day.
Do you have any more info on this - ie do you know if this Jason Abbott controls NYSEPOST or is just the web guy or whatever?
There are a couple of other similar sites out there for which he is the registrant. They seem like fake on-line newspapers. One of these is www.financialstrend.com which I suspect may have been created to pump long-time pennyscam VGLS.
If you look at today's edition it has generic stories about various big stocks - plus a story about pinkie VGLS.
The contact number is for a defunct-looking mgt consulting company in Denver & there are other signs of fakery.
Interesting! VGLS is going through a bunch of moves obviously designed to give the appearance of a piece of penny trash transformed by new mgt etc etc. I guess this might be part of the turd-gilding.
I need to get my head around the details of the rule, but on this:
And portals cannot take money from anyone, or manage anyone's money.
Presumably they can get paid by the target company - otherwise why would anybody run a portal?
Fraud charges against another Magnetar deal collateral manager: http://www.sec.gov/News/PressRelease/Detail/PressRelease/1370539908794#.Umcl_Ukbo5u
I'm no lawyer, despite the handle, but to get a judgement for fraud from a jury I'm sure you need to prove intent. Maybe the defense could paint the jury a picture of good faith, reasonable efforts to establish a value. Part of doing that would rely on convincing the jury of the credibility of the valuation experts.
Of course you'd hope that the jury would understand that what a valuation expert says doesn't matter in this case, and shouldn't have mattered to these guys - if the BOPD says the bonds are fake, they're fake etc etc etc.
But I don't think it's safe to assume that a jury wouldn't be the same kind of people who fall for these obvious scams, who profoundly distrust the gubberment, perhaps even akin to the whackjobs infesting IHUB.
I think he means that Riad's fake bonds in yr picture appear to have watermarks, while the Italian fake bonds appear not to.
In the next edition of the scam, they'll probably have a big "AUTHENTIC" stamp on them.
Just to make sure people don't confuse them with the fake bonds stamped "FRAUDULENT" eg in this Federal Reserve notice back in 2003: http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/SRLETTERS/2003/SR0314.htm
The US has never issued instruments which look anything like this. They get faked up by people doctoring an image from a US currency note and adding the phony coupon sheet.
I like the suggestion in this: http://cannonfire.blogspot.com.au/2009/06/mystery-bonds-enter-cult-now-it-gets.html that maybe cult leader "Queen Salvacion A. Legaspi" in the Philippines is the prime source of the fakes. Here's a youtube from her with views of the same kind of fake bonds:
A bunch of fun - I hope he doesn't get zapped too quickly.
This is an older go-round on the same kind of scam: http://www.thehallofinfamy.org/inductees.php?action=detail&artist=graham_halksworth
UK & Canadian guys jailed for 6 years, back in 2001.
But as far as I can remember, this kind of fake US bond scam first started back in the 80's, if not earlier.
I guess not amazing that people can still fall for it, but definitely pathetic. And IMO absolutely no excuse for any valuation expert who gave the slightest support to CDFT's claims.
This is just another episode in the long history of fake US bonds, not particularly different to the ones talked about here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-18/no-one-knows-truth-about-300b-bonds-from-alleged-plane-crash.html
I'd very much like to see them.
Best case, the report is a fake, but then we have Malone saying in one his letters referring to "extensive discussions" with the "valuation expert", presumably Marquez and/or Daniel Jordan. So it seems like there was an actual report by these supporting a gadzillion dollar valuation at least to some extent.
IMO it would be completely unacceptable for any valuation expert to do a hypothetical exercise - "if the assets are as mgt represents, then this is what their value is" - in this kind of case, where the assets are clearly bogus.
If they were actually US Treasury bonds, then valuing them would not take 99 pages, particularly if the valuation is based on just the coupons. Undoubtedly some of those pages must relate to the provenance and authenticity of the bonds. Even if these were just attachments provided by management, appended without comment by Marquez etc, there would be absolutely no excuse IMO for including them in a document under his letterhead, unless the document also included a negative analysis of their content.
Looking at that Marquez link from my post, you can see him doing thorough and professional diligence on an asset. He at least knows what is required and he must realize that anything remotely supportive of mgt's claims here is completely unacceptable.
fly by night appraiser
For me, the big problem here is that the valuers don't look particularly fly-by-night on paper.
Taking a couple of names from CDFT's 8-K/A ...
John Misuraca: President of the OC/Long Beach chapter of CalCPA http://blogs.calcpa.org/oclb/ etc.
Paul Marquez: Here he is providing what looks like professional and competent advice helping a client win a case in NY http://www.nybusinessdivorce.com/2012/01/articles/valuation/forensic-accounting-helps-wins-the-day-in-oppressed-shareholder-stock-valuation-proceeding/
Obviously, if these guys actually did give the fake bonds a gadzillion dollar valuation, they must be corrupt or wilfully negligent or whatever & they should be hounded into the wilderness.
But convincing a lay jury of this might not be completely straightforward.
PR re getting audited, filing a Form 10, becoming fully-reporting etc. Obviously it's better for outside shareholders if the company is fully reporting. The bogus-looking deregistration VG pulled off in 2008 was a huge red flag. So maybe this is a good sign.
But of course bogus announcements of intentions to become fully reporting are a common pinky-scam ploy & until proven kosher no need to take this PR at face value.
Question: Why this auditor - KWCO PC f/k/a Killman, Murrell & Co? Why go to a little Odessa TX based oil & gas specialist? If you want credibility, get a firm with credibility, not something in Odessa & with this kind of client list: http://www.otcmarkets.com/research/service-provider/KWCO-P.C?id=105
My guess is that KWCO were referred by VG's similarly credibility-challenged outside counsel, Robert A. Forrester, who has what looks like a one-man operation in the Dallas area. A quick Google will show they have clients in common.
Not that it matters, but MD's really only get to call themselves "Doctor" by courtesy. Strictly speaking, only Ph.D's are "doctors".
I think there's something wrong.
The new format gives me all this empty screen space which isn't filled up with escort agency ads and special offers for get-rich-quick schemes.
IHUB is really falling behind its peer group.
ADVFN Plc doesn't look that healthy: http://investing.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article/id/4552110/
In CY12 revenue from the US was about GBP 3.6M, around 40% of the total; little growth on CY11. http://investing.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article/id/4470075/
They segment geographically by domicile of the customer, so presumably the US revenue is largely IHUB; and IHUB revenue would contribute something to the other geographies from non-US IHUB users. Maybe 50%+ of their total revenue comes from IHUB?
Safe to assume that they are squeezing the current asset base to try to achieve profitability - ie more ads and I guess the current nonsense, somehow or other.
I think they're a crappy little company & no surprise if they squeeze the IHUB sorta-golden goose too far.
No reason to think he wouldn't be, but I guess it's hard to keep a psychotic drug-addled scammer down.
I like to think of him still prowling the streets (and sleeping) in his fabulous Penny Mobile.
Yes.
It's disappointing to see no sign of the involvement of a distinguished former fake 1934 bond player in all of this (Mr TPK, of course).
Not just Riad. These bonds (pretty sure they're the same fakes) have been doing the rounds for years.
If any accredited valuers did actually sign off on a badzillion value for these mouldy old fake bonds then they need to be zapped.
No matter what kind of no-reliance/based-on-client-representation/whatever language their reports may have contained. If they didn't come out with a clear statement either that the bonds are worthless or that they were unable to value because the client failed to provide sufficient information, then they need to be squelched.
If CDFT is misrepresenting their position in this 8-K, they should do something about it, fast.