Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Ready for the next run?
Not really...LOL. We got totally fed up with all these pot stocks and flushed 'em all yesterday. Closed out all 3 open positions and went to all cash. I'm not convinced we are due for a big run just yet and we needed a reset and a little rest. This DeFrancesco debacle and the entire Aphria affair got me pretty sour on almost the whole sector right now. You know from our earliest exchanges that I was pretty much a pot pessimist from the get-go and I might be even more so right now.
Don't get me wrong...I still like Origin House a lot. It still is one of if not my favorite MJ companies of the entire sordid lot. But we just had to get away from it for a while until the sector stabilizes a little. I need to see at least a little sideways trading action for a spell until we have some clearly defined upper and lower trading ranges that I can swing trade profitably rather than just throwing darts and praying that we don't lose all our profits to date. I don't think we've necessarily hit a bottom yet and the broader markets are looking real scary right now. If they tank I don't think we're gonna see the pot sector zoom while the DJIA & S&P & NASDAQ are plummeting. If/when Origin House shows me a clearly bullish uptrend or at least a well-defined range that I can successfully trade we will jump back in but until then we are through with these pure pot stocks that aren't making any real money for the time being.
OH's recent acquisition that cost another $7 million probably means the next quarter will show another loss as well. While I personally think this is very probably a good move that will pay off in the long run the market will likely punish them when the time comes like it just did for OH and many of the other MJ stocks after their recent last earnings reports and they all ended up getting hammered despite rapidly increasing revenue.
I think we're gonna try a CBD play and open a position with Charlotte's Web tomorrow and see what happens with that. They have been on my radar screen for a long time now and it appears to be a much better-behaved stock with a fairly well-defined trading range. Plus they are actually already profitable and are making money...gasp, imagine that...real profits!
Hey, speaking of CBD oil how is the stuff you started taking recently working? Is it helping with whatever you are taking it for or not? Is it a specific brand made by a specific company or is it just a generic oil? Was curious if it was the stuff made by Charlotte's Web or not...
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-farm-bill-could-2019-183841407.html
Anyway, since we are currently out of Origin House I hope you guys don't take off without us. Either wait until we get back in or better yet why don't you bounce back and forth between $5 and $8 several times so I know where to start buying and selling?
Brady Cobb...LOL. Remember I told you the other day how the same names kept popping up while I was researching that DeFrancesco doosh? Cobb was one of 'em...
https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/10/03/1600748/0/en/Scythian-Biosciences-Appoints-Brady-Cobb-as-CEO.html
Cobb was a Director at Liberty Health and got replaced by Scorsis when he joined the company. At the same time Scorsis was also named the CEO of Liberty, replacing the interim CEO Galloro...another DeFrancesco crony who keeps popping up all the time in DeFrancesco's cannabis cesspool...
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170724006067/en/Liberty-Health-Sciences-Names-Industry-Veteran-George
The Usual Suspects. As far as I can tell, DeFrancesco has a small cadre of corrupt cronies and he just keeps moving them around within his various scam companies at will. It's like a shell game within his shell companies.
Cobb claims this latest report by QCM/Hindenburg was intended to tank SOL's share price. LMAO...seems to me that Cobb was doing a plenty good enough job of that on his own. Check out the price chart for Scythian/SOL...
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/solcf
Click on ALL to see a classic price history for one of DeFrancesco's companies. I don't know if Andy and his equally crooked wife Cathy have any kids or not, but it wouldn't surprise me none if they have a set of twins named Pump & Dump.
A fire sale on the assets of a delisted company with half its board of directors and founders going to prison and multi-billion dollar class-action lawsuits staring them in the face?
Is this REALLY what you are pinning your hopes on at this point???
I don't think anybody should assume that Canada has a monopoly on fraud, abuse, mismanagement, accounting tricks, etc.
There is gonna be plenty of stories just like this one coming about some US-based operators at some point in the future. There is just way too much money being thrown around in this sector and that is gonna tempt some bad people to do bad things which will hurt innocent and trusting investors.
Not all Canadians are crooks and not all Americans are angels.
I respectfully disagree, John. Even though Aphria has big legitimate operations in Canada and put the 3rd largest amount of pot on the shelves since legalization I think maybe you are underestimating the role that trust in a company's management plays in future share appreciation. A company loses that and much of the intrinsic value of a stock plummets...and that is exactly what we've been seeing since Monday morning. It's gonna be mighty tough to get that back, IMO.
Also, I've seen you make some references to the fact that Aphria is already making profits. I don't think that is quite accurate...
The Legal Way Canadian Marijuana Stocks Are Tricking Investors
https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/10/18/the-legal-way-canadian-marijuana-stocks-are-tricki.aspx
As for Aphria, in its latest quarterly operating results, it reported CA$13.29 million in sales and just over CA$4.8 million in production and "other" costs. However, operating expenses totaled a whopping CA$24.12 million, leading to a nearly CA$16 million operating loss if biological adjustments are excluded.
Now I'm not saying that Aphria is lying here...apparently many/most pot companies are legally "cooking their books" to make them look profitable when they really aren't. Just wanted to make you aware that Canadian accounting rules are not as strict as the US ones that used to govern American companies. Although lately even US firms have taken to some pretty shady shenanigans that are starting to stray further and further away from the tougher GAAP guidelines...
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/sec-is-once-again-guiding-companies-on-their-use-of-non-gaap-numbers-2017-10-18
There's a lot of bad crap happening out there...Aphria just so happens to be in the crosshairs right now.
Good idea! If Aphria survives they can fertilize their MJ plants with some DeFrancesco mulch and introduce a new brand.
They can call it "DeFCon 5"...which is pretty much what Aphria is in right now thanks to that con artist.
It's funny, I just looked at my spreadsheet of all the swing trades I've closed out over the last few months and except for a second swing trade on HEXO that I knew I was probably reentering a little too early after a 43% gainer the only red losers I have are all in stocks of companies that DeFrancesco had a big part in founding.
From now on before I enter any new positions the very first piece of DD that I'm gonna do is to find out if Andy has anything whatsoever to do with them.
Best of luck to you, twist. I'm sure there is probably some short-term money to be made by traders who are smarter, luckier or have bigger balls than me.
But way too risky for me right now. I lost a few bucks on Aphria, Liberty & Scythian and don't wanna give any more to DeFrancesco.
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."
But Dubya said it much better...
It is hard to believe that after the Nuuvera scandal, Aphria insiders are potentially at it again.
Not that hard to believe at all. Just google "Andy DeFrancesco"...the founder of Aphria.
Aphria: From Nuuvera To Scythian, It's DéJà Vu All Over Again
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4226667-aphria-nuuvera-scythian-deja-vu
Aphria's 6-people Board is comprised of 4 insiders and only 2 independents; it needs to overhaul its board by removing insiders and significantly increasing the number of independent directors.
Didn't Aphria's lame statement this morning just say they were gonna appoint a committee made up of "independent" directors? Seems there are only 2 of them. That's a pretty small committee.
The other 4 are home frantically packing their bags for parts unknown.
Already liquidated.
And did it quick enough Monday morning that we could buy almost 50% more Aphria stock right now than we originally held with the proceeds if we wanted to.
But we don't.
I think you were the one who rightfully said days ago all they had to do was post a few pictures of their acquisitions in South America & Jamaica and that woulda nipped this in the bud.
Instead Aphria management seems to be running around their corporate offices yelling "hey, does anybody know what the hell we spent $700 million on south of the border???".
DJIA futures down almost 400 at the moment so at least we got that going for us...
https://money.cnn.com/data/premarket/
I see a big Chinese tech exec just got arrested in Canada...
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/06/investing/stock-market-today-dow-jones-huawei/index.html
Hey, Meng...do you know Vic?
Only about 70,000 shares traded so far this morning in pre-market...
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/apha
As opposed to the 2 million or thereabouts on Monday morning. Looks like all the institutional money is mostly out and it's only daytraders and dead cat bounce chasers now. Probably gonna be tough for this sucker to rebound back up much until the big money returns and that may not happen for a while...if ever.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/aphria-to-review-latam-acquisition-in-face-of-inaccurate-allegations-by-short-sellers-2018-12-06
On Thursday, the company said it remained confident in the process leading to the acquisition. "However, in the face of inaccurate and misleading accusations by certain short-sellers, whose sole interest is in profiting from a decline in the Company's shares, it is undertaking a comprehensive review, led by a Special Committee of independent directors of these, and any other, allegations in the interest of protecting Aphria shareholders," Aphria said in a statement.
Translation: QCM/Hindenburg caught us red-handed so we're gonna stall until Neufeld & DeFrancesco can pack their suitcases full of stolen investor money and get the hell outta Dodge before the regulators show up at the door."
I'm sorry, gang, but this is the best the company can come up THREE full days after the QCM presentation??? The stock is cratering in a death spiral, the very survival of the company may be at stake, another short bombshell is about to explode today...and these guys are appointing a committee to perform a "comprehensive review"???
Wonder who's gonna play Vic and Andy in the movie they'll make about this?
Being a potential takeover target is never a sufficient sole reason to buy a stock but it can't hurt to have that as a possibility. Origin House is probably as good a candidate as anybody else right now. From late September...
3 Marijuana Stocks That Are Takeover Targets
https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/09/30/3-marijuana-stocks-that-are-takeover-targets.aspx
I like Williams...he's pretty much a skeptic like I am when it comes to many of these MJ stocks.
There's gonna be a lot of M&A activity over the next few years as this sector shakes out...there are just too many pot companies for them all to survive even given the rosiest scenario for future global market size.
Warren Buffet likes to remind people that there was once over 2000 American automobile companies in the early 1900s...name me just 5 today.
Place yer money and makes yer bets!
Reading some of these posts on your reddit link is hilarious...but many are spot on. I'm on the side of those who are backing Grego in this war as I believe him and not Aphria/SOL. Time will tell.
BTW, the Serruya Bros are also involved with Aleafia...
https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/09/25/1575543/0/en/Aleafia-and-Serruya-Family-to-Enter-Cannabis-Retail-Joint-Venture-for-Launch-of-One-Plant.html
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/aleafia-to-receive-10-million-investment-as-part-of-deal-to-take-majority-stake-in-serruya-led-one-plant-2018-09-25
So if the Serruyas are involved then DeFrancesco probably ain't too far behind.
Note to self: Stay the hell away from Aleafia!
Very interesting video, John...nice find. It sure will be interesting to see what develops tomorrow. Grego confirmed what I had surmised in one of my posts...these guys check out dozens and dozens of companies and the vast majority of them never pan out as shorting opportunities so we never hear about them.
DeFrancesco's wife is involved in this stuff as well...
http://floridapolitics.com/archives/270184-investment-medical-marijuana
http://search.sunbiz.org/Inquiry/CorporationSearch/SearchResultDetail?inquirytype=EntityName&directionType=Initial&searchNameOrder=NAMASTEGORGIE%20L130000637150&aggregateId=flal-l13000063715-65c4ff0d-cc8a-4fd3-bc70-3dee352ac728&searchTerm=namaste%20gorgie&listNameOrder=NAMASTEGORGIE%20L130000637150
At first I thought this might be the Namaste that got into some trouble a while back but apparently not. "Namaste" is a type of yoga and apparently she's into that when she ain't helping her hubby rip people off.
Here is a classic price chart that has DeFrancesco written all over it...
https://www.marketscreener.com/COOL-HOLDINGS-INC-44279909/charts/
DeFrancesco - Director
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/awsm/insideractions
Galloro is another name I see frequently...
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/lhsif/insiders?pid=146590031
There's Galloro again showing up on Liberty Health as an "Independent Director"..
Like cockroaches, these guys.
The marijuana sector is like the Wild Wild West right now. Lots of bad hombres out there and this might just be only the tip of the iceberg with so much money being thrown around.
With the DJIA down 800 points on Tuesday and Aphria in a death spiral sucking almost every pot stock down with it like near-frozen passengers on the sinking Titanic I think maybe I'll just play some computer games all day tomorrow...LOL.
Okay, this is like researching a den of thieves...the same names keep popping up like in The Usual Suspects.
Aphria, Liberty Health and SOL (formerly Scythian BioSciences) were pretty much all started by this DeFrancesco crook and all the CEOs are sitting on each other's boards...or at least were until fairly recently. Then once DeFrancesco gets his grubby little hands involved he and his cohorts treat the companies' finances like their own personal piggy banks and leaves most of their honest investors like us little guys holding the bag as the stock price either crashes or grinds slowly down toward nothing.
Here's a good example of what always happens once DeFrancesco starts doing his usual dirty work...
Serruya Family, Liberty Health Sciences and Scythian Biosciences Invest $10 Million into Isodiol International
https://www.newcannabisventures.com/serruya-family-liberty-health-sciences-and-scythian-bioscience-invest-10-million-into-isodiol-international/
The Serruya family has given a ton of money to the Delavaco Group and were heavy investors in the Aphria startup which as far as I can tell DeFrancesco brokered through a reverse merger via the Black Sparrow shell company he set up...
http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/black-sparrow-capital-corp-announces-shareholder-approval-connection-with-qualifying-tsx-venture-blc.h-1973153.htm
Liberty Health's CEO Scorsis was on Scythian's (now SOL) board of directors until he recently resigned in July...
https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/07/26/1543141/0/en/Scythian-Biosciences-Announces-Director-Resignation.html
Okay, so how did this Isodiol company do after these crooked SOBs got involved?
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/isolf
I swear to God, EVERY single company that DeFrancesco gets involved in does the exact same thing. I looked at the price charts for about half a dozen small companies that DeFrancesco was listed as being associated with and every single one of them either eventually if not rapidly dwindles down to near zippo.
I keep seeing other cronies' names popping up that I recognize too that makes me think this is all just one big happy family of potential fraudsters that all seem to have ties to this corrupt DeFrancesco character.
I'm not saying Liberty Health ain't legit...but if DeFrancesco is involved in any way, shape or form they're probably up to no good. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the next bombshell that QCM/Hindenburg is promising to drop tomorrow has a lot to do with him specifically.
Please don't make any investment decisions to buy or not buy a stock based on anything I've said...but needless to say I'm glad I also bailed out of Liberty early Monday morning with only a 10% loss because it went down another 25% after we sold. As far as I can tell this DeFrancesco is about as dirty as they come.
I could very well be way off base about Liberty so if you decide to buy some (or more?) I hope they do very well for you. I think maybe this Aphria crap got me all paranoid and maybe I need to just take a break from these pot stocks for a while and go watch football and hockey for a couple months until the MJ sector gets a little more conducive for profitable swing trading anyway...LOL. We were up almost 40% after the first couple months but our profits have gotten roughly chopped in half over the last 2 or 3 weeks and I don't see it getting any better for some time.
I'll snoop around some and see what I can find out for you, John. While I was researching that slimy DeFrancesco last night I did come across the Serruya brothers...they are Canadians who supposedly got filthy rich on some yogurt places. Didn't do enough DD on them specifically to determine if they are as dirty as DeFrancesco is but I know that his Delavaco Group up in Toronto is heavily funded by these guys.
I really liked little Liberty but DeFrancesco used one of his shell companies (DFMMJ) to take over Chestnut Hill after they were one of the first MJ growers to get licensed in Florida and then they became Liberty Health...
https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/local/florida/the-canadian-connection-how-an-equity-firm-bought-its-way-into-the-fl-marijuana-industry/461638351
If this scumbag still has ANYTHING at all to do with Liberty I want NO part of them. This guy is probably gonna ding the entire pot sector and legit companies like Origin House will suffer as a result. Hopefully it will blow over before too long...I always figured that fraud and corruption would eventually rear its ugly head in this kinda industry given its nature but the fact that it looks like it just hit the 3rd biggest MJ company will likely rattle investor confidence a lot more than had it been a much smaller operator.
DeFrancesco can pass out those condoms he's holding while he gets passed around in Cell Block D.
Hope his wife Cathy goes to prison as well...
https://oceandrive.com/new-yoga-wynwood
SOL Yoga...awww, isn't that sweet of Andy to rename his new shell company (formerly Scythian) after his wife's yoga place?
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/solcf
SOL...pretty much how every investor who gets sucked in by this corrupt couple winds up.
That's pretty much the same conclusion (rightly or wrongly) I came to early Monday morning when we quickly bailed out after I saw it was down 30% in pre-market trading and then found out why. That was 38% ago...wow! And little Liberty which we also dumped at the same time is down 25% in the carnage.
In one of my posts there was a list of other companies that this DeFrancesco sleazeball has been associated with and the price charts for every single one of them looks like a total train wreck. SEC regulators asleep at the wheel.
How much you wanna bet if Aphria goes down this scumbag will sign up for one of the multiple class-action lawsuits to get compensation for the loss in value of the millions of Aphria shares that Vic shoveled to him at Scythian???
I see Aphria only dropped 16.5% today...
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/apha?countrycode=ca
That's actually a good day compared to the last two. Closed at $3.74 US with an intraday low of just $3.56. We might see that again tomorrow when QCM/Hindenburg delivers another punch to Vic's gut.
Be real careful, BB...many/most of us have tried to catch falling knives in the past with varying degrees of success but buying Aphria right now may be more like trying to catch a guillotine blade with your neck. Best of luck whatever you do.
I hope Aphria can survive this attack because if they are truly guilty of massive fraud it will shake investor confidence in the entire pot sector and the weakness in the broader markets is already enough of a challenge without having a double whammy hit all of us who are long in this or that MJ stock.
Wow, the more I dig into this DeFrancesco debacle the stinkier this big pile of steaming crap gets. No wonder Vic was involved with this guy...he's been joined at the hip with him since Day 1. DeFrancesco was the mastermind behind the very founding of Aphria in the first place...
https://greencamp.com/is-aphria-lying-to-the-shareholders-about-their-overseas-investments/
The one thing, or better say person, that connects all the dots with Aphria, Scythian, and the overseas acquisitions is non other than Andy DeFrancesco.
Andy DeFrancesco is the founder of the Delavaco Group, which is a private equity firm based in Toronto, however, he’s been recently removed from their website.
His wife is now listed as the Chairman and CEO of the Delavaco Group.
DeFrancesco has a very tight relationship with Scythian BioSciences, which got renamed in the meantime to Sol Global Investments.
Scythian’s reverse-merger deal that took the company public was handled by the COO of the Delavaco Group – DeFrancesco’s personal private equity firm.
DeFrancesco was also listed as the founding investor in Aphria on the Delavaco website, which can still be seen here.
The Delavaco Group was also listed as the advisor in Aphria’s reverse-merger into a company named Black Sparrow Capital Corp. This deal took Aphria public.
Here’s the shocker: at the time of the deal, the COO of Delavaco Capital was the CEO and CFO of the Black Sparrow shell.
There’s something funky happening with Aphria’s acquisitions and deal structuring, and it would be a shame if it is happening off the backs of trusty investors.
Black Sparrow was just one of the umpteen shell companies that DeFrancesco set up using his Delavaco Group that was the forerunner of what eventually became Aphria...
http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/black-sparrow-capital-corp-announces-shareholder-approval-connection-with-qualifying-tsx-venture-blc.h-1973153.htm
http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/aphria-inc-begins-trading-on-the-tsxv-1974830.htm
Now it's clear to me why Liberty Health is also getting hammered so bad...they are probably up to their necks in this scam just as much. After DeFrancesco got Aphria going and installed his puppet/partner Neufeld as its CEO they next tried to infiltrate Florida while bypassing the drug laws of both the US and Canada...
https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/local/florida/the-canadian-connection-how-an-equity-firm-bought-its-way-into-the-fl-marijuana-industry/461638351
Enter yet another DeFrancesco shell company called DFMMJ Investments that swooped in and bought out Chestnut Hill Tree Farm which was one of the first companies to get licensed in Florida after they approved medical marijuana and then turned right around and sold part of it to Vic at Aphria...
http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/aphria-advances-growth-us-medical-cannabis-market-with-completion-strategic-investment-tsx-aph-2218181.htm
Which eventually became Liberty Health...
https://aphria.ca/blog/aphria-launches-us-expansion-strategy/
Except when that happened the TSX threatened to delist Aphria since they appeared to be in violation of US law forcing them to divest themselves from Liberty (at least on paper)...
https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/12/24/this-marijuana-stock-is-waving-goodbye-to-the-usa.aspx
It's also apparent to me now why Aphria has had such a weak and muted response to QCM/Hindenburg's accusations...because in all likelihood they got Vic dead to rights...
https://equity.guru/2018/12/04/tepid-aphria-apha-t-response-short-report-accusations-sees-stock-hammered/
Because now DeFrancesco & Neufeld are pulling the exact same crap in South America and the Caribbean except this time they're using DeFrancesco's Scythian-turned-SOL shell company as the middleman...
https://www.barrons.com/articles/marijuana-stock-aphria-down-on-short-seller-report-1543855963
Man oh man, this is looking really bad. After researching all this now I'm glad I only lost as little as I did on Aphria & Liberty & Scythian. I've never shorted a stock in my life and never plan to but I gotta admit some of these Aphria December put options are looking mighty tempting...
https://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/apha/option-chain/most-active
I'm seriously starting to think that there's a great chance this company is going down and Vic is going to jail if the SEC does its job. Which kinda sucks because I don't see how the 3rd largest cannabis company on the entire planet can get taken out and not drag the entire pot sector down with it...at least for a while until investors get their confidence back. I still got some open swing trades going so it would seem that I am not yet done losing money thanks to Vic and his corrupt crony. This DeFrancesco guy is destined to become a Wall Street legend when it comes to fraud. Not on the same scale as a Bernie Madoff or a Bernie Ebbers but more like in Ivan Boesky's league...
https://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/10-of-the-biggest-wall-street-busts-of-all-time.html/
"Greed is good"? I beg to differ.
Do you remember back in October when Aphria reported they lost almost a million dollars worth of MJ crop because of a "lack of qualified workers" needed to harvest it?
https://business.financialpost.com/cannabis/pot-is-so-hot-in-canada-that-firms-are-importing-workers
https://windsor.ctvnews.ca/aphria-destroys-batch-of-marijuana-due-to-lack-of-qualified-workers-1.4131514
I remember this news vividly because it was right in the middle of my first Aphria swing trade. I was like "WTF? These guys knew they had a boatload of ripening pot and they didn't hire enough people to pick it? What kind of an incompetent company did I just go long on???"
That excuse they gave always struck me as pretty suspicious and now in light of QCM's allegations I'm starting to wonder if the REAL reason they lost all that marijuana is because it really was infested with bugs and/or mold. It would certainly make sense that they would come up with a lame excuse like "all our workers quit because it gets hot in a greenhouse in the summertime" rather than tell the world your growing facility if full of bugs and mold.
Aphria needs to invest in a little pesticide and the first thing they should spray it on is that DeFrancesco worm.
Never saw that movie but after watching your excerpt I'll have to put it on my list...looks like a good flick.
Right now I'm watching this real-life saga/scam/scandal unfold. Here is Hindenburg's response to Aphria's lame rebuttal to the initial charges...
https://hindenburgresearch.com/aphria-our-response/
They pretty much accurately sum up my impression of this war so far...Aphria is facing an existential threat to their very survival and Vic is either twiddling his thumbs or perhaps packing for that house he bought in South America for a gabillion dollars.
The company’s response: none.
Waiting for the second shoe to drop on Thursday after the intermission...
https://twitter.com/hindenburgres?lang=en
I've been researching this DeFrancesco crook today and not liking what I'm finding out at all. This corrupt scumbag is like the anti-Midas...everything he touches turns into total steaming piles of crap for his investors. His wife and his "business partner" Honig appear to be slimeballs as well. Let's start here...
http://sharesleuth.com/investigations/2018/03/pretenders-and-ghosts-stealth-promotion-network-exploits-financial-sites-to-tout-stocks
THE DELEVACO GROUP
The stealth promotion ring began posting stories last year about companies with financial ties to The Delavaco Group, a self-described merchant banking firm with offices in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. and Toronto.
Its principals, Andrew and Catherine DeFrancesco, have been putting money into Honig’s deals since 2016. SEC filings show that they or entities they control hold stakes in PolarityTE, Riot Blockchain and InfoSonics.
The touting ring has spotlighted at least four companies in The Delevaco Group’s investment portfolio: Massroots; Aphria Inc. (OTC: APHQF); Liberty Health Services Inc. (OTC: LHSIF) and Breaking Data Corp. (OTC: BKDCF).
Every single one of the smaller companies mentioned appears to be nothing but pump-and-dump schemes designed to enrich these crooked a-holes while costing his unwitting investors a ton of dough...
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/polarityte-plunges-after-citron-calls-it-a-fraud-2018-06-25
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/sec-charges-multiple-firms-individuals-with-microcap-fraud-schemes-including-barry-honig-2018-09-07
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/BKD.V/community/
These are just a few examples...there is a lot more out there to convince anyone that this guy is bad news. This entire article deals with nothing but scams perpetrated by DeFrancesco & Honig...
http://sharesleuth.com/investigations/2018/09/cool-mara-riot-part-two-securities-fraud-case-against-south-florida-group-reverberates-through-additional-companies
Why in hell Vic and the rest of Aphria's management would ever get involved with these kind of people is beyond me. No legitimate company would even let this guy on their property let alone do multi-hundred million dollar business deals with him.
Something smells really fishy here. I can only surmise that either QCM/Hindenburg caught Vic red-handed or Aphria's CEO and management are clueless clowns and either possibility should be greatly troubling to anybody who is still long on APHA. Neufeld & DeFrancesca have worked together much too closely in the past for me not to believe that Vic knew full well what kind of bad dude he was dealing with...
https://business.financialpost.com/cannabis/aphria-closes-deal-now-worth-up-to-300-million-to-acquire-scythians-latin-american-assets
As I said, people will just have to decide for themselves if the presentation and report is legit or not. Personally, I was impressed by the detail of their work but that is just my opinion and folks will have to decide individually if they believe it or not.
I have no idea how Hindenburg & QCM got wind that Aphria might be a shell of a cannabis company. For all I know they look into many companies and most of them never pan out for shorting opportunities so we never hear about them. But I do respect the lengths they went to in order to investigate and gather info. As far as I'm concerned they did their DD above and beyond the call of duty and what they found out caused them to short the living crap outta Aphria before they announced their findings to the world. Anybody here woulda done exactly the same thing. It's no different than a person doing his homework and determining that a company is a great investment and going long before most everybody else finds out about it.
When I was younger I used to despise people who shorted stocks...it just seemed unethical to me that people would sell shares they didn't even own. Now that I am older (but not much wiser) I realize that shorts are just part of the game and in this case they may have done the investment community a service by exposing fraud when analysts who were screaming "BUY!" weren't doing squat.
IF the report is true, that is. Obviously I believe that it is but I could be wrong.
But do you really think a few shady acquisitions which aphria is defending as justifiable can tank the company entirely even in the midst of all the other very promising operations that they have currently in the works as well as their impressive financials?
Obviously, yes I do because I closed out my small position in Aphria yesterday. It was only supposed to be another short-term profitable swing trade in APHA in the first place and it was already down more than I cared before the news hit.
IMO, it doesn't really matter if Aphria's operation in Canada is totally legit...if this report is true then management is incompetently negligent at best and criminally corrupt at worst.
These pot stocks are all risky enough as it is...only companies with superior management will survive and thrive and even those will find it extremely challenging. If Vic & Gang really didn't know what they were spending hundreds of millions of dollars on in South America then they're idiots and if they did then they're crooks. I don't wanna invest in a company run by idiots or crooks whether it's a short-term swing trade or a long-term buy & hold.
I dunno, C. I listened to the whole audio interview and then watched Grego's entire presentation yesterday morning and they sounded pretty credible to me.
But everybody needs to follow his own gut on this one. My gut said get out while you still can but that's just me. I really admire the courage of those who hung tough and especially those who just bought some more today. Sometimes this kinda courage pays off and sometimes it doesn't. It's probably a crapshoot at this point. And if I wanted to shoot craps I'd drive a few hours to Vega$ and play the real thing.
This isn't the first company these guys have torpedoed with their extensive research...it's actually their 6th. I believe they're 5-for-5 so I'm not betting on them swinging and missing on this one.
They might be swamped with referrals.
Vic may end up wishing he was in prison rather than having to face these vulture lawyers every day for the next 3 months. And if the LLPs are already swooping in to pick at the carcass the SEC regulators can't be very far behind.
Best of luck to you, C. Wish you didn't have to go through this but it happens.
I'm not 100% certain but I believe it's usually a bad sign when you have more law firms investigating you than you have analysts covering your company.
SHAREHOLDER ALERT: Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC Announces Investigation of Aphria, Inc. (APHA)
APHRIA INVESTOR ALERT: Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP Encourages Investors Who Suffered Losses Exceeding $50,000 Investing in Aphria, Inc. to Contact the Firm
Aphria (APHA) Alert: Johnson Fistel Investigates Aphria Inc.; Investors Suffering Losses Encouraged to Contact Firm
INVESTOR ALERT: Kirby McInerney LLP Announces an Investigation of Shareholder Claims Against Aphria Inc.
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. is Investigating Aphria Inc. (APHA) on Behalf of Stockholders and Encourages APHA Investors to Contact the Firm
INVESTOR ALERT: Law Offices of Howard G. Smith Announces Investigation on Behalf of Aphria, Inc. Investors (APHA)
SHAREHOLDER ALERT: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP Notifies Investors of an Investigation Involving Possible Securities Fraud Violations by Certain Officers and Directors of Aphria, Inc.
Scott+Scott Attorneys at Law LLP Announces Investigation into Aphria, Inc. (APHA)
DeFrancesco's SOL (formerly Scythian) and Liberty Health still getting hammered as well...
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/solcf
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/lhsif
The carnage continues.
Does NYSE require $5 PPS?
$1 minimum price...
https://finance.zacks.com/minimum-stock-price-nyse-5116.html
Minimum Trading Price
Once a stock is listed, its price is determined by public trading on the NYSE floor, where bids to buy and offers to sell are matched. The stock's price fluctuates as investors assess its worth. NYSE stocks must maintain a minimum price of $1 per share.
Minimum Penalty
If a listed stock closes or ends the trading day below $1 for 30 consecutive days, it is a candidate for delisting or removal from NYSE trading. The NYSE typically suspends trading in the stock after the 30th day that it averages below $1 per share. This happened to Eastman Kodak in January 2012, when it fell toward bankruptcy.
Give it a few days.
Confucius say: "Sometimes better to have big brains than big balls."
"Since closing this important strategic acquisition in September, we have made considerable progress supporting and building out our operations on the ground in Latin America and the Caribbean," said Aphria Chief Executive Vic Neufeld. "Yesterday, I, along with other members of our Executive Management team, stepped up to demonstrate our confidence in the Company's business plan, growth strategy, integrity and value of the assets by personally investing more than $3.1 million in Aphria's common shares."
Big deal. You don't need money in prison. Just ask Ebbers.
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1903155_1903156_1903277,00.html
I saw earlier that you weren't long Aphria but had lost some on SOL. I swing traded them back in early October when they were called Scythian BioSciences at the same time I did my first profitable Aphria trade. Wasn't a very big position and lost around 10% before I sold them less than 10 days after buying in. After establishing a position I started reading some bad things about them and this DeFrancesco slimeball that made me not wanna own them any more. I knew they had been given millions of Aphria shares but I never thought to put two and two together although that woulda been a helluva stretch at the time.
That was the one time I didn't do much DD so I like having that red entry with a few lost dollars in my spreadsheet... you can learn something from every losing trade and it constantly reminds me never to buy another stock without doing much research on them. I did my fair share of homework on Aphria before my first swing...I'm sure I did more homework than some folks and less than others. The trouble is I don't believe any amount of DD done online woulda uncovered what these hustling enterprising shorts apparently discovered...I'm not about to hop on a plane and fly to South America every time I want to check out a pot stock I may be interested in trading.
Nobody here should blame themselves if they lost money due to this scandal if it turns out to be accurate. But if somebody bought shares AFTER this troubling news broke and ends up losing their shirt, well, they were warned and have nobody else to blame but themselves.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/aphria-stands-behind-latam-operations-in-response-to-short-sellers-negative-report-2018-12-04
Pretty tepid response if you ask me. Glad I'm on the sidelines.
Aphria's stock resumes trade, falls 10.6% in premarket trade
December 4, 2018 at 8:55 a.m. ET by Tomi Kilgore
Aphria's stock tumbles 15% premarket, after plunging 23% on Monday after a negative short-seller report
Dec. 4, 2018 at 7:31 a.m. ET by Tomi Kilgore
Aphria stock halted for news pending
Dec. 4, 2018 at 8:26 a.m. ET by Tomi Kilgore
Aphria 'unequivocally stands behind' recent completed acquisitions in Latin America
Dec. 4, 2018 at 8:29 a.m. ET by Tomi Kilgore
Think someone's gonna "unequivocally stand behind" bars by the time this saga/scandal fully plays out.