Bottom Fish Stocks (between .10 and$10)

[zenvesting]

Catfish re: the discussion about naked shorting on SI....I don't think this article has been posted:

=DJ IN THE MONEY: German Brokerage, Exchange Deny Wrong Doing
By Carol S. Remond
A Dow Jones Newswires Column

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Berliner Freiverkehr AG, a large German brokerage firm
and the Berlin-Bremen Stock Exchange are disputing claims by some small U.S.
companies that their shares were improperly listed on that exchange.

Some development stage U.S. companies, which usually crave international
recognition and on occasions have paid to be listed on foreign stock exchanges,
are now seeking for their stocks to be removed from the Berlin exchange.

These companies, most of which have shares that trade in the U.S. on the
Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board, claim in press releases that their shares were
listed without proper authorization and without their knowledge. Some also
stated that the listings, most of which were sponsored by Berliner Freiverkehr,
were designed to circumvent tougher short selling rules recently enacted by the
NASD.

But Holger Timm, founder and chief executive officer of Berliner Freiverkehr,
said the recent listing of about 1,000 U.S. OTCBB companies on the Berlin
exchange had nothing to do with U.S. rules governing short selling. Rather, Timm
said, his firm's decision early this year to sponsor the listings on the Berlin
exchange came because of tighter reporting requirements in the U.S. for these
companies.

"We have been doing this for 20 years. We trade regulated stocks from all over
the world in Germany," Timm told Dow Jones Newswires in a telephone interview.
Timm said his firm requested the listings because reporting requirements for
OTCBB companies in the U.S. are more stringent than those for blue-chip
companies listed in Germany. He said his firm selected Berlin, rather than
Frankfurt or other German exchanges, because listing there is free.

Timm said that claims by some U.S. companies that their shares were illegally
shorted in Germany are unfounded because "it's impossible to sell short here.
All we do is bring the two markets together." Timm explained that a stock
transaction normally involved a German investor looking to buy U.S. stocks using
euros. Following that order, Berliner Freiverkehr typically turns around and
purchase the shares in the U.S., saving the German investor fees.

Timm said that under German rules, German brokerages don't have to ask
permission to foreign firms to list them. "What we do is send them letters
informing them about the listings and telling them about the advantages" of
trading on the Berlin exchange, Timm said. He said that about 10% of those
letters come back undelivered because of wrong addresses.

Timm said his firm has received letters from U.S. companies complaining about
the recent listings on the Berlin exchange. "We got letters from different
companies using the same wording. I guess some lawyers out there are telling
them to do it."

Timm said that because the listings were recent and hadn't been publicized,
most of OTCBB companies listed had little or no volume on the Berlin exchange.

A spokeswoman for the Berlin stock exchange said in an email that all trading
of international shares on that exchange "is legal and according to rules."

"Trading in the third market on the Berlin Stock Exchange is free of charge.
The daily process of listing new companies is routine for us. So every day we
have a lot of new companies in the pipeline," she said.

The spokeswoman said the exchange is in contact with the Securities and
Exchange Commission and checks all accusations by U.S. companies.

"On request of the SEC we examined the prices made on our exchange for some
companies. We came to the conclusion that none of these cases involved short
selling. In some cases, share prices went up due to a majority of buy orders.
Interestingly enough, in those cases where companies blamed the trading on the
Berlin Stock Exchange for falling prices, our investigations revealed that the
securities were either not yet traded on our exchange or that no trading took
place at all during the relevant period," she said.

A spokesman for the SEC declined to comment.

The NASD in April toughened rules governing short selling of U.S. stocks,
extending its affirmative determination rule to non-NASD members such as
specialists, option markets and foreign brokers.

The affirmative determination rule stipulates that brokers and dealers engaged
in a short sale transaction must make sure that shares can be delivered by
settlement time, three days later. Bona fide market making transactions are
exempt from affirmative determination.

A short seller typically borrows stock from a broker to sell it into the
market, betting that the share price will fall so that he can buy the stock back
at a lower price and pocket the difference.

A spokesowman for the NASD declined to comment.

Some have suggested that foreign listings could be used by U.S. market makers
to circumvent the affirmative determination requirement given that bona fide
intermarket arbitrage is exempt for such requirement. Berliner Freiverkehr's
Timm said no NASD members or brokerages ever requested the listing of U.S. OTCCB
companies on the Berlin exchange. Timm also pointed out that the absence of
trading volume on the Berlin exchange would curtail any possible benefit for
U.S. market makers or short sellers.

Timm said he had been in touch with U.S. companies that complained about the
listings. "If they want to be delisted, we will delist them in Berlin. But if
they are listed on other exchanges it's out of my control," he said.

Among companies that recently announced that they requested to be removed from
the Berlin exchange are: DataMeg Corp. (DTMG); MultiCell Technologies Inc.
(EXTI); TS&B Holdings Inc. (TSBB); Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. (OMR) and
FemOne Inc. (FEMO); Reclamation Consulting & Applications Inc. (RCAA); Dicut
Inc. (DCUTE) and Whistler Investments Inc. (WHIS).

Most development stage companies in the U.S. have traditionally sought out
listings on foreign exchanges to promote their businesses and secure much needed
financing by selling shares to foreign investors in private placements which are
often less regulated abroad than in the U.S.

But some companies appear confused over the foreign listing of their shares.
ICOA Inc. (ICOA), a company that on April 28 heralded its listing on the Berlin
exchange, saying its "recognition by the international financial community is a
validation of our recent progress as well as our future potential". However,
just a week later, it requested a delisting.

(Carol S. Remond is one of four "In The Money" columnists who take a
sophisticated look at the value of companies and their securities and explore
unique trading strategies.)

-By Carol S. Remond; Dow Jones Newswires; 201 938 2074;
[e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

26-05-04 2053GMT