Stock Message Boards- Information or DisInformation?
Last week Anthony Elgindy, high profile short seller and proprietor of stock bashing web sites www.insidetruth.com and www.anthonypacific.com, was indicted by a Brooklyn Grand Jury for racketeering and securities fraud conspiracy.
Also indicted were one accomplice, one former FBI Agent who worked for Elgindy, and one current FBI Agent. The charges allege that the FBI databases were illegally used to obtain information about public companies and their officers and directors. Once obtained, the Elgindy network used his own web site, contacts, and message boards to "Cybersmear" a company.
Elgindy or one of his accomplices would then attempt to extort a payment out of the target company in the form of stock in return for instructing their network to cover their short interest and leave the company alone.
You might think this is an isolated incident, and you would be wrong. This type of conduct is widespread in the micro cap world, and more prevalent than most investors realize.
In fact, short sellers have attempted to extort free shares out of several of the companies we have covered. It's business as usual in the microcap world.
The open forum stock message boards which used to be valuable investor tools have become plagued with paid shills for the short sellers and used in order to spread disinformation about companies. If you choose to go to a message boards of a company you are considering investing in, you may find it dominated by bashers who seem intent on smothering any positive comment on the company.
It is widely known that many of these posters are paid under the table by short sellers who are attempting to frighten investors into selling. This is truly unfortunate because the message boards used to be a viable forum for investors to exchange ideas and opinions based on facts and reasonable assumptions.
The point- you should confirm as thoroughly as possible through third party sources anything you hear or read on any company you are considering investing in. This applies to both information you get from the OTC Journal, and especially information you read on a stock message board.
Occasionally you will read a negative comment with based on facts with reasonable assumptions. These types of comments are worthy of your consideration, but it can be difficult to separate quality from smear.
Our Disappointment
When we first read about the Elgindy indictment, we had hopes that the SEC was finally taking some action to stop these illegal smear campaigns. However, several articles in the Wall Street Journal on the incident revealed the FBI learned of this illegal activity accidentally.
As it turns out, the FBI happened to have been monitoring the activity of its own agents in the aftermath of the Robert Hanssen spy conviction. Elgindy was also being monitored for potential terrorist activities as he is a Muslim and a well known contributor to many Muslim organizations.
We were hoping this investigation would mark the beginning of an SEC crackdown on the illegal short selling and subsequent smear campaigns which the SEC has chosen to overlook for some unknown reason.
We are not opposed to hearing both sides of the story on any company we cover, but short sellers should have to operate under the same rules which newsletters like ours adhere to.
Conclusion
Perhaps the regulators have consciously chosen to ignore the illegal smear campaigns because they view them as a mechanism for preventing excesses in the market place.
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