ONP - it should be criminal, but what can be done under current law? They openly disclosed that the fraud claim is their own opinion, that each investor should do his own DD/analysis, and that they are short and stand to gain from a drop in share price. I'm not sure how current U.S. securities law can be used to punish them.
In my view, this is no different than when Rick Pearson quietly buys CHGI, then gets on the street.com, a publication with national reach, pumps the stock to 3.00+, and then decides it is fairly valued and sells for a huge gain, leaving the bagholders to clean up the mess he created. He disclosed his position, that he was long the stock. And then when he sold, he disclosed that too.
Of course, the "short" side is more repulsive to us given our natural aversion to those who bet on (and hope for) fear, failure, and suffering, however Rick Pearson made just as much money for himself, and cost lemmings just as much money, with his pump and dump as did Muddy Waters with their bash and cover.
