From The "Never Piss Off A Rich Guy Or His Friends" Department…
Location: BlogsBob O'Brien's Sanity Check Blog
Posted by: bobo 2/23/2006 8:50 AM
So I spoke with Dr. Byrne, and apparently he did have a hand in the Biovail lawsuit against Cohen and Gradient. Not in encouraging it, necessarily, but by sharing the wealth of information that his affiants have made available.
I’m not free to go into a ton of detail here, but suffice it to say that my speculation as to his involvement in that matter was not far astray.
Let’s just say that he has been sharing the information that has come to his disposal via his affiants, as well as the good folks who know something about the inner workings of some of these loosely affiliated groups – that probably don’t exist, and are mere figments of my fevered imagination…
That sharing extends to law enforcement, regulators, and interested affected company counsel - which I'm sure will continue throughout discovery, in all of these cases - as it should. Those who are free of guilt should celebrate the cleansing rays of sunshine. And what could the largest hedge fund in NJ possible have to be secretive about or to hide? I'll bet it is a welcome opportunity to affirm their good name, and prove to the world that hedge funds are really warm fuzzy creatures, much like puppies or plush toys, no more malevolent and ruthless and larcenous than cotton candy, or fluffy white clouds.
It seems like just yesterday that I was on the phone doing the CC where I laid out my schematic of how a manipulation works in this day and age. At the time, I was called a lot of names, and my delusional rants were castigated by many, including the mainstream financial press – or at least all the usual familiar lapdogs therein.
And here we are a year later, and now two suits have been filed making allegations that look oddly familiar. And maybe, juuuuust mayyyybeeeee, there are more to come…?
And the SEC is conducting formal investigations into hedge funds and research firms I have been a big fan of for that whole time.
Ain’t it funny how the time flies…
I heard one comment I do have to share though. One of the affiants remarked, about the no-doubt unfairly victimized Mr. Cohen, that “if Rocker was bad, he was 10 times worse.”
I am unclear whether that was meant to convey, perhaps it had to do with hair styles or something...but I found it funny nonetheless.
I’m guessing that there isn’t a lot of chuckling going on over on the East Coast today. Abelow hearing, Cohen suit, Rocker subpoenas – man, it almost seems like there might be something about New Jersey, hedge funds and Wall Street…
Nah.
All doubtless as without guilt as angels sent straight down from heaven.
I would expect a flurry of articles proclaiming that it is good and right and American to frontrun research reports in a collusive manner, and that the fabric of our great nation and the future of our newborns is dependent upon large hedge funds being allowed to decimate shareholder value and transfer the wealth into their pockets using these tactics....or that "companies that complain about short sellers are bad"....that's always a popular one when ignoring the actual meat of the charges....I predict maybe 72 hours until the attacks on the affiant credibility starts again....
I almost feel sorry for Gradient. I mean, who knew that simply trying to generate good research would have you taking the fall for mega-rich NJ financial cartels? It's a crying shame, if you ask me.
The problem the miscreants have is that as these suits pile up, it is getting increasingly difficult for the press and the regulators to pretend there is no fire where there is smoke. But sitll, I can't wait for the first article saying, "Doctoring research reports and frontrunning them - why, that's as Amercian as apple pie! You mean to tell me that is illegal?"
This is becoming a wildly interesting story to report on, I’ll say that much. And it promises to get way more interesting soon. Very soon.
Copyright ©2006 Bob O'Brien
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