Re: New Murder Theory... Penny Stock Syndicate Rubout
First off, I must say that this theory is in its very early stages. It is based on two assumptions: 1. Alain Chalem was actively involved or about to be actively involved with trading CDDD, and 2. Those behind CDDD may have a history of securities violations. If both of these can be "proven" then it certainly is possible that rather than these two "groups" working together, they were in conflict. This conflict may have led to violence.
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Assumption 1: Alain Chalem was actively involved or about to be actively involved with trading CDDD
On 10/30/99, the New York Times wrote:
But those worlds may have collided violently. One focus of the investigation is their business dealings, including the possibility that the two men recently became involved in a bitter battle over the stock of a small company called C3D Inc., whose partisans and detractors have been slugging it out on the Internet. The fledgling company says it has an innovative new computer technology, to be demonstrated soon, but its most salient feature is a stock price that has zoomed from $1.75 in April to more than $22 Friday.
Traders who were betting that the price would fall say that they have told investigators that Chalem was helping them, and that they feared that he and Lehmann had been killed because of that help. Law enforcement officials and stock regulators must determine whether this is a hot tip or the kind of paranoid fantasy not unknown in the no-holds-barred world of the small, risky securities known as penny stocks.
There could also be a money motive for the speculation. Any public mention of such a small company, pro or con, can have a huge effect on the price of its stock, and both company boosters and critics may have a lot of money at stake. On each of four days last week, more than 100,000 shares of C3D changed hands, most at prices above $20.
C3D officials said they had never heard of Chalem or Lehmann. "These people may have been doing penny stock -- and our company is one that is a hot company," said Eugene Levich, the chief executive of C3D.
Message 11788598
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On 10/30/99, Bloomberg picked up on the C3D reference:
C3D Stock One Focus of Inquiry Into Slain Brokers, NYT Reports
New York, Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- The stock of C3D Inc., a New York-based company which develops digital-storage products, is one focus of the inquiry into the slaying deaths this week of two Colts Neck, New Jersey stockbrokers, The New York Times reported. The two men, Maier Lehmann, 37, and Alain Chalem, 41, may have been involved in a bitter battle over the stock of the fledgling company, though the investigation is in its early stages and there are many possible motives for the slayings, the paper said. C3D officials said they have never heard of the two men, who traded penny stocks over the Internet; a Monmouth County prosecutor told the paper investigators are still searching the records of the two business partners.
C3D shares reached a 52-week high of 25 7/8 on Oct. 18 after touching a 52-week low of 1 3/4 on April 8; yesterday, shares rose 1 to 22 1/4.
(NYT 10/30 B1)
(For the Web site of the New York Times, type NYTI .
--Joe Richter in the Princeton newsroom (609) 279-4027/shw
quote.bloomberg.com
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On 10/31/99, based on private sources, Janice wrote:
But let's not forget the possible CDDD connection. A kind lurker tells me that Chalem is said to have been negotiating for a block of CDDD stock when he was murdered: 500,000 shares. Chalem and Lehmann had a history of negotiating for low priced blocks of stock to later promote/pump the stock; was that the plan in this case? Did something go wrong? Did Chalem actually have another idea in mind, and did the sellers find out about it? Was the stock meant for someone else?
CDDD was apparently being manipulated DOWN for the stock to be crossed at lower prices - the trade was to take place Tuesday - the day Chalem and Lehmann were murdered.... Note The dip in CDDD price Tuesday, "Afrayem Onigwecher" comments that day on SI where he said:
WAIT one more day ...................... be patient please !!!!! when people were noting the decline in CDDD price....
Message 11713415
Somebody really ought to have a talk with "Afrayem", I think.
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It is important to note here that the source(s) for these two accounts may be the same individual(s), as opposed to a separate confirmation. I'll make some inquiries today. However, as I do know from Janice where she got her information, and as said individual(s) have been extremely reliable in the past, I'd say Chalem most probably did have some involvement with C3D stock (I'm not sure about C3D the company, though).
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Assumption 2. Those behind CDDD may have a history of securities violations
Later, on 10/31/99, Floydie disclosed the Clair Calvert connection to CDDD:
I have been given the name of Clair Calvert as the guy who put the CDDD shell together. Here are Clair's other involvments:
All roles for Calvert Clair
Cycomm International Inc
* was disclosed as a shareholder of Co 8904
International Capri Resources Ltd
* became a consultant to Co 9605
Rare Earth Resources Ltd
* was disclosed as a shareholder of Co 9301
Resource Finance & Investment Ltd
* was disclosed as a shareholder of Co 9301
Cycomm was a huge scam, but check this out:
Rare Earth Resources Ltd -
Van Sun [Vancouver Sun newspaper] says Cycomm and Rare Earth used same Geneva letterbox as Polly Peck
Rare Earth Resources Ltd REZ
Shares issued 6,962,765 1994-11-23 close $0.22
Wednesday Nov 23 1994
See Cycomm International Inc (CYI) In the News
The Vancouver Sun reports in its Wednesday edition that PO box 423 at the Geneva airport is at the heart of trades of Cycomm International, the subject of a BCSC investigation. Reporter David Baines says the letterbox was also used in share dealings of Polly Peck International, the subject of an investigation by Britain's Serious Fraud Office. The Sun says Polly Peck shares were sold through Swiss letterbox companies established with the help of Pacific Falkon Resources director Michael Laidlaw, the former head of a London brokerage, and Rhone Finance executive Roger Leopard. The Sun says BCSC investigator Adrian du Plessis became concerned with the offshore dealings of Cycomm and Rare Earth, and quit his job in March after the commission receipted a Cycomm prospectus.
Message 11762658
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Adrian du Plessis just happens to be a member of SI. On 11/2/99, he wrote to Floydie:
Nazerali (Altaf) you can read about in your local library, via such sources as the books: False Profits: The Inside Story of BCCI, The World's Most Corrupt Financial Empire, by Peter Truell and Larry Gurwin, published in 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company; and Contrepreneurs, by Diane Francis published by Macmillan of Canada in 1988. Both books describe Nazerali as having been "the principal front-man" for Canadian stock swindler Irving Kott during the mid-1980s when Kott ran boiler rooms in Amsterdam. Nazerali, they explain, was chairman of First Commerce Securities, "the biggest and most notorious" of the boiler room outfits. "When the First Commerce fraud was at its height," write Truell and Gurwin, "millions of dollars arrived in Amsterdam in the form of personal checks and wire transfers. Much of the money was then forwarded to BCCI." In Canada, both books should be available in your neighbourhood library. Outside of Canada, it'll be easiest to find the Truell/Gurwin tome.
Clair Calvert was, indeed, linked to the Cycomm and Rare Earth scams during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Cycomm et al principals such as Phil Garratt are still in circulation. You can read about the Cycomm swindle by visiting my (now retired) web-site @ imagenisp.com;
Message 11789375
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On 11/3/99, Surelock wrote:
Garratt is actively working CDDD according to a contact of mine. This one just may be worth coming out of retirement for.
Thanks for your invaluable contributions.
Message 11803017
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On 11/4/99, the possible Garratt connection prompted Adrian to elaborate:
Can a Leopard change its spots?
Interesting as, no doubt, CDDD will turn out to be if Garratt and his cast of international backers are involved with its affairs, I'm not going to be tempted out of retirement. I'll wax nostalgic for a few minutes, and then, it's back to a different world for me.
Garratt, historically, has been the front, or mouthpiece for a network of players ~ from Roger Leopard (Switzerland), to Stratton S.A. (of Uruguay), to Graham Ferguson Lacey (Ireland to Miami to Bermuda to you-name-it) and others, each with their own scandalous trail.
Public companies associated with Garratt et al have generally been engaged in hyping new and "revolutionary" technologies or elements and have been routinely characterized by share price manipulation that goes hand-in-glove with misleading and false public disclosure.
From a teacher's credit union pension fund in Australia, to a superannuation fund in the West Midlands of England, institutions have taken an unnatural liking to the bogus and inflated stocks promoted by these players ~ inevitably to the financial detriment of pensioners and/or investors.
It's a familiar pattern ~ and unless these ol' dogs have learned new tricks, they have a pretty colourful, but pedestrian and predictable, approach to the stock racket.
Clair Calvert was formerly a key, Vancouver-based, stock-broker handling the rigged trading in Garratt-fronted stocks.
I haven't followed either of these characters since the mid-1990s, but their names appearing in connection with CDDD, well, it's like watching a familiar movie...
Who knows, though, they may not be within a million miles of this company. Based upon their track record, the public can only hope!
Message 11804337
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Stay tuned for more... hopefully later on Thursday.
- Jeff |
