There's No Defense for Jonathan Lebed
By James J. Cramer
3/2/01 10:16 AM ET
The Feds got sandbagged big time in that
New York Times Sunday Magazine cover
story on Jonathan Lebed, the teenage
daytrader that got nabbed by the SEC for
pumping and dumping. <snip>
The Feds, in this case, called Lebed in and tried, in their own
cumbersome way, to get the kid to stop. Their way is to grill. The
kid didn't get scared by it. Glory be, more power to him. I debated
committing suicide - as everyone close to me knows -- when the
Feds called me, because I was so mortified and embarrassed. Hey,
maybe I am smarter. Maybe Lebed has better drugs. Maybe we
should all think that when the Feds call they are a bunch of jerks,
like we are the Sopranos or something.
But at some level, the federal government -- yeah, the guys who
still wear the cheap suits and have that kind of TJ-Maxx-sport-coat
look about them -- deserve our respect and our obedience. They
represent the will of the people, which is to try to do their best to
keep me from stealing from you using securities. The real tragedy
here is that the Feds didn't simply say, "Lebed was a habitual
pumper and dumper and we will pursue pumping and dumping
whether it is found at the Baddda Bing Club where they peddle
Wobistics, or online where they peddle small-cap nonsense." That
would have ended it for me and probably for you, too.
Instead, they came off like a bunch of jokers pursuing,
Kafka-esque, a good kid and a money maker. That makes me want
to puke. <snip>
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