WLD,
Guilty? Nope, not me! <g> Lily white, that's my middle name... <g>
I never followed any of Anthony's recommendations (nor even read his thread other than an occasional link posted here or there), nor have I ever shorted a stock (though on some of these penny scams, it is a real temptation to short them, even though I "know" the game is rigged by insiders whether one goes long or short). My only views of Anthony was when he left his thread(s) to post on a thread such as this one, which was not an every day occurrence for him. In fact, other than one time a few years ago when he was talking about Intel (or maybe it was Cisco), I can't even remember him showing any interest (long or short) in a stock where I was long or thinking about going long. And that's likely because he shorted the market dregs, while I tend to concentrate on larger companies with real earnings and real revenues and whose officers may have actually graduated from the colleges mentioned in their bios, etc...
I wonder what defense his legal eagle(s) will offer up at trial, or will he just try to minimize damages and attempt to plea bargain. I have no idea what I'd do if I were in his shoes. I've mulled over several possibilities though. In order to get the charges to stick to him (Anthony), the former FBI agent is likely going to have to roll over on him. Otherwise, Anthony could merely plead that he did nothing wrong and had no idea that whatever information he received from the former FBI guy was stolen from a confidential database. Of course, this presumes that there isn't sufficient physical evidence connecting Anthony directly or indirectly to the FBI database. Anthony can't plead ignorance of the rules and regulations because he's a former broker himself and had to pass an examination to be licensed. And Tony can't say he didn't know that the former FBI guy was a Fed because Anthony met him as a direct result of an earlier brush with the law. Seems to me to be a classic example of being caught between a rock and a hard spot...
I had an exchange with Anthony about a month or so ago on this thread, shortly after he was acquitted of a perjury allegation in a NASD investigation. I had warned him then that it sounded to me like they were out to get him. In my opinion, the acquittal was justified, but it seemed strange at the time because it looked like a no-brainer decision to me. I wondered at the time why they went after him on something so petty. Now we know why. It was likely a delaying tactic to keep him occupied while other things were being investigated. Especially likely in my opinion, now that it has been publicized that Tony might have been in the process of taking a powder to Lebanon. If he was preparing to flee, and gave his wife power-of-attorney, it seems likely to me that the investigators knew of this, and needed delaying tactics to keep him here while they delved deeper into his activities. Once they had enough for an indictment, they nabbed him before he could jump out the back door. And that would also explain why the court considers him a flight risk and therefore denies bond. All in all, I'd say the g-men have left very little wiggle room in this case, and appear to be going for the jugular. But what do I know? All just suppositions, nothing more...
KJC |
