When is a Rose ‘Not’ A Rose?
investrend.com
March 28, 2003. (FinancialWire) When is a press release not a press release? Is there a smell or taste test? If a press release is issued and then it is “pulled” but is still visible, is that like a tree falling but there is no sound if no one is there? Or is it more like a tree falling and people are there and there is a sound but it didn’t actually happen? The whole episode Wednesday between Our-Street.com at our-street.com , Primezone, BusinessWire, Knobias and H-Quotient, Inc. (OTCBB: HQNT) seems suspended somewhere between Zen and “The Twilight Zone.”
In other “short seller wars” events, James Barclay Alan, Inc. (OTC: JBAI) said it is joining the ranks of those public companies instituting measures to combat naked short selling. The company also said it will be changing its name to Titan Consolidated, Inc. However, that and other news were overshadowed by the chain of events involving H-Quotient.
First, Our-Street.com, an irreverent site in London that enables individual investors to collaborate in filing official complaints against public companies its founder, Nick Tracy, deems have sufficient problematic news releases and Edgar filings to warrant investigating, issued a press release on Primezone announcing that a 20 page complaint alleging violations of Sections 13a and 13e-4, 14e-1 and 10(b)(5) and 17(a)12(b)-20 of the Exchange Act by H-Quotient, one of the 81 companies embroiled in an ongoing controversy over naked short selling and manipulative trading.
Then, after the release was published, the CEO of H-Quotient, Douglas Cohn, and the company’s attorney, Paul Goodman, contacted Primezone and demanded that the service “pull back” the press release, headlined “Our-Street.com Files Complaint with SEC Against H-Quotient, Inc.,” from circulation, saying it was “part of a nefarious scheme to manipulate the stock.”. Of course, this being an electronic world, where press releases and articles issued are instantaneously “published,” pulling “back” a press release through the ether is easier said than done. Many sites, such as wallsteetcity.com , continue to post the original press release, along with the subsequent press release from the company that says it “was pulled.”
The company’s press release – on BusinessWire – said the company had contacted regulatory authorities to complain about the complaint that had been filed with regulatory authorities, which has only added to the confusion.
For their part, press release services such as Primezone and BusinessWire are obligated to issue press releases from companies, and sometimes exercise discretion – meaning avoiding “hassles” – about press releases from third parties. The more the potential hassle, the less the likelihood of a press release being distributed. “Pulling back” a press release, however, is unusual, and that in itself turns even a non-story into a story.
Knobius, which itself has a press redistribution service, issued the original press release about Our-Street.com at 12:20 p.m., and then, at 4:15 p.m., issued a second release saying, “Comtex alerted Knobias today that Primezone Media Network requested that the story be removed from sites and databases, and Knobias has complied with this request. This is the second time in the past week that Knobias has been notified by publishers of problems that have arisen from a story released by Our-Street.com.” Knobias did not elaborate, but both the Our-Street release from Knobias as well as the notice that it had been stricken from databases remained on many, uh, databases. Neither Knobias nor the company nor the other press release distributors stated that the Our-Street press release was “inaccurate” in any respect – only that it was being “pulled” on the representations from the company against whom the complaint had been officially filed.
Company attorney Paul Goodman said, "This was clearly part of a nefarious scheme to manipulate the stock, and the company is instituting action to ferret out and punish the perpetrators.” As to Our-Street, Goodman said “they sell, at a sum of $2,400.00 per year, 24-hour prior notice of their 'reports', clearly giving their subscribers a way to short the stock in question. In their own words, subscribers 'get a full trading day to decide what to do about the information before the crowd shows up.'"
For its part, Our-Street.com, which states it is an “internet based public company watchdog that researches companies and files and publishes reports and complaints with various regulatory agencies,” said the episode doesn’t change the facts – that a complaint has been officially filed with the SEC against the company’s auditors, Aronson & Company, and is viewable in its entirety at its website. “Ferreting out the perpetrators” will also not be as difficult as Goodman inferred, since the Our-Street.com press release contained the name of the website’s founder as well as a phone number.
The now 81 companies associated with the issue include A.G. Edwards, Inc. (NYSE: AGE), Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: AMTD), ATSI Communications, Inc. (AMEX: AI), Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp. “Farmer Mac” (NYSE: AGM), Allied Capital (NYSE: ALD), American Motorcycle (OTC: AMCYV), American International Industries (OTCBB: AMIN), Ameri-Dream (OTC: AMDR), Adirondack Pure Springs Mt. Water Co. (OTCBB: APSW), Auxer Group, Inc. (OTCBB: AXGI), Bluebook International (OTCBB: BBIC), Blue Industries (OTCBB: BLIIV), Bentley Communications (OTCBB: BTLY), Biocurex (OTCBB: BOCX). Critical Home Care (OTCBB: CCLH), Composite Holdings (OTC: COHIA), Eagle Tech Communications (OTC: EATC), Edgetech Services (OTCBB: EDGH);
Also, Endovasc Ltd. (OTCBB: ENVC), Enviro-Energy Corporation (OTCBB: ENGY), Environmental Products & Technologies (OTC: EPTC), E*Trade Group, Inc. (NYSE: ET), Flight Safety Technologies (OTCBB: FLST), FreeStar Technologies (OTCBB: FSRCE), GeneMax Corp. (OTCBB: GMXX), Global Path (OTCBB: GBPI), Goldman, Sachs & Co. (NYSE: GS), Group Management (OTCBB: GPMT), Hop-On (OTC: HPON), H-Quotient, Inc., (OTCBB: HQNT), Olde / H&R Block (NYSE: HRB), Hyperdynamics Corp. (OTCBB: HYPD), International Biochem (OTCBB: IBCL), Intergold Corp. (OTCBB: IGCO), InternetStudios, Inc. (OTCBB: ISTO), ITIS Holdings (OTCBB: ITHH), Jag Media Holdings (OTCBB: JGMHA), James Barclay Alan, Inc. ((OTC: JBAI), Knight Securities, LP (NASDAQ: NITE), Lair Holdings (OTCBB: LAIR), Life Energy & Technology (OTCBB: LETH), MBIA (NYSE: MBI);
Also, MetaSource Group, Inc. (OTCBB: MTSR), M. H. Myerson & Co., Inc. (NASDAQ: MHMY), Midastrade.com (OTC: MIDS), Make Your Move (OTCBB: MKMV), MSM Jewelry Corp. (OTC: MSMJ), Nanopierce Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: NPCT), Nutra Pharmaceutical (OTCBB: NPHC), Nutek (OTCBB: NUTK), Navigator Ventures (OTCBB: NVGC), Pitts & Spitts (OTCBB: PSPP), Sales OnLine Direct (OTCBB: PAID), Pacel Corp. (OTCBB: PACC), Presidential Air Corp. (OTCBB: PDAR), PayStar Corporation (OTCBB: PYST), Petrogen Corp. (OTCBB: PTGC), PrimeHoldings.com, Inc. (OTC: PRIM), Resourcing Solutions (OTC: RESG), Reed Holdings (OTC: RDHC), Rocky Mountain Energy Corp. (OTCBB: RMEC), RTIN Holdings (OTCBB: RTNH), Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCH), Sedona Corp. (OTCBB: SDNA);
Also, Sionix Corp. (OTCBB: SINX), Starmax Technologies (OTC: SMXIF), Soundcomm Technologies (OTC: STEH), Sports Resorts International (NASDAQ: SPRI), Technology Logistics (OTC: TLOS), Ten Stix, Inc. (OTCBB: TNTI), Tidelands Oil (OTCBB: TIDE), Toronto-Dominion (NYSE: TD), Trezac Corp. (OTCBB: TREZ), TD Waterhouse Group (NYSE: TSE), US West Homes (OTCBB: USWH), Vega Atlantic (OTCBB: VATL), Vista Continental Corporation, (OTCBB: VICC), vFinance, Inc. (OTCBB: VFIN), Vtex Energy (OTCBB: VXENE) and Wizzard Software (OTCBB: WIZD).and WorldTradeShow.com (OTC: WTSW). |
