(BCIT) flash foward (COMTEX) B: New York Post Says Brokerages Face 'Nightmare'
B: New York Post Says Brokerages Face 'Nightmare'
May 20, 2003 (financialwire.net via COMTEX) -- (FinancialWire) The New York
Post, a News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) unit, in a feature article, says that Jag Media (OTCBB: JGMHA) is creating
a nightmare for the Street's largest brokerages
and settlement firms," including
Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER), and
units of J.P. Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM)
and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS).
The publication references FinancialWire's
proprietary research into
?almost 100 ... companies -
Jag Media included - have claimed that in the
past that they are the victims of
naked short selling, which is being
facilitated by the big brokerage firms:
the taking of a short position without
first borrowing the stock."
Reporter Gregg Wirth noted in the article that
owners of the penny stocks claim
brokerages are lending shares that don't exist
to short sellers, who in turn are
driving down the companies' stock prices,
and that, to combat that, Jag Media
CEO Gary Valinoti filed a lawsuit that has accused
more than 150 of Wall Street's biggest brokerages
of improperly closing short trades and failing
to identify borrowed shares.
To press the issue, said the Post, Jag Media announced
a special dividend in mid-March, but available
only to those shareholders who could produce their
stock certificates.
"We just wanted the brokerage firms to open their
books and show us who owns our stock,"
Valinoti told the Post.
?The announcement sent shareholders to their brokers,
who in turn went to the depository trust companies,
both here and in Canada, that house all
companies' stock certificates in this age
of computer transfer.
Many brokerages didn't have the certificates.
Instead they just had IOUs for them, mostly from
other brokerages and settlement firms.
?A.G. Edwards (NYSE: AGE),
UBS PaineWebber (NYSE: UBS),
Spear Leeds (the
settlement unit of Goldman Sachs) and
several others came up short in the number
of stock certificates shareholders were asking for, according to several e-mails
between Jag Media and a number of brokerages,
which were made available to The Post. ?
Copies of the emails have also been made available
to FinancialWire.
?In an April 17 e-mail to Jag Media, A.G. Edwards
reported a 520,000 share shortfall in the number of
Jag Media certificates it had on hand.
The firm blamed the depository trusts and other
brokerages for not being able to locate
the certificates," noted the Post.
"I have spoken to other firms and they are having
the same problems that we have
due to other firms also owing the shares,"
the e-mail stated.
Several e-mails also indicated Spear Leeds
was facing a similar shortfall.
The Post said that a Goldman Sachs spokesman said
the firm ?resubmitted its
certificate requests to the depository trusts on
Thursday and is awaiting delivery.
?Given these shortfalls and the short interest
in Jag Media stock, which Valinoti estimates is
five times its 37 million outstanding shares,
it appeared firms were trading shares without
eventually establishing ownership via the
stock certificates - a violation of regulatory requirements," noted the Post.
"Naked short sellers are destroying [us],
and I caught them," Valinoti said, adding that
if the big brokerages are allowing naked short selling
to happen, they are leaving themselves on the
hook for shares they can't produce.
"If that happens, the entire settlement system
is going to collapse."
In all, some 97 public companies have been stung
by a growing national scandal
over manipulative trading, unregulated hedge funds,
toxic and predatory
financings, thousands of unanswered complaints
allegedly piling up in the
offices of the NASD and Securities and Exchange
Commission, fines,
mob connections, a phletora of lawsuits,
naked short selling, unsettled accounts at
numerous brokerages, and withdrawals from the
vaunted but apparently disconnected electronic
trading system managed by the Depository Trust
and Clearing Corp. that in total once more
threatens to undermine any remaining
trust in the American financial markets.
Some thirteen on the list, such as
A.G. Edwards, Inc. (NYSE: AGE),
Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: AMTD),
Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB),
E*Trade Group, Inc. (NYSE: ET),
FleetBoston (NYSE: FBF),
Goldman, Sachs & Co. (NYSE: GS),
Knight Securities, LP (NASDAQ: NITE),
Ladenburg Thalmann & Co., Inc. (AMEX: LHS),
M. H. Myerson & Co., Inc. (NASDAQ: MHMY),
Olde / H&R Block (NYSE: HRB),
Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCH),
Toronto-Dominion's (NYSE: TD),
TD Waterhouse Group and vFinance, Inc. (OTCBB: VFIN),
have been accused by one or more public companies
as allegedly participating in short selling
activities or abuses.
The remaining 84 companies have issued press releases
or been named in press
releases as taking various actions, either alone or
in concert with other
companies, to oppose manipulative trading in the
form of illegal naked short selling.
The actions have ranged from lawsuits to withdrawals
and threatened withdrawals from the electronic
trading system managed by the Depository Trust &
Clearing Corp., to withdrawals from toxic financings,
to the issuance of dividends or name changes
designed to squeeze manipulators, to joining
associations or networks or to contacting
regulatory authorities to provide
documentation of abuses or otherwise complain.
The complete list of those 84 companies include
Advanced Viral Research Corp. (OTCBB: ADVR),
AdZone Research, Inc. (OTCBB: ADZR),
American Ammunition, Inc. (OTCBB: AAMI),
ATSI Communications, Inc. (OTC: ATSC),
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), BIFS
Technologies Corporation (OTCBB: BIFT), Biocurex (OTCBB: BOCX). Chattem, Inc.
(NASDAQ: CHTT), Critical Home Care (OTCBB: CCLH), Composite Holdings (OTC:
COHIA), Diamond International Group (OTCBB: DMDI), Eagle Tech Communications
(OTC: EATC), Edgetech Services (OTCBB: EDGH);
Also, Endovasc Ltd. (OTCBB: EVSC), Enviro-Energy Corporation (OTCBB: ENGY),
Environmental Products & Technologies (OTC: EPTC), eResearchTechnologies, Inc.
(NASDAQ: ERES), Flight Safety Technologies (OTCBB: FLST), Freddie Mac (NYSE:
FRE), FreeStar Technologies (OTCBB: FSRCE), Genesis Intermedia (OTC: GENI),
GeneMax Corp. (OTCBB: GMXX), Global Path (OTCBB: GBPI), Group Management (OTCBB:
GPMT), Hop-On (OTC: HPON), H-Quotient, Inc., (OTCBB: HQNT), 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), Lair
Holdings (OTCBB: LAIR), Lifeline BioTechnologies Inc. (OTC: LBTI), Life Energy &
Technology (OTCBB: LETH), MBIA (NYSE: MBI);
Also, MetaSource Group, Inc. (OTCBB: MTSR), 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), PayStar Corporation (OTCBB:
PYST), Petrogen Corp. (OTCBB: PTGC), Premier Development & Investment, Inc.
(OTCBB: PDVN), PrimeHoldings.com, Inc. (OTC: PRIM), Resourcing Solutions (OTC:
RESG), Reed Holdings (OTC: RDHC), Rocky Mountain Energy Corp. (OTCBB: RMEC),
RTIN Holdings (OTCBB: RTNH), Saflink Corp. (NASDAQ: SFLK), Safe Travel Care
(OTCBB: SFTV), Sedona Corp. (OTCBB: SDNA);
Also, Sionix Corp. (OTCBB: SINX), Starmax Technologies (OTC: SMXIF), Suncomm
Technologies (OTC: STEH), Sports Resorts International (NASDAQ: SPRI),
Technology Logistics (OTC: TLOS), Ten Stix, Inc. (OTCBB: TNTI), Tidelands Oil
(OTCBB: TIDE), Trezac Corp. (OTCBB: TREZ), Universal Express, Inc. (OTCBB:
USXP), US West Homes (OTCBB: USWH), Valesc Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB: VLSHV), Vega
Atlantic (OTCBB: VGAC), Vista Continental Corporation, (OTCBB: VICC), Vtex
Energy (OTCBB: VXENE) and Wizzard Software (OTCBB: WIZD).and WorldTradeShow.com
(OTC: WTSW).
summary of news, commentary, research reports, webcasts, events and conference
calls, click on
ragingbull.lycos.com
Some thirteen on the list,
of bin-terr-ist cabals;
such as;
A.G. Edwards, Inc. (NYSE: AGE),
Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: AMTD),
Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB),
E*Trade Group, Inc.(NYSE: ET),
FleetBoston (NYSE: FBF),
Goldman, Sachs & Co. (NYSE: GS),
Knight Securities, LP (NASDAQ: NITE),
Ladenburg Thalmann & Co., Inc. (AMEX: LHS),
M. H. Myerson & Co., Inc. (NASDAQ: MHMY),
Olde / H&R Block (NYSE: HRB),
Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCH),
Toronto-Dominion's (NYSE: TD),
TD Waterhouse Group and vFinance, Inc. (OTCBB: VFIN),
have been accused by one or more public companies
as allegedly participating in short selling
activities or abuses and some
more INFO is below...
jagnotes.com
Always forgive your enemies---
nothing annoys them so much,
but never forget their names,
and never a deal again!!!
Former SEC Chief Levitt Urges Hedge-Fund Regulation
6 May 2003, 10:51pm ET
WASHINGTON -- Former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt Jr. is calling for tough
regulation of hedge funds, including registration
and periodic audits of the high-risk investment
vehicles, Wednesday's Wall Street Journal reported.
Mr. Levitt is recommending that the SEC require
hedge funds to disclose their holdings and make
their activities more transparent to investors,
and plans to make that point in a speech today.
"My experience in the market tells me that
when you develop an investment flavor of
the day, it's time to be careful,"
Mr. Levitt said in an interview. "
More and more [individual] investors are
accessing hedge funds and I think that
represents a danger."
His comments come as the SEC, now under William
Donaldson, prepares for two days of public
hearings next week into hedge funds, which
are private investment partnerships for large
investors and seek quick profits by putting
large sums in currencies, bonds and stocks.
The SEC has spent the past several months examining
hedge funds and is considering whether to establish
rules for the industry, which is largely unregulated.
Most hedge funds and their advisers are able to
avoid registering with the SEC or disclosing their
holdings because of exemptions in the securities laws.
The SEC does have jurisdiction to investigate and
prosecute fraud at hedge funds.
Wall Street Journal Staff Reporter Deborah Solomon contributed to this report.
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