To Robt. Justine,
Unfortunately, I believe you're right on with respect to State of NY's inquiry. As a defendant's attorney having defended more tax shelter promoters in the 80s than I care to remember let me assure you that any government effort to get to the bottom of the problem at Oxford is disingenuous at best. Politics, personal gain and prestige is the name of the game. Always has been, always will be. The bigger the fish the bigger the trophy! And all in the guise of protecting the average citizen. Yea I know, there are a few exceptions, where a truly moral and righteous individual is more interested in the truth and personal gain - I just can't remember any.
As to Oxford, I can't make any judgment as to their business savvy, skill and knowledge with respect to running Oxford, unless I camp out there for about three months. But let me suggest this, looking at the profile of the management team, there is a disproportionate number of high level executives in their thirties. Wiggins himself is only 40 or 41. My concern is that they could lack the experience and judgment typically found with a company comprised of a top managment team in its fifties and sixties. They simply haven't been around the block enough times and haven't fought enough of life's battles to deal with the current predicament that they find themselves.
In addition, as is all to often the case, the enforcement of insider trading laws is shameful. Day in and day out the markets are swayed by inside information disclosed to a select few prior to being made public. By the time the public is aware of certain material facts the insiders have already bought or sold, as the case may be. made their profits and run. This is the nature of the game and everyone on wall street knows it. It's human nature and all the regs. and statutes in the world aren't going to change it. If, for example, anyone thinks for a moment that Wiggins and his management insiders didn't tell anyone that they would not attend last week's meeting prior to the general public finding out, thereby allowing the insider elite to sell, then they are incredably naive. Even as I write this there are people at Oxford, and the CPA firm who have a pretty good idea what the results of the audit will reveal. Good or bad - they know, or at least have a pretty good sense of what the ultimate result will be. And guess what? They are sharing this with whoever; and very likely engaging in insider trading through third party relatives, acquaintances etc. and making money. C'est la Vie! The answer? I'm not sure. But I can tell you this, class action lawsuits such as those brought against Wiggins and others, all too often tend to reveal the dirty truth. Every plaintiff's lawyer out there knows that wall street is flush with material non disclosure and material misrepresentations. The issue - whether or not there has been enough financial loss resulting from the alleged misrepresentations to justify litigation. And guess what - those plaintiffs lawyers believe that they have got themselves a live one here at Oxford.
In the meantime, take a long-term view and try not to get too upset by short-term facts which are disclosed long after they should have been. |
