Well, well, well . . .
It looks like the LionMaster (an alias used by a hypster on Yahoo) and his groupies have been unmasked. As an article in today's online WSJ makes clear, Messrs. Ko, Marek and Carnes buy low float, low priced stocks (using their combined assets of around $1.7 million), which drives up the volume and the price and thereby makes it look like the stock is on the move. They apparently then continue to manipulate the price by pumping the stock through hype on the Internet via Yahoo and the KingFind web site, which encourages others to also buy and drives the price even higher. Then they dump on the rise and leave naive investors holding overpriced stocks when the price subsequently crashes back to reality. (Sound familiar LEAPers?)
I knew that a reporter was doing a story on the three, and had been contacted before hand. I kept my mouth shut, however, because I didn't want to tip off the hypsters. (By the way, the WSJ article is posted on the Yahoo LEAP board.)
Although I'm not a securities attorney, stock manipulation sounds like it might be illegal to me. Those who previously were hurt by Messrs. Ko, Marek and Carnes with LEAP and other stocks ought to consult a good securities attorney to see if you have a valid claim against them. In fact, there may be grounds for a class action suit by investors. I don't say this lightly -- now that you know the identity of the hypsters, you may be able to recover damages (although this needs to be confirmed by a securities attorney) and by doing so can help stop future hype campaigns. (I'd love to join any such suit, but I didn't suffer any damages because I originally bought LEAP at 2 1/8.)
The WSJ article should help keep the SEC focused on the pump and dumpsters as it investigates apparent Internet scams. Hopefully, if private suits can be filed and the SEC does its job, we can start cleaning up the Internet and protect future investors. (Can TokyoMex be far behind?)
Also, please don't bother protesting to me about this post, Messrs. Ko, Marek and Carnes. It will fall on deaf ears.
-- Jim Wright |
