***SEC Probes Online Stock Picker TokyoMex *** !!!
SEC Probes Online Stock Picker TokyoMex
By Gregg Wirth
Staff Reporter
The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued subpoenas to some
online
message posters as part of an investigation into the trading practices
of a
high-profile online stock picker known as "TokyoMex."
The stock picker, Yun Soo Oh Park, who also goes by the names Joe Park
and
Tokyo Joe, confirmed that he is at the eye of a wide-ranging inquiry by
regulators into his trading practices and disclosure methods.
"I welcome this challenge. I have nothing to hide," Park says, adding
that
last week he received SEC requests for letters, emails and other
information concerning stocks he has recommended over the Internet. Park
says he has hired lawyers in Chicago (the SEC's Midwest office issued
the
subpoenas) and in New York, where he lives.
An SEC spokesman would neither confirm nor deny the existence of any
investigation.
Copies of a subpoena obtained by TheStreet.com instruct the recipient to
appear before the SEC by March 19 to testify in the "matter of Yun Soo
Oh
Park, an investigation pursuant to a formal order issued" by the SEC.
The
recipient also was requested to bring "books, papers, documents and
other
records" concerning Park. A descriptive memo to the subpoena also cites
Park's involvement in his Web site, Tokyo Joe's Societe Anonyme. The
site
is an online community of message board posters and traders who pay a
$100
membership fee to gain access to Park's stock picks.
Park, a Korean native, former lawyer and New York City restaurateur,
quickly made a name for himself on Internet message boards and Web
sites as
a successful stock picker. On Tokyo Joe's Societe Anonyme, he cites
several
media outlets that profiled him, including TheStreet.com and The Wall
Street Journal.
Park attributes the SEC investigation in part to his high profile. "I
could
have kept my mouth shut," he says. Park also blames his enemies,
including
some who have been subpoenaed, for complaining to the SEC and sparking
the
investigation.
TokyoMex, who frequents a popular message thread called "Tokyo Joe's
Cafe"
on Silicon Investor, in 1995 began to amass a loyal following on message
board sites. The three threads attached to Park's name on Silicon
Investor
total more than 100,000 posts.
From a look at the discussions on the threads and his Web site, TokyoMex
and his followers seem to favor the penny-stock world, but Park also has
played in big names like Iomega (IOM:NYSE), Polo Ralph Lauren (RL:NYSE)
and
CMGI (CMGI:Nasdaq), according to published reports and his own Web site.
He has received acclaim from fellow investors who were able to make
money
alongside him by following his stock picks. He also has received disdain
from online opponents who claimed he was selling into the run-ups in
stock
prices that his recommendations would often cause, leaving his followers
with the stock after he moved on.
"They say I'm a pump-and-dump!" Park says. "Who isn't a pump-and-dump?"
Word of the subpoenas was leaking into the online community this week
and
was quickly disseminated by Park's detractors. "I've been reading some
buzz
that ... 'TokyoMex' is now being investigated by the SEC," wrote an SI
poster called Bill Wexler on Monday. "Can anyone confirm this and
significantly brighten my day?"
Park says he is waiting to hear back from the SEC, but has told his 920
members of the Societe Anonyme group, urging them to cooperate
truthfully
if they are questioned by regulators.
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