Interesting article on pluvia ...
latimes.com
NEW YORK--A powerful attraction of the Internet for many people is that it offers a
stage where players may write their own parts. In the fluid and anonymous world of the
Net message boards, a performer once cast as a villain may later take on the role of a
hero simply by adopting a new persona.
Consider "Steve Pluvia," an online short-seller who revels in puncturing over-hyped
and dubious securities on financial message boards run by Silicon Investor and Yahoo.
His real name is Steve Keyser, also the name of a former target of a Securities and
Exchange Commission fraud action. Pluvia denies they are the same person. In any
case, he has used a combination of sharp stock analysis and a sarcastic, in-your-face
writing style to become a successful cyber-sleuth under the Pluvia alias.
In a recent example, Pluvia was among the first to call attention to several tiny stocks
that were inexplicably surging to unprecedented highs in heavy trading in January.
Pluvia's skeptical messages and those of other online bears apparently prompted the
SEC to call an unusual two-week trading halt in the stocks. (The SEC declines to
reveal the sources that led to its inquiry.) Two of the stocks, Citron and Electronic
Transfer Associates, later were linked by the SEC to an ex-stockbroker with a record
of securities fraud. The shares collapsed in price. In a congratulatory message, Pluvia
praised the work of his Silicon Investor allies and said that his own role had been
exaggerated. "I don't care who takes credit, or who took credit," Pluvia wrote, "all I
care about is that the scam is uncovered."
Protagonists and Antagonists
Not surprisingly, Pluvia's attacks have made him enemies, one of whose attempts to
squelch the online attacks backfired by practically turning Pluvia into a folk hero. In
August 1997, John Westergaard, a veteran stock promoter, posted an Internet
message offering a $5,000 cash reward for "the most complete dossier" on Pluvia, who
had been attacking one of Westergaard's clients, Premier Laser Systems, an
Irvine-based maker of dental lasers. Pluvia had been insisting in Internet postings that
Premier's machines were inferior and overpriced and would never be accepted by
dentists. He also questioned the firm's sales figures. The Westergaard bounty, which
many considered an intimidation tactic, became a cause celebre on the Silicon Investor
Web site. Pro-Pluvia messagers flocked to dig up dirt on Westergaard. They revealed
that Westergaard was being paid to promote Premier Laser, a fact he hadn't initially
disclosed. The other side uncovered information that Pluvia was in business supplying
teeth-cleaning lasers to dentists, and as such was a customer of a Premier rival, Ion
Laser Technology--a fact Pluvia hadn't initially disclosed but later acknowledged. The
feud ended in a truce that left both declaring victory. Westergaard still brags that he
made Pluvia back off. Pluvia crows that he was vindicated when the Nasdaq Stock
Market halted trading in Premier's stock last year. Also, the firm was forced to restate
earnings, and it paid to settle an investor lawsuit. Its shares plunged from a 1998 high
of $11.69 to a recent price of $2.37.
On the Silicon Investor site in January, Pluvia indulged in a virtual touchdown dance. In
a reference to Premier Chairman Colette Cozean, he wrote: "CC hunny[sic]--if you're
out there, this is Steve Pluvia your proctologist. I just want you to know that since you
tried to play rough with poor little Pluvia, Pluvia's research caused you to get your
stock halted, caused you to admit you cooked the books, caused Westerfraud to
admit he was your paid whore, and caused you to get sued for which you are now
paying a very hefty price."
Pluvia lives and works in Las Vegas. In telephone interviews with The Times--he
supplied his phone number in response to an e-mail request--and other news
organizations, he has described himself as a 37-year-old college dropout and former
stockbroker who manages about $10 million for himself and a few private investors.
Pluvia told The Times that in two months of trading this year, he turned a $540,000
profit on $75,000 in capital, going both short and long (i.e., betting on some stocks'
falling and other stocks' rising). Pluvia tries to shroud his identity in mystery, but his real
name is no secret to those who followed his online campaign a few years ago against
Teletek, a Las Vegas-based long-distance telephone company. Teletek stock
collapsed amid criminal charges that brokers were bribed to pump up its shares.
Several brokers pleaded guilty in the scheme, and charges are pending against two
former executives. In 1997, Teletek's new management named a Steven Keyser and
one of his Internet allies to an "independent advisory committee"--a move announced in
a company news release. Keyser, as Pluvia, then referred to his new status in a
message on the Silicon Investor. At the same time, he disclosed that he had switched
from a bear to a bull on Teletek, calling the shares "a very good buy at present prices"
of 87.5 cents.
The stock today trades sporadically at less than a penny a share.
SEC Obtains Injunction
In 1987, the SEC obtained a permanent injunction against a Steven Keyser, then age
26, accusing him of diverting for his personal use "almost all" of the proceeds of a 1985
stock offering in a Salt Lake City firm called L'Oiseau Bleu (French for "bluebird").
Pluvia, in telephone interviews, denied any involvement in the case and declined even
to confirm that he is Keyser.
Keyser's Las Vegas telephone number is not published. Interestingly, however, Pluvia's
involvement in the dental laser business coincides with that of the Steven A. Keyser
associated in Nevada court and corporate records with a Las Vegas business called
Laser Brite Teeth Whitening Center.
Moreover, the same Steven A. Keyser--as identified by Social Security number--was
listed in a 1994 tax case in Salt Lake District Court with the identical address given for
his father in the SEC stock-registration statement for L'Oiseau Bleu's initial public
offering.
Steven Keyser was listed as president of the firm and his father as secretary-treasurer.
The "blind pool" offering was intended to raise $200,000 to $400,000 to be used to
"engage in the acquisition of business endeavors in one or more industries," according
to the registration statement, but it is unclear how much actually was raised.
The federal judge in Utah who issued the injunction against Keyser in November 1987
also entered an order of disgorgement, but payment was waived "after Keyser turned
over to L'Oiseau Bleu Corp. all of the corporation's common stock remaining in his
possession," the SEC said in a news release at the time.
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