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Politics : High Tolerance Plasticity -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jim_p who wrote (12384)	2/11/2002 2:57:38 PM
From: Steeliejim	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23153

Article say? Haven't seen it, but from 2nd hand, the usual. Lousy management, phony acctg. As for get out price, you know me. Too early, if it goes up. Too late if it goes down. gggg. I bought a bunch more in the 14.50's. Not as good a timer as you, though. We may be a bit early though. Sometimes these dumps take a couple of days to wash out. This one seems so precipitous though that I think/hope that it ought to be good for a couple of buck rebound, at least, before the day is out. We shall see. Jim

To: jim_p who wrote (12384)	2/11/2002 3:36:57 PM
From: upanddown	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23153

ACRT - what looks good with this one??? "That Road is Gold" A tiny New York company called Actrade Financial Technologies claims to have the Internet's best technology for commercial loans. Actrade shares have climbed from pennies to as high as 44 over the last decade, as its officials talked up the "multi-trillion dollar" opportunity beckoning the firm's Electronic-Trade Acceptance Drafts, or E-TADs. "Whoever comes up with what is the currency for the Internet … that road is gold," Actrade President Alex C. Stonkus told me last week. Some 2.3 million Actrade shares have been sold short by investors who may recall how Actrade founder Amos Aharoni fled Israel, and his creditors, in 1985. Actrade's external affairs officer is David J. Askin, who settled SEC administrative charges, without admitting or denying guilt, that he defrauded clients amid the famed 1994 collapse of his $600 million hedge funds. Despite the e-trappings of its E-TADs, Actrade is essentially a subprime lender to businesses who are desperate enough to pay what amount to 20%-40% annualized interest rates for short-term trade financing. Actrade reported earnings of $9.5 million, or 80 cents, in the December quarter. Stonkus says that Actrade has been tightening its lending practices. There was room for improvement. Of the eight borrowers highlighted in Actrade's 1999 and 2000 annual reports, four subsequently defaulted or entered bankruptcy court. Actrade can make loans as large as $16 million, Stonkus says, because insurers reimburse Actrade in the event of default. But the firm's shares have slid to a recent 24, as investors worry whether that insurance net is becoming a mirage -- and defaults more of a threat to reported earnings. Last June, Actrade wrote off $5.4 million in default claims due from one insurer that regulators were liquidating. And last month, Actrade restructured $8.85 million in short-term E-TADs into a four-year loan. Why didn't Actrade go to its insurers on the $8.85 million? "If you entered in a car accident and got a $1,000 repair bill and had a $500 deductible …" said Stonkus, on a call to analysts, "do you file the claim and have your insurance go up … and have them drop you, potentially?" At least two former insurers are alleging they were duped by Actrade. In an Atlanta federal court, Amwest Surety says it was suckered into underwriting $4.5 million in E-TAD loans to a time-share marketer named Daniel DelPiano, because Actrade's Stonkus didn't disclose that DelPiano aimed to use the money to buy raw African diamonds, not time-shares. In a court-filed affidavit, moreover, DelPiano says he bought the diamonds from a firm that he himself owned. Amwest and insurer CNA make even graver charges surrounding the $6.3 million default by Clifton A. Hinds. An inner-city booster known for his huge parties, Hinds says in a court-filed deposition that Stonkus not only extended Hinds credit, but sought to hire him as Actrade's Los Angeles broker. Hinds supposedly borrowed Actrade's money to renovate multi-family dwellings, but his former girlfriend, Gena Lofton, says, in her own court-filed affidavit, that Hinds just pocketed the funds. Hinds' ex further stated that Actrade's lending officer expressed concern in 1998 that the KPMG audit attestation on Hinds' financials was a forgery. Lofton added that Hinds mollified the Actrade official's concerns by having her purchase him a $15,000 Rolex. After first securing insurance coverage from the hapless sureties, Actrade proceeded to lend Hinds over $6 million and solicit $18 million from other lenders on his behalf. Joseph Wargo, an Atlanta lawyer representing Actrade, says the company's testimony, which it has not yet given, will disprove the self-serving and dubious testimony of DelPiano, Hinds and Lofton. Actrade's business model is foolproof, says Wargo, if its sureties carry out their responsibility to independently investigate Actrade's customers. This week, Hinds is scheduled to start serving a two-year sentence, after pleading guilty to mail fraud, for using fake documents and assumed names to borrow additional millions from eight banks.