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Strategies & Market Trends : Anthony @ Equity Investigations, Dear Anthony, -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: StockDung who wrote (89069)	1/3/2005 1:20:56 PM
From: scion	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 122088

President Maxine Asher almost always ran the school from California, checking in with workers in Iowa City. First, the campus was the site of Answer Plus, a secretarial service that merely fielded its inquiries. Records show the operation later moved from 312 E. College St. No. 205 to an office at 361 E. College St., in the brick-building known as the Main Street Apartments where hundreds of UI students live. After pressure from state regulators, in August it finally moved out of the office. One Web site still claims the apartment building as AWU's academic headquarters -- a surprise to the current management, AUR, which was unaware of that. Asher distances herself from the site. A professor who was dismissed from AWU, Gilberto Santos, illegally runs the site, said Asher, who says she is taking legal action to shut it down. "He has no right to show any pictures or to advertise AWU," she said. While one won't find American World University included in the U.S. News & World Report list of best colleges, aggressive marketing has helped the school become highly profitable. According to one government official in Brazil who believes the school is defrauding Brazilian students and operating illegally, the school may have reaped $4 million in its first two years in that country alone. John Bear, an expert who wrote Bears' Guide to Earning by Degrees by Distance Learning, conservatively estimates that diploma mills make up at least a $200 million-a-year industry. Bear says 500 outright diploma mills -- which essentially sell degrees for money -- operate in the United States, and 100 more fall into a "gray area," including AWU. These technically can't be called diploma mills because students must do work, but the degrees offered are virtually worthless. Most, like AWU, sound legitimate, have fancy Web sites that end in ".edu," boast to be leaders in higher education, claim to be accredited, and give out major credit for previous life experience. The proliferation of these schools is damaging legitimate distance-education programs by confusing students and making people suspicious, say experts who are growing frustrated at the government's lack of interest in stopping them. Some are particularly angered that schools such as AWU are allowed to award "doctorate" degrees, which the government says cannot be earned through distance education. "The federal government is asleep on this. It's a national scandal that people can still sell degrees in this country," says Michael Lambert, the executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Distance Education and Training Council. "Someone should do something about it." A degree-fraud expert who works with the FBI describes AWU as a "dreadful, useless, and terrible" institution. A former student says he was tricked and that the school refused to give his money back. And a former temporary employee insists that she was offered a job "grading papers" after one day on the job. The students -- 98 percent of whom are from foreign countries -- generally fall into two categories: those who are duped into enrolling and those who hope to use a diploma to trick a future employer into believing they have an American education. *****

To: StockDung who wrote (89069)	1/5/2005 1:12:53 AM
From: afrayem onigwecher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 122088

[Image] Regulation SHO: This Could Get Interesting > > The OTC Journal archives reveal I have written three editions on the > subject of illegal naked short selling over the past two years. It is > a fascinating subject, and one that is back in the news as a new SEC > regulation goes into effect this week. > > If you have an interest in this subject and want to review the past > editions, here they are: 4/19/03,5/18/03, and 2/4/04. > > [Image] Illegal naked short selling has been problematic for microcap > stocks for many years, but the pendulum began to swing the > other way in early 2004. Normal short selling requires the seller to > borrow the shares ahead of executing a sell trade in shares not owned. > The seller hopes to buy them back later at a lower price and lock in a > profit. > > For many years short sellers have been able to simply sell unlimited > supplies of small stocks through overseas brokerage firms, even though > no shares have been borrowed. Thanks to loopholes in the clearing > system, these sellers are never forced to deliver the shares. In > essence, short sellers have been able to "counterfeit" supplies of > stock by avoiding the regulations from offshore. > > Small and microcap companies have been particularly vulnerable to this > practice as there is often little institutional support for the > stocks. When a stock starts trading poorly, small investors tend to > panic and sell, forcing prices even lower. Once an enormous short > position is established, a smear campaign often follows, characterized > by negative articles from questionable sources and malicious posting > on message boards with no disclosure. The stock ends up trading so > poorly the company cannot raise equity capital, and many die a > premature death. > > A high profile example of this kind of practice occurred in the middle > of December. Sirius Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) had been on a tear > over the past several months. Clearly the stock was richly valued and > extended, and it was rumored short sellers were getting killed. > Miraculously a complete hatchet job article appeared in Barron's, > which sent the stock temporarily plummeting. While indeed, there was a > strong argument the stock was overvalued, the article was completely > one sided and gave no credence to the growth argument. A similar > article in the Wall Street Journal was much more balanced. If you > think the Barron's article was an accident, and short sellers didn't > know about it in advance, you are living in LaLa land. > > Small companies have been hounding regulators for years to take steps > to eliminate these oppressive practices. In February of last year the > NASD one upped the SEC by implementing the Affirmative Determination > Rule, which required US brokerage firms to affirmatively determine if > an overseas brokerage firm selling shares through them can actually > deliver the shares. This made for some exciting moves in heavily > shorted stocks. > > The SEC has finally implemented the long awaited Regulation SHO. > Regulation SHO went into effect on January 3rd. Beginning January > 10th, each day a list of securities with excessive open naked short > positions will be publicly published. > > This required list is referred to as the Threshold Securities List. > Under Regulation SHO, threshold securities are defined by two > criteria: 1) there are at least 10,000 shares in aggregate failed > deliveries for the security for five consecutive settlement days and, > 2) these fails to deliver constitute 0.5% or more of outstanding > shares. > > If the failed deliveries for the stocks on the Threshold List are not > rectified within 13 trading days, the market maker to whom the shares > was sold will effect a "buy in" in the open market. > > Each exchange is required to maintain a daily Threshold List. I am > guessing the list will be found at the web site of the exchange; i.e. > www.nasdaq.com and www.otcbb.com. > > It will be interesting to start monitoring the Threshold Lists for > unusual movements to the upside. > > I am not opposed to the practice of short selling. I believe all > investors should be able to bet on any stock in either direction. I am > opposed to sophisticated fund managers with offshore accounts using > loopholes to initiate trades you that you and I cannot execute through > our regular brokerage accounts. If they can do, we should all be able > to do it. > > The Threshold List could become a favorite resource for locating > trading ideas on the long side. It might become the sport of hedge > fund managers. These new regulations are emerging out of down side > excesses from the the 2000 to 2003 time frame. The pendulum is finally > swinging back to a level playing field. These actions by the > regulators will help the OTC Bulletin Board become the incubator it is > intended to be. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > [Image] > > Disclaimer > The OTCjournal.com Newsletter is an independent electronic publication > committed to providing our readers with factual information on > selected publicly traded companies. All companies are chosen on the > basis of certain financial analysis and other pertinent criteria with a > view toward maximizing the upside potential for investors while > minimizing the downside risk, whenever possible. Moreover, as detailed > below, this publication accepts compensation from certain of the > companies which it features. Likewise, this newsletter is owned by > MarketByte, LLC. To the degrees enumerated herein, this newsletter > should not be regarded as an independent publication. > > Go Here to view our compensation on every company we have ever covered, > or visit the following web address: > otcjournal.com for our full profiles and > otcjournal.com for Trading > Alerts. > > All statements and expressions are the sole opinions of the editors and > are subject to change without notice. A profile, description, or other > mention of a company in the newsletter is neither an offer nor > solicitation to buy or sell any securities mentioned. While we believe > all sources of information to be factual and reliable, in no way do we > represent or guarantee the accuracy thereof, nor the statements made > herein. > > From time to time MarketByte LLC sells shares in the open market it > receives as compensation for coverage of client companies. 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THE INFORMATION FOUND > IN THIS PROFILE IS PROTECTED BY THE COPYRIGHT LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES > AND MAY NOT BE COPIED, OR REPRODUCED IN ANY WAY WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED, > WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE EDITORS OF OTCjournal.com. > > We encourage our readers to invest carefully and read the investor > information available at the web sites of the Securities and Exchange > Commission ("SEC") at sec.govand the National Association > of Securities Dealers ("NASD") at nasd.com. We also strongly > recommend that you read the SEC advisory to investors concerning > Internet Stock Fraud, which can be found at > sec.gov. Disclaimer > ID:rzuSOC5P Readers can review all public filings by > companies at the SEC's EDGAR page. The NASD has published information > on how to invest carefully at its web site. MarketByte LLC's mailing > address is 3525 Del Mar Heights Rd #334, San Diego, CA 92130.