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

To: scion who wrote (97911)	1/26/2007 9:31:31 AM
From: StockDung	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 122087

There is a company out there called StockPatrol.com which publishes a website that many investors rely on. StockPatrol acts as watchdog warning investors of allegedly bad publicly traded companies. But things may not be what they seem. i-newswire.com (I-Newswire) - There is a company out there called StockPatrol.com which publishes a website that many investors rely on. StockPatrol acts as watchdog warning investors of allegedly bad publicly traded companies. But things may not be what they seem. Analysts are looking at a correlation between StockPatrol’s negative reporting and waves of short-selling. What they find interesting is that there seems to be a certain pattern. This is how the short-selling scam is suspected to work. Selling often starts shortly before StockPatrol puts out its negative report – while a company’s stock price is still high. This brings an amount of money into the sellers’ accounts. When StockPatrol releases its negative report, it initiates a downward momentum. The short-sellers continue to sell, reinforcing the downward trend and in the process bring in additional money. As the panicked shareholders of the affected company try to get out of the declining stock, the stock tumbles, at which point the short-sellers quietly start buying the necessary amount of stock back to cover their short positions at a fraction of their original price. The difference they keep as their profit. Obviously, the affected company, its management and shareholders don’t benefit from this. They are the losers. The money the short-sellers can make on the backs of small company investors must be significant, considering that StockPatrol deals in low priced stocks where even small changes in price represent a large percentage change. Further, StockPatrol has to be aware that through its negative reporting it is actually sabotaging small company prospects, thus removing risk from shorting those companies. An ingenious modus operandi – assured money making mechanism that is virtually risk-less. Operating out of his multi-million dollar five bedroom apartment in midtown Manhattan with one bedroom dedicated to the StockPatrol, its sole operator, Mr. Hartley Bernstein receives no compensation for his work and dedicates his time and own money purely for the social cause of being a self-appointed watchdog of the securities markets. StockPatrol states that its mission is to inquire, investigate, research and report on interesting, odd and unusual developments in the securities markets. Upon closer look however, StockPatrol’s reports amount to clever derogatory innuendoes by Mr. Bernstein. He gives them a particular kind of spin. But these aren’t simply inconsequential private opinions. Mr. Bernstein has built a following and, when he makes an innuendo to bash a company, he knows it is bound to produce a negative market response. StockPatrol does a lot of reporting. But it appears that Mr. Bernstein has never bothered to substantiate his innuendoes and has never contacted the firms he attacks. In fact, when one brave company challenged him for a public debate he simply disappeared. Obviously, Mr. Bernstein wouldn’t be shorting himself. Shorting would have to be done through untraceable off-shore accounts and by remote parties without a direct connection to him. But there must be one connection. Short-sellers somehow happen to know ahead of time on which companies StockPatrol is going to issue its reports. Is it a mere coincidence, or is there a friendly leak at StockPatrol? Ingenious as it may be, shorting small cap stocks is not only wrong it is actually illegal, especially on a downward trend! As it turns out, Mr. Bernstein actually has a background in securities scheming, deceit and lying – even perjuring himself in Court. He is no stranger to law breaking. Mr. Hartley Bernstein is a disbarred New York attorney. He is also a convicted felon. Mr. Bernstein was found guilty of stock fraud and perjury at the U.S. District Court in New York. If you want to spend $25 you can download the indictment and conviction details. As in organized crime cases, in this case the government used Mr. Bernstein as one of the key figures to convict the others. In exchange for his testimony against his buddies in crime, Mr. Bernstein bargained for himself a lighter sentence. Mr. Bernstein apparently claims that he is reformed now. Notwithstanding, his background must be considered. According to a New York Times article a few years ago on Mr. Bernstein’s past, some regulators are skeptical and believe that recidivism with this type of crime is standard. It does look odd that Mr. Bernstein is running StockPatrol – it’s like having a convicted bank robber manage a bank or having and ex child molester work in an elementary school. Mr. Bernstein has the audacity to make up unsubstantiated innuendoes giving them his typical spin that portrays business people building companies as being somehow crooked. In reality, the crooks by enlarge come from the securities industry victimizing companies for their ends. At a minimum, Mr. Bernstein, as well as the regulators who permit him to go on, must realize that they are responsible for effectively depressing the stock of the small companies that Mr. Bernstein denigrates through his innuendo reporting. Don’t these small firms deserve government protection against such attacks by a convicted felon? While there inevitably must be bad apples among small cap companies, as there are among large companies, it does not appear that the majority of the firms that Mr. Bernstein attacks have done anything wrong. If there is any wrongdoing by the companies that Mr. Bernstein has been allowed to slander, then regulators should charge those companies. But that is not the case. A question has to be asked, are regulators looking the other way when it comes to wrongdoing by Mr. Bernstein? If so, what is the rationale? The word on the Street is that certain regulators value Mr. Bernstein and have allowed him to carry on with his innuendo reporting “for prophylactic reasons” to keep small companies in check, so to speak. If there is truth to this, this would bring into question the regulators’ ethics and wisdom. What is happening is that Mr. Bernstein, acting as a quasi-governmental representative, is harming legitimate small business, undermining capital formation at the grassroots level and affecting the integrity of the small cap market. He should be investigated. Understandably, for the regulators securing actionable evidence against someone skillful like Mr. Bernstein may not be so easy the second time around and he may represent an embarrassment. There may be however grounds for civil action by the affected companies. Investors and executives of affected companies have been wondering for some time now whether Mr. Bernstein is just an overzealous man who acts for no other reason but to selflessly protect the investing public’s interests, or if there is a more practical side to this – Whether there is basis to suspicions that StockPatrol and its related outlets ( Stock Watchdog, Radar’s Doghouse, Stock or Schlock, The Radar Screen, Buyer Be Weary, Know Your Broker, Regulations on Patrol ) are a front for one of the biggest short-selling scams in the small cap market. What is even more disconcerting is that everybody is afraid to talk about Mr. Bernstein out of fear of retaliation. Even news reporters are shy to explore legitimate concerns regarding Mr. Bernstein. If you have questions regarding information in this press release contact the company listed below. I-Newswire.com is a press release service and not the author of this press release. The information that is on or available through this site is for informational purposes only and speaks only as of the particular date or dates of that information. As some companies / PR Agencies submit their press releases once per week/month or quarter, make sure check the official company website for accurate release dates as our site displays the I-Newswire.com distribution date only. We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of information on or available through this site, and we are not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in that information or for actions taken in reliance on that information. More Information AS Published on: 2007-01-23

To: scion who wrote (97911)	1/26/2007 9:44:03 AM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 122087

StocK Patrol -- Looking for Penny Stock Fraud / Investor Resource Center investrend.com StockPatrol.com subscribes to the idea that information is power. Its mission is to inquire, investigate, research and report on interesting, odd and unusual developments in the securities markets. The site believes that such information will enable its readers to thoughtfully assess and address the existence of scams, schemes and scandals in the investment community. Stock Patrol readers in the New York area. Tune in to Stock Patrol Radio, with Hartley Bernstein on 970 WWDJ AM , Fridays from 6 to 7 pm. FROM THE WEBSITE In furtherance of these efforts, we focus on public companies (as well as those who may be seeking to go public) and various brokerage firms and stock promoters, both large and small. The information contained in StockPatrol.com is obtained from sources and resources that we believe to be accurate and reliable. No warranty, however, either express or implied, is made as to the accuracy or timeliness of such information. We invite those with opposing viewpoints, or with credible and verifiable additional information, to contact us, and we will make every reasonable effort to respond to any inquiries. Where appropriate, in our sole discretion, we will publish such verified different or additional information on this web site. StockPatrol.com, Stock Patrol, The Stock Watchdog, Radar?s Doghouse, Stock or Schlock, The Radar Screen, Buyer Be Wary, Know Your Broker and Regulators on Patrol are all trademarks/servicemarks of StockPatrol.com, Inc. All materials in this publication (except where otherwise specified) are copyrighted and all rights are reserved. Reproduction or republication is expressly prohibited without the prior written permission of StockPatrol.com. Mission Statement Stockpatrol.com seeks to provide information which will help investors better protect themselves. Over time, we expect our contributors to include lawyers, journalists and representatives from the brokerage industry. We do not recommend the purchase or sale of any securities, and our articles are not designed to encourage or discourage particular investments ? although we may from time to time question the actions or activities of particular companies or brokerage firms. Instead, we seek to encourage investors to ask questions, to demand answers and to take control of their investments. Disclaimer The articles contained on this website are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an offer to buy or sell securities. StockPatrol.com is not an Investment Advisor, Investment Company or broker-dealer and is not engaged in rendering investment advice in connection with the purchase or sale of any security or investment instrument. As a matter of policy, StockPatrol.com, its employees and contributors have agreed not to engage in the individual purchase or sale of any individual securities featured in this publication. It is possible, however, that such employees and consultants own mutual funds that may hold positions in some of these securities, often without the specific knowledge of the individual fund holder. Stock Patrol, its principals, employees, and contributors do not receive any compensation of any kind (including, without limitation, stock, cash or other benefits) from any source, for writing, or refraining from writing any article that appears in this publication. FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES: Penny-Stock Fraud, From Both Sides Now By DIANA B. HENRIQUES The New York Times HARTLEY T. BERNSTEIN spends his days exploring the piranha-infested shoals of the penny-stock market, where cheap, thinly traded stocks can be rigged to generate enormous profits for insiders. In a spare bedroom of his eight-room Georgian-style apartment on Park Avenue in Manhattan, he searches the Internet for clusters of seemingly unrelated companies that use the same obscure accountants, lawyers and underwriters, and share the same mysterious offshore investors. He looks for flaws, fibs and fantasies in corporate documents ? like one company's plan to sell stock and use it to take over AOL Time Warner, AT&T, General Electric and, for good measure, General Motors. Then Mr. Bernstein posts his conclusions on StockPatrol.com, his Web site, to warn investors away. Some of his most faithful readers are market regulators. Following his road maps, federal investigators have found and shut down frauds they might have missed. Occasionally, he tips regulators in advance, before his targets realize that he is on their trail. One prosecutor called his assistance "singular." His cooperation has helped the government build criminal cases against at least 34 people. Mr. Bernstein is so good at what he calls "connecting the dots" of complicated penny-stock frauds for one good reason: five years ago, he was a formidable dot himself. Through his law firm, Bernstein & Wasserman, he worked for some of the most notorious penny-stock manipulators of the past two decades: Stratton Oakmont, Biltmore Securities and Sterling Foster. He also worked for a host of forgettable little companies whose stocks those firms manipulated. But in reality, he worked for Randolph Pace ? a wily Wall Street veteran who, with Meyer Blinder and Robert E. Brennan, make up what one lawyer has called "the three tenors of the penny-stock world." (Mr. Blinder was jailed for securities fraud in 1992, after the collapse of his firm, Blinder, Robinson & Company. Mr. Brennan, the smiling force behind the equally infamous First Jersey Securities, is serving a nine-year prison term after being convicted of fraud in 2001.) What makes Mr. Bernstein's apparent turnaround remarkable is its rarity. Recidivism is so common in the penny-stock world that some law enforcement experts are instinctively skeptical of anyone who claims to have left its temptations behind. But several prosecutors and regulators have been persuaded by Mr. Bernstein, a small, dark, boyish-looking man of 51 who began to cooperate with the government in the fall of 1998. He spent hundreds of hours coaching investigators on how to decipher Mr. Pace's complex deals. He confirmed information from other sources and "gave the government sufficient confidence" to seek an indictment against Mr. Pace in November 1998, one prosecutor said. The government later expanded its case to include two additional penny-stock firms and several new defendants. Mr. Bernstein also provided background information about Stratton Oakmont's deals with the shoe designer Steve Madden, who pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering in 2001 and was sentenced last spring to 41 months in prison. In May 1999, Mr. Bernstein, too, pleaded guilty to securities fraud, conspiracy and perjury and agreed to forfeit $850,000 in illegal profits. He prepared to testify when Mr. Pace came to trial on charges of secretly controlling Sterling Foster and prospering from its roughly $200 million in fraudulent business. That did not become necessary. Mr. Pace pleaded guilty in 2000 and last April and was ordered to pay nearly $135 million in restitution to investors and was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison. By the time Mr. Bernstein pleaded guilty, his career was in ruins. He had been disbarred. His law partners had walked out on him. He could not seek a new job while he faced prison, but he was desperate to keep busy. In July 1999, after carefully sounding out his own lawyer and the government, he started StockPatrol, which he saw as a logical extension of the guidance he had been providing to investigators. He began by scanning hyberbolic chat groups and e-mail messages on the Internet for the latest hot penny-stock tip. Then he would scour the touted company's public paperwork, looking for red flags. The found them ? and regulators paid swift attention. Following are a few examples: ? On Jan. 31, 2000, he published the first of several articles questioning whether Wellness Universe, a small health services company, was really the target of a $1 billion takeover bid, as it claimed. Eleven days after the first article, regulators halted trading in the shares, and three months later, the company's founder, George Pappas, was indicted in Manhattan. In January 2001, Mr. Pappas pleaded guilty to charges that he concocted a phony takeover to drive up the stock price so he and his family could sell for a quick profit of $2.3 million. He is awaiting sentencing. ? On March 4, 2001, Mr. Bernstein advised regulators that he would be running an article the next day about the Ives Health Company, a little Oklahoma concern that claimed to have a new AIDS drug. On the next day, regulators halted trading and, a month later, the company and its founder, M. Keith Ives, were indicted in Manhattan on federal conspiracy and wire fraud charges. Mr. Ives denies the charges and is scheduled for trial in June. ? In September 2002, Mr. Bernstein questioned the growth prospects claimed by the Vector Holdings Corporation, whose primary business was a stuffed-potato booth at a Florida shopping mall. A month later, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused the company, its president and its transfer agent of violating securities laws ? in part for not disclosing that the president, Allen E. Weintraub, had a criminal record. Mr. Weintraub and the companies have settled the cases without admitting wrongdoing, but the penalties have yet to be determined.. When Mr. Bernstein came before Judge Loretta A. Preska in Federal District Court in Manhattan for sentencing in June, the many letters submitted on his behalf included one from Cameron K. Funkhouser, a vice president of the NASD's regulatory arm. Speaking only for himself, Mr. Funkhouser cited his "very positive relationship" with Mr. Bernstein, adding, "My office has opened several successful cases" based on his leads. Richard D. Owens, the assistant United States attorney who prosecuted Mr. Bernstein, also cited StockPatrol at the hearing, but added that when Mr. Bernstein first came to the government, "we, of course, raised our eyebrows a bit." And no wonder. Mr. Owens knew that operating a "fraud detection" site is hardly an untainted concept. One notable effort, StockDetective.com, foundered two years ago after its parent company was found by federal prosecutors to have been the target of a stock manipulation scheme. And in May, a stock adviser, Amr Ibrahim Elgindy ? whose Web sites, insidetruth.com and anthonypacific.com, promised to expose penny-stock schemes ? was indicted in Brooklyn on federal charges of operating a stock manipulation and extortion racket. He denies the charges and is scheduled for trial in June. But Mr. Owens told Judge Preska that he was impressed by Mr. Bernstein's effort. "Whatever doubts we had about his motives or his purposes or his intents have quickly fallen away," he said. Judge Preska added her own endorsement. "You have used your time and your talent in a way to help investors avoid just the sorts of things that you had previously used your time and talents to impose," she said. "I applaud you for your work." She sentenced him to two years' probation. His quiet days running StockPatrol bear almost no resemblance to his life as an adviser to Mr. Pace's raucous empire. Like Mr. Blinder and Mr. Brennan, Mr. Pace was an intelligent, urbane, charming rogue. He survived many regulatory cases over the years and continued to prosper even after his firm, Rooney Pace, was expelled from the securities industry in 1988. By then, Mr. Pace's business was thoroughly intertwined with Mr. Bernstein's law practice. After graduating from Columbia and the New York University Law School, Mr. Bernstein worked at two midsize firms in Manhattan and spent a few idealistic years on the city's special narcotics prosecution squad. But in 1982, at the age of 30 ? "just young enough not to be afraid," he said ? he set up on his own. A lawyer he knew had become general counsel for Rooney Pace and had tossed a bit of business to the eager Mr. Bernstein. By the mid-1980's, Rooney Pace was nearly a quarter of his growing firm's business. Did Mr. Pace's reputation worry him? "I did not really see the penny-stock world as separate from the real world," he said. "I had customers who had problems with Shearson brokers or Merrill Lynch brokers that cost them far more money than some of my cases for Rooney Pace involved." Even after Rooney Pace closed in late 1987, Mr. Pace's friends hired Mr. Bernstein. As the 1990's opened, Bernstein & Wasserman was growing like a weed. Those were lavish, lunatic days. Mr. Pace and his friends "lived to party," Mr. Bernstein recalled. "They had `boys' nights out' that would go on for weeks," he added. There were binges at elegant restaurants, junkets to lush resorts, shopping sprees at Armani, recuperative weeks at some palm-studded spa. Occasionally, Mr. Bernstein and his wife, Debra L. Cherney, were invited along. One New Year's Eve, they joined the Paces and three other couples for a Broadway show and dinner at Nobu, a top Manhattan restaurant. Another day, Mr. Bernstein was suddenly invited to join Mr. Pace's entourage for a private-jet excursion to Atlantic City. Through it all, Mr. Bernstein said, he still thought of himself as an ethical person who just happened to represent "a bunch of people who were scoundrels." He concedes, "My business was so completely dependent on this group of clients ? I was blinded by that." Joel M. Cohen, a former federal prosecutor who worked on cases involving Stratton Oakmont, recalls his frustration with Mr. Bernstein's myopia. "Hartley was described by insiders as a `player,' somebody who, in one way or another, understood the game, knew the rules and went along with them," he said. "He was living in denial; he really was." Even when government pressure forced Sterling Foster to close in 1997, Mr. Bernstein still felt immune. "My impression, looking back, is that Randy Pace tried to keep me at arm's length from anything that was actually unlawful," he said, almost wistfully. But closing one eye to Mr. Pace's unsavory past clearly affected Mr. Bernstein's depth perception. He invested in several fraudulent deals and lied about those deals to regulators. He had crossed the line. One afternoon in September 1997, he learned that several of Mr. Pace's friends were striking deals with prosecutors and talking ? about him. Shocked and frightened, he hired a lawyer, Scott A. Edelman of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. Looking back now, his days in the Pace empire seem to him to have occurred a lifetime ago ? one specific lifetime ago: that of his daughter, Raine. She was born on Dec. 17, 1997, shortly after her father came under investigation, and died on June 3, 2001, of what is believed to have been an asthma-related seizure. "When all this happened with Hartley, we thought it was the end of the world," mused his wife, herself a lawyer, the family breadwinner and a loyal defender of her husband's essential decency. "But I remember thinking that day: I thought I had problems ? I didn't know what a real problem was." They are both active in bereavement support groups and still hope for a family. Mr. Bernstein, meanwhile, says he is exploring ways to turn StockPatrol into a profitable, but still lawful, venture ? perhaps by expanding it into a radio program or a book. His admirers among the enemies of penny-stock fraud say they are confident that Mr. Bernstein's redemption is genuine and that he will resist future temptations. But even they cannot explain why he can see so clearly now what he could not see for so long: the dots that add up to fraud. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go to Stock Patrol Go to NY Times article

To: scion who wrote (97911)	1/26/2007 9:48:19 AM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 122087

Not All Short Warriors Are Cut From Same Cloth, Says Stock Patrol / FinancialWire® October 21, 2003. (FinancialWire) While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission plans Wednesday morning to consider Regulation SHO that would regulate short sales of securities, StockPatrol.com editor Hartley Bernstein states that not ?all? companies that have cried ?naked short selling? have actually been targeted by ?outside? manipulators, or have investment-worthy business plans or prospects. October 21, 2003. (FinancialWire) While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission plans Wednesday morning to consider Regulation SHO that would regulate short sales of securities, StockPatrol.com editor Hartley Bernstein states that not ?all? companies that have cried ?naked short selling? have actually been targeted by ?outside? manipulators, or have investment-worthy business plans or prospects. Several of the companies on a published list of 119 have been featured in mostly unflattering reports by Stock Patrol, including AdZone Research (OTCBB: ADZR), Pinnacle Business Management (OTC: PCBM), Viragen (AMEX: VRA), and EdgeTech Services (OTCBB: EDGH). ?As presently conceived, Regulation SHO would strike a blow against ?naked? short selling by requiring short sellers in all equity securities to locate securities to borrow before selling short. That portion of the proposal would affect securities traded in the Over-The-Counter markets (the Pink Sheets and Over the Counter Bulletin Board) as well as those listed on regional and national stock exchanges,? states According to Bernstein, the ?Over-the-Counter investment community will be focused on the proposal to combat ?naked? short selling. The regulation would cast light on concerns expressed by some 100 Over-the-Counter companies who believe that their stock prices have been adversely affected by naked short selling. These OTC companies, many of which are obscure and struggling, have complained that a handful of established brokerage firms and market makers have permitted abusive short selling practices to persist. ?Is their concern real or imagined? It is unclear whether any or all of these complaining OTC companies actually have been affected materially by ?naked? short sellers. Many of these companies are struggling, financially-challenged entities with insignificant assets and negligible revenues. This has caused some observers to wonder whether those companies actually have been victimized by ?naked? short sellers, or simply have seized upon the issue to help explain the depressed state of their securities.? On the other hand, however, Stock Patrol notes, if ?naked? short selling has ?adversely affected some or all of these companies, the new rules offer a long overdue opportunity to end that practice. Either way, Regulation SHO, if it is adopted, should help put an end to this controversy.? Wednesday?s hearing, and assuming the SEC approves the staff?s proposal, the subsequent public comment period, is expected to attract immense interest, as shareholders and company executives vent their frustrations. SEC spokesperson John Heine told FinancialWire that the Wednesday hearings will be webcast directly from the SEC at sec.gov. At the recent SEC Forum for Small Business, the CEO Council worked in the committees to support SEC action on this matter. Last year the CEO Council prevailed on the SEC to require the NASDAQ to preserve the over-the-counter bulletin board. Like the research and other scandals, the SEC is more or less Johnny-come-lately to the issue but is trying to get ahead of what Financial Times recently termed ?Wall Street?s Next Nightmare.? FT notes that Depository Trust &Clearing Corp.'s subsidiary is one of the leaders in the clearing business. ?In the normal course of business DTCC tolerates so-called failed-to-deliver entries of shares offered for sale by, say, brokers. This means the seller doesn't have the certificates on hand but promises to be good for them eventually. Is the clearing firm too tolerant of failed-to-delivers, thereby facilitating illegal naked shorting by brokers (or their customers)? ? There are 119 public companies that have so far been touched by the growing national financial scandal. Some thirteen on the list of 119, such as A.G. Edwards, Inc. (NYSE: AGE), Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: AMTD), Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB), E*Trade Group, Inc. (NYSE: ET), FleetBoston (NYSE: FBF), Goldman, Sachs & Co. (NYSE: GS), Knight Securities, LP (NASDAQ: NITE), Ladenburg Thalmann & Co., Inc. (AMEX: LHS), M. H. Myerson & Co., Inc. (NASDAQ: MHMY), Olde / H&R Block (NYSE: HRB), Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCH), Toronto-Dominion?s (NYSE: TD), TD Waterhouse Group and vFinance, Inc. (OTCBB: VFIN), have been accused by one or more public companies as allegedly participating in short selling activities or abuses, or of failing to settle trades. Observers have said that trades to not settle because broker-dealers do not effect buy-ins, as required by law, and that there is an unspoken understanding that any brokerage that tries to force a buy-in will be retaliated against. The remaining 106 companies have issued press releases or been named in the media as having been victimized, or as taking various actions, either alone or in concert with other companies, to oppose manipulative trading in the form of illegal naked short selling. The actions have ranged from lawsuits to withdrawals and threatened withdrawals from the electronic trading system managed by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., to withdrawals from toxic financings, to the issuance of dividends or name changes designed to squeeze manipulators, to joining associations or networks or to contacting regulatory authorities to provide documentation of abuses or otherwise complain. On June 4, the SEC stated ?the issues surrounding naked short selling are not germane to the manner in which DTC operates as a depository registered as a clearing agency. Decisions to engage in such transactions are made by parties other than DTC. DTC does not allow its participants to establish short positions resulting from their failure to deliver securities at settlement. While the Commission appreciates commenters' concerns about manipulative activity, those concerns must be addressed by other means.? Nevertheless, short positions do in fact exist due to failures of the electronic settlement system to balance their electronic books, and the SEC has provided shareholders and small companies with no inkling of what the Commission has in mind in ?addressing? these concerns ?by other means.? However, in mid-September the SEC admitted in a Dow Jones interview that ?naked short selling? is a problem, and said its market regulatory division is taking aim at the practice. However, one public company reported that two days later a field office of the SEC asked the public company to ?prove naked short selling exists,? once more seemingly sending mixed signals to shareholders trapped in the manipulators? vise. Recently the NASD revealed its plan to stop the practices that have ravaged these public companies and their shareholders ? a wrist-slap to perpetrators such as Paragon Capital Markets, which was ?censured? and fined $35,000 after the NASD said it had ?executed short-sale orders in certain securities and failed to make an affirmative determination prior to executing such transactions.? An even smaller fine was subsequently assessed against vFinance for similar allegations. The complete list of those 106 companies include Advanced Viral Research Corp. (OTCBB: ADVR), AdZone Research, Inc. (OTCBB: ADZR), Amazon Natural Treasures (OTC: ANTD), America's Senior Financial Services (OTCBB: AMSE), American Ammunition, Inc. (OTCBB: AAMI), AngelCiti Entertainment (OTCBB: AGLC), ATSI Communications, Inc. (OTC: ATSC), Federal Agricultural Mortgage / Farmer Mac (NYSE: AGM) Allied Capital (NYSE: ALD), American Motorcycle (OTC: AMCYV), American International Industries (OTCBB: AMIN), Ameri-Dream (OTC: AMDR), Adirondack Pure Springs Mt. Water Co. (OTCBB: APSW), Bluebook International (OTCBB: BBIC), Blue Industries (OTCBB: BLIIV), Bentley Communications (OTCBB: BTLY), BIFS Technologies Corporation (OTCBB: BIFT), Biocurex (OTCBB: BOCX). Broadleaf Capital Partners, Inc. (OTCBB: BDLF), Chattem, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTT), Critical Home Care (OTCBB: CCLH), Composite Holdings (OTC: COHIA), CyberDigital, Inc. (OTCBB: CYBD). Diamond International Group (OTCBB: DMND), Dobson Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: DCEL), Eagle Tech Communications (OTC: EATC), Edgetech Services (OTCBB: EDGH); Also, Endovasc Ltd. (OTCBB: EVSC), Enviro-Energy Corporation (OTCBB: ENGY), Environmental Products & Technologies (OTC: EPTC), EPIXTAR Corp. (OTCBB: EPXR), eResearchTechnologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ERES), Flight Safety Technologies (OTCBB: FLST), Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE), FreeStar Technologies (OTCBB: FSRCE), Geotec Thermal Generators, Inc. (OTCBB: GETC), Genesis Intermedia (OTC: GENI), GeneMax Corp. (OTCBB: GMXX), Global Explorations Inc (OTC: GXXL), Global Path (OTCBB: GBPI), GloTech Industries, Inc. (OTCBB: GTHI), Green Dolphin Systems (OTCBB: GLDS), Group Management (OTCBB: GPMT), Hop-On (OTC: HPON), H-Quotient, Inc., (OTCBB: HQNT), Hyperdynamics Corp. (OTCBB: HYPD), International Biochem (OTCBB: IBCL), Intergold Corp. (OTCBB: IGCO), International Broadcasting Corporation (OTCBB: IBCS), InternetStudios, Inc. (OTCBB: ISTO), ITIS Holdings (OTCBB: ITHH), Investco Corp. (OTCBB: IVCO), Lair Holdings (OTC: LAIR), Lifeline BioTechnologies Inc. (OTC: LBTT), Life Energy & Technology (OTCBB: LETH), MBIA (NYSE: MBI); Also, MegaMania Interactive (OTC: MNIA), MetaSource Group, Inc. (OTCBB: MTSR), Midastrade.com (OTC: MIDS), Make Your Move (OTCBB: MKMV), Medinah Minerals (OTC: MDMN), MSM Jewelry Corp. (OTC: MSMC), Nanopierce Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: NPCT), Nutra Pharmaceutical (OTCBB: NPHC), Nutek (OTCBB: NUTK), Navigator Ventures (OTC: NVGV), Orbit E-Commerce, Inc. (OTCBB: OECI), Pitts & Spitts (OTC: PSPP), Sales OnLine Direct (OTCBB: PAID), Pacel Corp. (OTCBB: PACC), PayStar Corporation (OTC: PYST), Petrogen Corp. (OTCBB: PTGC), Pinnacle Business Management (OTC: PCBM), Premier Development & Investment, Inc. (OTCBB: PDVN), PrimeHoldings.com, Inc. (OTC: PRIM), Phlo Corporation (OTCBB: PHLC), Resourcing Solutions (OTC: RESG), Reed Holdings (OTC: RDHC), Rocky Mountain Energy Corp. (OTCBB: RMECE), RTIN Holdings (OTCBB: RTNHE), Saflink Corp. (NASDAQ: SFLK), Safe Travel Care (OTCBB: SFTVV), Sedona Corp. (OTCBB: SDNA); Also, Sionix Corp. (OTCBB: SINX), Sonoran Energy (OTCBB: SNRN), Starmax Technologies (OTC: SMXIF), Storage Suites America (OTC: SSUA), Suncomm Technologies (OTC: STEH), Sports Resorts International (NASDAQ: SPRI), Technology Logistics (OTC: TLOS), Swiss Medica, Inc. (OTCBB: SWME), Ten Stix, Inc. (OTCBB: TNTI), Tidelands Oil (OTCBB: TIDE), Titan Construction (OTC: TTCS), Trezac Corp. (OTCBB: TRZAV), Universal Express, Inc. (OTCBB: USXP), Valesc Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB: VLSHV), Vega Atlantic (OTCBB: VGAC), Viragen (AMEX: VRA), Viragen International (OTCBB: VGNI), Vista Continental Corporation, (OTCBB: VICC), Viva International (OTCBB: VIVI), Vtex Energy (OTCBB: VXENE) and Wizzard Software (OTCBB: WIZD), WorldTradeShow.com (OTC: WTSW) and Y3K Secure Enterprise Software, Inc. (OTCBB: YTHK). 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