Ken --
You picked some good sources to check for DD, but there are other sources as well.
For Florida corporation records (which is how I confirmed that CEO Martin Swarzman had the middle initial "B"), check ccfcorp.dos.state.fl.us. You can do a search by name, and see a bunch of different companies in which Mr. Swarzman has been involved. You can get copies of some recent records faxed to you for free. For earlier stuff, you have to order hard copy, and I think you have to pay for it.
For reports on the felony conviction of a Martin B Swarzman for defrauding a bank, check The Record (Bergen County, NJ) newspaper, June 13, 1986, p. 13; or U.P.I., April 22, 1986; or Associated Press, June 13, 1986. I don't know if these are available on the 'net; I found them on LEXIS/NEXIS.
For the 10-KSB, 10-QSB and 14A of Advent Technologies, Inc. (what HNLY used to be called), call Disclosure, Inc. at 800-638-8241. Unfortunately they charge for copies of filings. Or you could ask HNLY to send you a copy for free.
If you want to characterize my reading of these documents as "rumors," that's your prerogative, since it's your money. But you seem to start from the assumption that the company is "clean" until somebody can "prove" otherwise. Personally, I think the company has some things to prove before it deserves to be trusted, because:
-- HNLY is a company that, as far as I can tell, hasn't made a public report of earnings or capital structure for over 3 years.
-- Neither the company's website nor any public release I can find gives any information about the background of Mr. Swarzman, Mr. McNiff of Bermuda, Ms. Campos, or Mr. Stock.
-- The website refers to a "book value" that is a nice round number -- without offering any details of what assets supposedly go into that book value.
-- HNLY has yet to make public any of the terms of its acquisitions (except to say that they were "cash and stock.")
-- Before HNLY was HNLY, it was NRCI -- which also didn't make public any of the terms of its dealings.
If you disagree with any of these facts, please explain what makes you think they are not correct. But I don't think there is any dispute about them. I think they are known facts, not "rumors."
On top of HNLY's history of operating more or less in secret for 3 years is the record of Advent Technologies, the last one of the Swarzman-McNiff-Campos companies to make a substantial SEC filing. It seems to me pretty clear from the Advent 10-KSB that Mr. Swarzman was feathering his own nest at the expense of the shareholders, and I've given some pretty specific examples. If you have any doubt about this, call Disclosure, Inc. and ask for a copy of the 10-KSB.
As far as whether or not Mr. Swarzman has a criminal record, I honestly don't know. But I can tell you that I searched though the P-TRAK and P-FIND libraries of LEXIS/NEXIS, and there are not a lot of Martin B. Swarzmans listed. There are two listings, to be exact -- and both of them have addresses that match Florida corporate records of companies in which HNLY's CEO seems to have been involved (you can pull the corporate records up via the Internet). One of these listings gives both New York and Florida addresses for Martin B. Swarzman, and from that listing it appears that Martin B. Swarzman lived in NY, then relocated to Florida. (I don't see any point in posting information from P-TRAK about exact addresses, home phone numbers, or the names of a spouse and a child -- but there is a lot of information in this database.)
It also looks to me from Florida state corporate records (that you can find if you do a search from the URL listed above) as if a Martin B. Swarzman dabbled in real estate in Florida in 1989 and 1990. The Martin B. Swarzman with the 1986 conviction was a New York real estate developer.
Is this proof positive? Of course not. But it's enough to make me feel comfortable raising the issue in public, something I think frankly would be immoral if I didn't have so many indicators suggesting that HNLY's CEO is the same man who was convicted in 1986. And it seems to me that the lack of a response on this subject from HNLY is pretty significant. If somebody suggested I was the same person who committed a felony, I would rush to clear my name and set the record straight.
Is this criminal matter relevant? Absolutely. The crime involved in the 1986 conviction was essentially lying to a bank to get a $1 million loan when the Martin B. Swarzman involved already owed $6 million to another bank. He -- and a CPA friend -- apparently cooked some books to get the loan, then moved the $1 million where the authorities couldn't find it.
If someone will lie AND COOK FINANCIAL RECORDS to get money, shouldn't shareholders be concerned about that? Especially when the company involved hasn't provided any audited financial information in over 3 years? IMO, it makes a big difference in terms of credibility whether or not the [former] CEO is the same person who defrauded the bank in 1986.
As far as the theory that negative posts on HNLY have to come from shorts, I guess I can see where that idea comes from. There's a lot of "pump and dump" stuff going on in cyberspace, and the SEC's website even talks about it. I'm not a short -- and don't plan to start shorting pennies, at least for now -- but you don't have to believe me.
Let's just say for the sake of discussion that I was a short (which I'm not). That ought to make anyone who reads one of my posts skeptical about anything that I say is a "fact" -- but it doesn't make the documents I reference go away. Heck, even a short can find some TRUE negative information on a company. So read my motives any way you'd like (I've already explained what they really are), but at least look into the documents I've referenced and see for yourself what they say.
Regardless of all of these things, HNLY could go either up or down. As a crap shoot, for all I know it might pay off. Heck, it might turn out to be an interesting game -- but not a place to put the rent money or the college fund!
-- Jim
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