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Non-Tech : Cendant Corporation (NYSE:CD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Roy F who wrote (1014)	7/14/1998 8:14:00 PM
From: chirodoc	Respond to of 3627

Wrong! Dispatches from the Front: Heads Should Roll at Cendant By James J. Cramer 7/14/98 12:07 PM ET Where are the prosecutors? Where are the people who should be protecting us from these shenanigans? Look at this Cendant (CD:NYSE). Yesterday this stock was swimming along just fine, hovering at 22 in a recovery mode. Looked like it was gradually winning back the confidence of the investors. And then, wham, three large sellers, multimillion-share sellers, hit the tape. Why do I care? Because I own this painful stock. These buyers swept in with almost reckless abandon -- like they knew something was coming. These sellers wanted to get out of Cendant with an almost desperate fervor. They did their best, knocking Cendant down to about 19 in heavy trading. Then, wham, this morning the company delivers the bad news: terrible problems with the auditing, earnings, etc. The stock breaks lower, hitting as low as 14 this morning. Where I come from, which is these here United States, this sure looks like a case of selective dissemination. That's a felony. I am going to repeat that: selective dissemination. A felony. Did several accounts simply wake up Monday morning and receive some sort of epiphany and start selling Cendant with abandon? I can't believe that. These accounts acted with the assuredness that almost always comes from inside information from the company. If it's true, then that's against the law. Now I know this whole Cendant situation has been nothing but a snow job, a contemptuous, gratuitous snow job by big-ego multimillionaire executives who should have to pay the price. I am sick to my stomach that Walter Forbes thinks he can get away with this -- he was the guy in charge at CUC International when the company merged with HFS, forming Cendant. And it's at CUC where the accounting problems are cropping up. He was either asleep at the wheel or complicit. Both merit immediate dismissal and further criminal investigation. But what has really gotten me is that throughout this, the most horrible situation I have ever personally been involved in, the people running Cendant have been leaking the bad news to their buddies ahead of official announcements, leaving the rest of us to hold the %$##?&$#& bag. It's not enough that we have been lied to, defrauded, cheated, screwed. Throughout this experience, some have been screwed a lot less than others!!!! This apparent dribbling to the buddies of Cendant has to stop. It will not be stopped by reporters or journalists making people look bad. It will not be stopped by selling shareholders. It needs to be stopped by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement staff. Now. Today. We need a grand jury to look into every aspect of what has occurred at Cendant. Like I said, I am long Cendant, and the whole thing stings in every way. As I have said previously on CNBC, I maintain a small position after getting the stuffing knocked out of me. But I am passionate and furious about this. When are the wheels of justice going to get unstuck and get moving? They gear up for much, much smaller infractions. This Cendant situation has made a mockery of our laws against fraud, from the accounting to the mysterious clairvoyance of large investors. And it continues. Unabashed. Come on, prosecutors. This is the big case out there, the big one that must be started to put the fear into all of the other crooked execs out there who think that all that will happen when they get caught is they will have to bail out using their golden parachutes. Someone restore our faith. Mete out some justice. Give us some heads. Today.