quote:An emergency meeting of CEOs, CFOs, attorneys, funders and IR practitioners of public companies with market caps under $200 million has been scheduled June 15 in Manhattan, at the Southgate Tower, across from Pennsylvania Station, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The meeting will immediately precede the June 16 open session of the SEC’s Advisory Committee ... { deleted }
No truly small-cap or microcap companies traded on the over-the-counter bulletin board or pink sheets are represented on the Advisory Committee, but one of the committee members, Drew Connolly, who will be among those speaking at the June 15 session, is executive director of the CEO Council (http://www.ceocouncil.net), whose membership includes a number of development-stage public companies.
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The issues to be explored at the emergency meeting, and then packaged for common presentment to the Advisory Committee, includes the excessive and disproportionate compliance costs of Sarbanes-Oxley 404, small business rules expected to affect public companies, predatory trading practices, {my emphasis-bt} the role of funders and other rising threats to public companies’ ability to make a profit, or even to survive as a public company.
posted
More hmmm...notice CitiGroup and Merrill Lynch ties to DTCC: the former having recently settled in Enron case--w/o admitting guilt--and the latter having less recently lost in court and ordered to pay damages to an investor....
quote:Personal Privilege By Gayle Essary / We at Investrend were recently as stunned and disturbed as anyone else when the powerful and reclusive Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. became a prime suspect in the sudden and inexplicable “indefinite postponement” by General Electric’s (NYSE: GE) “Dateline NBC” of what was expected to have been a shocking expose of the DTCC’s purported role now and over the years in the counterfeiting of electronic certificates supporting illegal naked short sales.
After all, the DTCC is presided over by such otherwise seemingly responsible and luminous institutions as the NASD and the NYSE, its two “preferred” shareholders, along with Jonathan E. Beyman, Chief Information Officer, Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH); Frank J. Bisignano, Chief Administrative Officer and Senior Executive Vice President, Citigroup / Solomon Smith Barney's Corporate Investment Bank (NYSE: C), and John W. Cummings, Senior Vice President & Head of Global Technology & Services, Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE: MER).
Surely none of these would be party to shenanigans that lead to the censorship or disabling of any media. But wait, you say, there is no proof. Maybe, not yet, but we don’t have to wait for proof that the DTCC engages in such un-American activities as press censorship.
The DTCC, an agent of SROs that gives it quasi-government status, has admitted outright that it has engaged in communications that are not only tortuous interference but that more to the point, seem to have put it in the glaring headlights of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, that protects media from interference by any government institution:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
The organization’s outside counsel, Proskauer Rose LLP, has written FinancialWire counsel Marshal Shichtman, Esq., not only readily admitting to its mischief, but actually expressing pride at its bullying.
In the letter, attorney Charles S. Sims, in classic Orwellian double-speak, actually references the First Amendment as giving his clients the right to interfere with another’s First Amendment rights. Which, of course, is how we wind up here further exercising our opinion about his opinion about our opinion of the First Amendment, ad infinitus, we guess. The only difference is that neither this opinion nor our regular news are now distributed to the readers of Investors Business Daily or to finance news users at Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO), because the DTCC didn’t just express its opinion. Its communications were designed to squelch our rights to publish, and resulted in Investors Business Daily immediately taking down our news feed.
What was the “First Amendment opinion” stated by the DTCC that cause this harm not only to our business but also to our rights of free expression? It was that FinancialWire is “not a bona fide news” provider.
We beg to differ, of course. No, we insist on differing.
If our news articles leaned against counterfeiting of shares and naked short sales that’s because we have been working under the illusion that both are actually illegal. We have to say, however, that the recent postings by bureaucratic staff members on the SEC.gov site that says “not all naked short selling” is illegal and further, that those who did engage in illegal naked short sales before the beginning of 2005 have been granted a kind of stock market manipulation “amnesty” by a “grandfathering” that to our knowledge was neither asked for nor approved by the Congress or the President was another shocker that by now has just been layered on to a cacophony of shockers.
However, in the end that is something our readers will and can sort out and judge. Our readerships continue to grow rather phenomenally, even after the loss of these two outlets, so if you accept this readership growth as the measure, the “opinion” of the DTCC is dead wrong.
Whatever the case, the bottom line is that the readers at Investors.com and Yahoo! Finance no longer get to make that choice. The DTCC has made that choice for them.
If you’re a user of one of those services and that’s okay with you, we have no concerns. If it’s not okay with you, you can express your own opinion of this press censorship and interference to other media, to the two outlets, to the DTCC, to the two “preferred shareholders,” to any of the 21 DTCC board members, or in whatever means suits you.
Why did we call this un-American? First and foremost, you can contrast the variety of news you receive in America due to our Constitutional protections to those the public is allowed to receive in say, China, or say, Syria, or say, Myanamar, or say, Russia, or any authoritarian government. The press is your proxy. You do not have the time to ask questions or to dispute the statements of governments, institutions, or bureaucracies, so it is the role of the media to do that for you.
When an institution such as the DTCC takes it upon itself to decide for you what is news and what is not, simply because it does not like what it is reading, or it is asking too many questions or raising disturbing issues, we have a difficult time not seeing parallels.
Perhaps you were not yet an adult or fully aware of the press restrictions in oppressive regimes such as the Nazis or the Communists, but you most certainly were aware only four years ago that Russian President Vladimir Putin unilaterally shut down NTV, the only non-state-owned television channel in Moscow and replaced it with state-employed reporters and producers. You have surely seen the results of this in the scant Russian coverages of the Moscow theatre and school hostage situations, not to mention the Yukos debacle.
Maybe this comparison of the DTCC and Putin is more graphic to us because we were actually in Moscow when NTV was being shut down. This writer was on other business but accompanying the partner of Ted Turner, who was seeking to acquire NTV. Turner and our mutual business colleague met with Putin and in classic Turnerese, lectured the Russian president on the importance of a free press in his desires for a free market economy.
Putin would have nothing to do with Turner’s arguments, but did keep up the charade of allowing potential acquisition meetings to occur throughout the week this writer was present. Meanwhile the owner of NTV had already fled the country, and his second-in-command was under house arrest. We had the privilege of having a outing one evening with a dozen or so of the brave NTV editors, writers and producers, along with our business colleague, and they were already living in fear. They had their own armed guards stationed at all of the exits, to attempt to repel any sudden Putin-directed forces.
This writer shared an automobile back to the Metropole Hotel, whose balcony Lenin used to direct his revolution, and we were a little uneasy at various checkpoints since the hotel already had us mistakenly involved in the acquisition, and the Metropole was famously know to have been bugged. When our colleague was out, the hotel had called our room to ask us to retrieve a fax to him from Ted Turner, so if there was a sweep, we knew we were going to be in it.
Having escaped all this intact, it never occurred to us that Putin would be waiting for us back on American shores.
So, now that we have begun now to actually express “opinions not news,” which is an equally responsible role for the media, we’re going to move right on to three opinions:
1. The Depository Trust and Clearing Corp. has become too large, too encompassing, too powerful, too unresponsive to those it serves, primarily the investing public, too unresponsive to the Congress under whose auspices it should be operating, and most of all, too arrogant.
First, it is time to unconflict it, with real public representations on its board.
Second, it is time to break it up, with its various duties provided by smaller agencies under separate unconflicted boards.
2. General Electric, the world’s second largest corporation, is beginning to show that it can not be both a multinational comglomerate and a faithful media steward.
First, it is time for General Electric to think about divesting NBC to a group whose sole business is to manage a free, untethered press and media establishment.
Second, if it will not do that, then it should put its news operations in the hands of an independent, journalistic board that is not answerable to the conglomerate. This is not a bad idea for CBS, ABC and FOX as well.
3. The SEC should take its unilateral decision about legal illegal naked short sales and its amnesty program to Congress and get its authority, or at the least, vote up or down at the Commission before letting its staff double-speak away law-breaking and law breakers.
So, now, DTCC, you have three examples of “opinion” to point to.
Why that disqualifies us from First Amendment protection or protection from your bullying, tortuous interferences, however, is beyond us.
Now, before ending this opinion piece, let’s enumerate your bosses, since we have not yet heard from them as to whether they support your Un-American tactics:
The DTCC’s two preferred shareholders are the New York Stock Exchange and the NASD, a regulatory agency that also owns the Nasdaq and until recently, the American Stock Exchange.
Other DTCC board members include Michael C. Bodson, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MWD); Gary Bullock, Global Head of Logistics, Infrastructure, UBS Investment Bank (NYSE: UBS); Stephen P. Casper, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Fischer Francis Trees & Watts, Inc.; Jill M. Considine,Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC);
Also, Paul F. Costello, President, Business Services Group, Wachovia Securities (NYSE: WB); John W. Cummings, Senior Vice President & Head of Global Technology & Services, Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE: MER); Donald F. Donahue, Chief Operating Officer, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC); Norman Eaker, General Partner, Edward Jones; George Hrabovsky, President, Alliance Global Investors Service; Catherine R. Kinney, President and Co-Chief Operating Officer, New York Stock Exchange; Thomas J. McCrossan, Executive Vice President, State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT); Bradley Abelow, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS); Jonathan E. Beyman, Chief Information Officer, Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH); and Frank J. Bisignano, Chief Administrative Officer and Senior Executive Vice President, Citigroup / Solomon Smith Barney's Corporate Investment Bank (NYSE: C), Eileen K. Murray, Managing Director, Credit Suisse First Boston (NYSE: CSR); James P. Palermo, Vice Chairman, Mellon Financial Corporation (NYSE: MEL); Thomas J. Perna, Senior Executive Vice President, Financial Companies Services Sector of The Bank of New York (NYSE: BNY); Ronald Purpora, Chief Executive Officer, Garban LLC; Douglas Shulman, President, Regulatory Services and Operations, NASD; and Thompson M. Swayne, Executive Vice President, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM).
Gayle Essary is CEO of Investrend Communications, Inc., and serves its Investrend Information unit as Publisher of FinancialWire. He has been a practicing journalist since 1958, is a member of the Online News Association and has been a member of both the Texas and National Press Association.
StockGate: 12 Days To Dateline NBC While Influential Washington..
2005/03/30 01:22:30
Group Weighs In Mar 30, 2005 (financialwire.net via COMTEX) -- March 30, 2005 (FinancialWire) Its 12 days to the airing of the Dateline NBC expose on illegal manipulative shortselling, scheduled by the General Electric (NYSE: GE) unit Sunday night, April 10, and the intensity on both sides of the controversial phenomenon known as StockGate continues to reverberate. Short sellers have reached a new high in chutzpah, now forcing even the Nasdaq-100 Shares (NASDAQ: QQQQ) on to the Regulation SHO Threshhold list! Another ad has surfaced, this time in the New York Times (NYSE: NYT), this time from the Washington Legal Foundation that charges the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is continuing to pursue civil enforcement action against Martha Stewart, founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE: MSO) while turning a blind eye to what it calls "truly serious" allegations of stock manipulation by plaintiffs' class action attorneys and short seller. The Washington Legal Foundation, located at http://www.wlf.org, has considerable clout in the Bush administration, with ten of its board members now serving in various capacities, including three, headed by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, in the Bush cabinet. Its "In All Fairness" advertorial, "What's Up With The SEC?" may be seen at http://www.wlf.org/upload/032805IAFSEC.pdf The advertorial alleges that class action lawyers are colluding with short sellers "right under the noses of SEC investigators," whose abuses cause "investors, employees, pensioners and companies" to "lose millions of dollars in stock value each year." The WLF said that the SEC has been "sitting on several complaints of misconduct" that it and the U.S. chamber of Commerce have filed that detail "examples of questionable stock manipulation by short sellers and class action attorneys." The group says that the SEC is "looking the other way while class action attorneys enjoy a free-for-all, reaping millions in windfall fees to the detriment of shareholders," and asks "why isn't the SEC taking legal and regulatory action to prevent stock manipulation and to protect investors from the looting by plaintiffs' lawyers? Shouldn't there be rules and oversight to deter these trial lawyer abuses?" It concludes that "the SEC must show America that it can get tough with more sinister villains thatn Martha Stewart." Late last week, Motley Fool, noting that the scandal, tagged "StockGate" by FinancialWire just over a year ago, has touched investors at companies ranging from Global Links (OTC: GLKCE) to Delta Airlines (NYSE: DAL), Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE: MSO) and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (NYSE: KKD), lambasted regulators for letting what it called "71-year-old laws" against naked short selling go unenforced. The article is at http://www.fool.com/news/commentary/2005/commentary05032407.htm?source=eptyholnk3 03100&logvisit=y&npu=y Media coverage of the scandal has intensified in recent weeks, especially after a Senate hearing where the chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was grilled on the subject, and the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp. has taken the unusual step of not only commenting, but publishing a full defense of its practices in advance of the airing. A video of the exchange is at http://www.investrendinformation.com FinancialWire published the Q&A's Monday at http://www.financialwire.net The DTCC, which is run under the joint authority of the New York Stock Exchange and NASD, both government-sponsored SROs, may even have run afoul of serious laws against interference with the press, according to attorney Marshal Shichtman, Esq., who is investigating the organization's purported role in colluding with Investors Business Daily to attempt to censor or squelch further distribution of FinancialWire. The poster child for StockGate appears to be Global Links, which was cited in the Senate hearing for the fact that it continues to trade huge volumes after two separate individuals filed SEC schedules alleging that together they had bought 115% of the company's entire outlay of stock. One of those individuals, Paul Floto, of Dallas, told FinancialWire Monday that he had sent a fax to Larry E. Thompson, First Deputy General Council of the DTCC, after the website had posted Thompson's in-house interview: "Dear Mr. Thompson, I found your recent 'questions and answers' about the DTCC's role in 'naked short selling' to be remarkably uninformed. I would like to pose one specific example, and receive a specific answer regarding the DTCC's actions. "In very early February, one investor purchased 100% of the issued shares of GLKCE. In early March, a second investor purchased an additional 15% of the issued shares. To the best of my knowledge and belief, both investors have asked for, but not received, certificates for their shares. "Prior to mid-February, GLKCE was added to the Reg. SHO list, where it remains to this day. In spite of appearing on the Reg. SHO list, and in spite of 115% ownership by two investors who have demanded share certificates, GLKCE has traded over 100 times the legally issued shares. "While I am aware of the fact that GLKCE may have issued additional shares in March, which may or may not be restricted or unregistered, this should not have allowed the DTCC to operate a 'stock borrow' program in February, when there were clearly no legal shares available to be loaned out. "Please investigate your firm's role in this illegal trading as soon as possible, and please investigate your firm's role in facilitating continued violation of Reg. SHO rules in the trading of all securities appearing on all the Reg. SHO lists," Floto stated to Thompson. At press time, Floto had not received a reply. For up-to-the-minute news, features and links click on http://www.financialwire.net FinancialWire is an independent, proprietary news service of Investrend Information, a division of Investrend Communications, Inc. It is not a press release service and receives no compensation for its news or opinions. Other divisions of Investrend, however, provide shareholder empowerment platforms such as forums, independent research and webcasting. For more information or to receive the FirstAlert daily summary of news, commentary, research reports, webcasts, events and conference calls, click on http://www.investrend.com/contact.asp The FinancialWire NewsFeed is now available in multiple formats to your site or desktop, free. Click on: http://www.investrend.com/XmlFeeds?level=268
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"Dateline NBC expose on illegal manipulative shortselling...."
That show never aired, correct?
For a month or more, I checked television listings to be sure I did not miss that show. I'm pretty sure the show was shelved.
If you check major political fund contributors to both George Bush and Christopher Cox, you will discover Enron is all over the place. Citigroup is a front for Enron. Many other major contributors are "backdoors" for Enron, and WorldCom.
Looks to me, six to seven of the top ten political fund contributors, are actually Enron moving money through financial institutions to Bush and Cox, but are not noted unless you dig deep to discover those institutions manage branches of Enron.
Appears all top ten contributors have been under indictment or associated with indictment, within the last few years, since Bush took office.
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as far as I know, you are correct, never aired. Plus, don't know whether this is clear: FincialWire (Ivesttrend) is saying DTC had their news feed pulled from Yahoo Finance AND Investors Biz Daily.
BUT get this, from preceding post of mine--Web site with ties *TO* Bush (3 on cabinet, allegedly) are BUSTING the SEC:
quote:The Washington Legal Foundation, located at http://www.wlf.org, has considerable clout in the Bush administration, with ten of its board members now serving in various capacities, including three, headed by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, in the Bush cabinet. Its "In All Fairness" advertorial, "What's Up With The SEC?" may be seen at http://www.wlf.org/upload/032805IAFSEC.pdf The advertorial alleges that class action lawyers are colluding with short sellers "right under the noses of SEC investigators," whose abuses cause "investors, employees, pensioners and companies" to "lose millions of dollars in stock value each year." The WLF said that the SEC has been "sitting on several complaints of misconduct" that it and the U.S. chamber of Commerce have filed that detail "examples of questionable stock manipulation by short sellers and class action attorneys." The group says that the SEC is "looking the other way while class action attorneys enjoy a free-for-all, reaping millions in windfall fees to the detriment of shareholders," and asks "why isn't the SEC taking legal and regulatory action to prevent stock manipulation and to protect investors from the looting by plaintiffs' lawyers? Shouldn't there be rules and oversight to deter these trial lawyer abuses?" It concludes that "the SEC must show America that it can get tough with more sinister villains thatn Martha Stewart."
-------------------- Nashoba Holba Chepulechi Adventures in microcapitalism...
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Belle, oops, belay the apparent contradiction re Washington Legal Foundation, update below:
quote:Originally posted by BuyTex: as far as I know, you are correct, never aired. Plus, don't know whether this is clear: FincialWire (Ivesttrend) is saying DTC had their news feed pulled from Yahoo Finance AND Investors Biz Daily.
BUT get this, from preceding post of mine--Web site with ties *TO* Bush (3 on cabinet, allegedly) are BUSTING the SEC:
quote:The Washington Legal Foundation, located at http://www.wlf.org, has considerable clout in the Bush administration, with ten of its board members now serving in various capacities, including three, headed by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, in the Bush cabinet. Its "In All Fairness" advertorial, "What's Up With The SEC?" may be seen at http://www.wlf.org/upload/032805IAFSEC.pdf The advertorial alleges that class action lawyers are colluding with short sellers "right under the noses of SEC investigators," whose abuses cause "investors, employees, pensioners and companies" to "lose millions of dollars in stock value each year." The WLF said that the SEC has been "sitting on several complaints of misconduct" that it and the U.S. chamber of Commerce have filed that detail "examples of questionable stock manipulation by short sellers and class action attorneys." The group says that the SEC is "looking the other way while class action attorneys enjoy a free-for-all, reaping millions in windfall fees to the detriment of shareholders," and asks "why isn't the SEC taking legal and regulatory action to prevent stock manipulation and to protect investors from the looting by plaintiffs' lawyers? Shouldn't there be rules and oversight to deter these trial lawyer abuses?" It concludes that "the SEC must show America that it can get tough with more sinister villains thatn Martha Stewart."
ooops, the group that's supposedly pro-investor? wfl.org--on their OWN site is a link to this, "probusiness...who filed" ON BEHALF of Arthur Andersen""
quote:Reasonable minds may differ on the ruling's impact and implications, but one thing about it is certain: The opinion echoes boardroom anger that aggressive prosecutors such as Spitzer are trying to set public policy with litigation. The Andersen case was Corporate America's Exhibit #1: a prosecutorial push for a quick verdict driven by enormous public and political pressure. "Arthur Andersen was charged, as far as I can tell, for public-relations reasons," says Richard Samp, general counsel of the nonprofit {so is the CIA's "brokerage" my note--BT } Washington Legal Foundation, a probusiness group that filed a brief on the accounting firm's behalf.{ my emphasis, BT }
-------------------- Nashoba Holba Chepulechi Adventures in microcapitalism...
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Father and son Bush are well known for their "brown shirt" censorship policies, which are a direct violation of our constitution.
Christopher Cox, the Bush nomination to chair the SEC, is directly linked to Oliver North, who was prosecuted for the Bush / CIA debacle Iran - Contra scandal. Disclosed in that scandal, Bush was selling drugs in America to raise money to buy military weapons for use abroad.
The Bush family has a very long history of their committing crimes against Americans for their own personal monetary profit and political profit.
History just might reflect both Bush administrations as being the most corrupt of all history, even more so than the Nixon administration.
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Tsutsumi Tsunami would love to have this i-hub post verified...imagine if *our* CEO crooks possessed one smidgen the honor of this Oriental gangsta...
quote: Posted by: TAKI In reply to: Jim Bishop who wrote msg# 62889 Date:6/16/2005 1:08:15 AM Post #of 62891
(COMTEXB: Billionaire developer admits guilt as trial opens on insider t ading charges: report ( AP WorldStream ) B: Billionaire developer admits guilt as trial opens on insider trading charges: report ( AP WorldStream )
TOKYO, Jun 16, 2005 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Railroad and hotel magnate Yoshiaki Tsutsumi pleaded guilty to charges of insider trading and falsifying financial records at the opening of his trial Thursday, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported.
The bespectacled Tsutsumi, 71, once listed by Forbes as the world's richest man, earlier entered the Tokyo District Court building somberly, wearing a dark business suit.
The trial of Tsutsumi, former chairman of Seibu Railway Co. and one-time chief of Japan's Olympic committee, underlines the nation's moves toward greater corporate accountability.
Over the decades of Japan's post-war modernization, he was revered as a charismatic billionaire who made his fortune on a nationwide hotel chain, major railway and resort development.
Prosecutors allege Tsutsumi conspired with several executives to falsify Seibu Railway's 2003 financial statement, putting the stake of Kokudo Corp., his privately owned company, in the railway far lower than actual numbers.
Having a handful of top executives owning too much was a violation of Tokyo Stock Exchange rules. Seibu has acknowledged the deception, and the stock exchange delisted the company in December.
Prosecutors also say Tsutsumi was involved in insider trading to sell Seibu Railway shares. Tsutsumi resigned as chairman last year to take responsibility for a separate racketeer scandal involving other executives.
If convicted, Tsutsumi faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to 5 million yen (US$46,000; euro38,000) for falsifying financial statements, or up to three years in prison and a fine of up to 3 million yen (US$27,000; euro22,000) for insider trading.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press, All rights reserved
-------------------- Nashoba Holba Chepulechi Adventures in microcapitalism...
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