It's easy to get into trouble when you write about something unfamiliar. Judd should probably not write about tax records. I sure am not going to.
But there is something about the story that's interesting. Gary you have to admit to being a little surprised that Sam funded Barry's work on USNA. Since Howard S is a pre-Barry USNA critic, you have to wonder if he figures in in some way.
And how did Judd know to check the USNA list for IDs to match against the HowardS ID? Scip can you help us out? Am I wrong in thinking it was strange for Judd to find a match between the new ID HowardS and an ID that had never posted to OSTK?
Surprised? No, not to anyone who has gotten to know Sam. That's what makes him such a danger to Overstock.
A company that has something to hide in its accounting should not make itself interesting to Sam.
Your other points are interesting and should be explored.
John,
Why is it strange that a corporate crime fighter with means, like Sam, would fund another corporate crime fighter, like Barry? What's so odd about that?
What if Howard Sirota decided to use his own expertise in identifying crummy companies to make investments in public companies? As long as he is not also involved in litigation with the same company, what would be the harm? It certainly wouldn't be illegal nor would it be in breech of any lawyers' code of ethics.
On the other hand, what if a class action lawyer, like say one of Overstock's lawyers, were to accept stock as payment for some portion of legal services rendered in a purported naked shorting lawsuit? You should review SEC filings to see what stock holdings Wes Christian has reported in the past. Is it pure coincidence that he reported receiving stock in some of the companies (not Overstock, to date at least) he has represented in these so-called nss suits?
Regards,
No Shill
Gary:
Judd Bagley responded on InvestorVillage at 9:43 AM local Utah time today during normal office hours:
"What a disappointment. I was looking forward to a real response. Instead, Weiss misses the point entirely."
"I don't care about the status of the $345,000 in tax debt (ooops, I got conservative and only counted $333,000...my bad!). Referencing that was nothing more than a way to make the point that the February 27, 2007 tax warrant for a measly $473.15 was not erroneously filed by the NY State taxing authority. Indeed...that one is still outstanding."
"And that's the only one I really care about."
Link here: http://www.investorvillage.com/s...msg&
mid=3980335
My response on the Yahoo message board (I am banned from InvestorVillage because I was asking deposition style questions to Patrick Byrne and Judd Bagley):
Well Judd, didn't you state this in your antisocialmedia.net blog post on behalf of Patrick Byrne:
"A bankruptcy attorney I consulted with on this issue cautioned that from time to time these warrants are filed erroneously."
Guess what Judd, that debt was paid long ago and is now in dispute.
Respectfully,
Sam E. Antar (former Crazy Eddie and a convicted felon)
I have always wondered where Sam got his money. CEO of real estate development company? OK, But does the RE company do that well?
It would not seem odd that he would give money to Barry's company, if he had money to give.
That said, it still looks fishy.
on the other hand, tracing the money back, if it did come from another source other than Sam, should be very doable.
Of course, you would also think that Sam, given his background would also be able to bury that trail, if it is even there
And how did Judd know to check the USNA list for IDs to match against the HowardS ID? Scip can you help us out?
It's an automated process. They've almost certainly invested in proprietary software tools to harvest enormous amounts of data. The genesis of this should be clear for anyone paying close attention.
Gary: If you read thru Minkow's full deposition you will see that he was setting FDI up to be something very similiar to Cuban's foray into "investigative journalism" which you found unpalatable. For-profit investigations, with the profits coming from trading of stock and options in the targeted companies. Minkow even blurts out that he and Antar and others were not "setting up a short hedge fund" ... but something similiar was being promoted albeit very informally. Also, would you place the market value of Minkows investigation at over $300K? Thats probably more than Kroll would charge ... why so obviously over-funded? I am not making conclusions about Antar on the basis of his involvement with Minkow, but I do think there are some serious questions to be asked.
I don't think there's anything wrong with for-profit research services, on the long or short side, as long as they abide by the securities laws. I do have a big problem with calling it "investigative journalism." People laugh when Bagley calls himself that, but they were taking Sharesleuth seriously when it was using that terminology.
Rashomon,
The problem with Cuban's site is straight foward. It's like the Wall Street Journal shorting a stock, then writing about it. Even if the short position is fully disclosed, that is a violation of journalistic ethics.
On the other hand, short sellers have been writing research for public dissemination for at least 100 years.(They just don't hold themselves out as journalists.) How else can the information be impounded in share price? It's not like the sell side, with management's hand in one pocket, is going to tell the bear side of the argument. 9.9 times out of 10, the shorts have to tell the story themselves.
Regards,
No Shill
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