When I saw this typically boring SEC filing, I thought “man, this is great, cases like this involving dumbass executives like this really show off why my PennyStocking strategy is soooooo perfect for poor investors/traders”…
…because it’s so blatantly obvious that this goes on with sooooooooooo many stocks–these kinds of sketchy situations are why soooooooo many $1, $2, $3, stocks jump up to $5, $6, $7…
What the SEC needs to do to get more people interested is to spice things up; passages like this might be informative but they ain’t gonna get many people interested:
Washington, D.C., Dec. 15, 2008 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged National Lampoon, Inc., its CEO Daniel S. Laikin, and others for engaging in fraudulent schemes to manipulate the market by generating purchases of company stock in exchange for pre-arranged cash kickbacks.
The SEC, which also charged stock promoters, a consultant, and another company and an officer, alleges that the goal of the manipulators was to create the false appearance of market interest in particular securities including National Lampoon stock, induce public purchases of stock, and ultimately increase the stock’s trading price.
In addition to filing three separate enforcement actions, the SEC today suspended trading in the securities of National Lampoon and the other company charged, Advatech Corporation. The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania today separately announced criminal charges involving the same conduct.
“A CEO who manipulates the stock of his own company commits an egregious violation of the federal securities laws. In this time of dramatic market volatility, the SEC is acting aggressively to identify and hold accountable all individuals who seek to manipulate the securities markets,” said Linda Chatman Thomsen, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “These enforcement actions further demonstrate that we are devoting substantial investigative resources to policing all corners of the markets and stopping misconduct.”
How about something like “This incompetent and spoiled executive wasn’t satisfied with being worth just a few million, he wanted more…and that’s when he broke the law.”
Cue the dark and ominous theme music for a TV show staring Billy Baldwin (somebody please get this joke)
The boring/incompetent SEC themselves go on:
Daniel S. Laikin, of Los Angeles, California, has been the Chief Executive Officer of National Lampoon since 2005. Laikin controls approximately 40 percent of the voting stock of National Lampoon. Dennis S. Barsky, of Las Vegas, is a consultant to National Lampoon, and a significant stockholder. Eduardo Rodriguez, of Livingston, N.J., is a stock promoter. Tim Dougherty, of Webster, N.Y., is a stock promoter and principal of OTC Advisors, Inc., a stock promotion company.
The SEC’s complaint alleges that, from at least March 2008 through June 2008, Laikin, Barsky, Rodriguez and Dougherty engaged in a fraudulent scheme to manipulate the market for the common stock of National Lampoon. Specifically, Laikin, along with Barsky, paid kickbacks in exchange for generating or causing purchases of National Lampoon stock to Rodriguez, a corrupt stock promoter, and the CW, whom Laikin, Barsky and Rodriguez believed had connections to corrupt registered representatives. As part of this scheme, Dougherty generated purchases of National Lampoon stock in exchange for a portion of the kickbacks. Dougherty made his purchases over the course of a number of days and used various accounts to give the false impression of a steady demand for the stock.
The complaint alleges that Laikin and Barsky paid at least $68,000 that went to Rodriguez, Dougherty, and the CW to cause the purchase of at least 87,500 shares of National Lampoon stock. Through these efforts, Laikin and Barsky sought to artificially push National Lampoon’s stock price from under $2 per share to at least $5 per share, in part, to keep the company’s stock price above the minimum listing requirements of the AMEX, and to increase National Lampoon’s ability to enter into possible “strategic partnerships” and acquisitions. In addition to paying others to purchase the stock, Laikin shared confidential financial information regarding National Lampoon, non-public news releases, and confidential shareholder lists, and coordinated the release of news with the illegal purchases in the stock. Barsky helped direct the purchases and facilitated the kickback payments. National Lampoon and Laikin also made materially misleading statements in a tender offer.
It should read “Daniel wanted the lifestyle that goes along with being a millionaire, but he didn’t want to work for it, the perfect setup for the typical American stock market criminal….now he’ll have the lifestyle of somebody always afraid of dropping the soap.
Comedy aside, all you gotta do–seriously–is wait for these piece of crap companies’ stocks to rise, invesigate why they’re up so much and if you can’t find anything, it’s highly likely there’s some form of this corruption/manipulation going on.
Obviously, my PennyStocking DVD covers these variables/schems/chart patterns so you can profit next time this happens…as it inevitably will because not only are the executive of most large public companies outright morons, the executive of small public companies are some of the dumbest people you’ll ever meet.
Even dumber than those who invest in penny stocks.
PS Look at the chat of National Lampoon and see they couldn’t even spike the stock price, that’s how truly moronic these guys are (at least Martha Stewart saved $40,000 when she broke the stock laws):
Posted in idiots, Manipulation