Mighty Google, Yahoo, America Online, MSN and Excite, who would have thought it! In an unprecedented show of manipulative savvy Stock Patrol has successfully sanitized the internet.
We were following a number of news articles on Google, Yahoo, America Online, MSN and Excite which raised concerns that Stock Patrol.com, the popular website that reports negative news about small cap companies, may itself be behind a major short selling scheme.
One of those articles “Stock Patrol Suspected as a Front in a Short-selling Scam” presented a comprehensive overview and went into quite some detail, describing how the short selling system is suspected to work and the pivotal role that Stock Patrol allegedly plays.
A contention of the article was that it looks strange for Hartley Bernstein an ex stock manipulator to be working so hard without compensation to write negative reports about small cap companies, reports which the article claimed were unsubstantiated innuendoes, and that Hartley’s criminal background has to be considered under the circumstances.
We knew that Hartley had a conviction of stock manipulation but we were skeptical about the shorting scheme because of its shear magnitude and daring. It sounded too far fetched and sophisticated.
Yesterday, we went back to Google, Yahoo, America Online, MSN and Excite to look if there were any other articles. To our surprise, all previous articles about Stock Patrol’s alleged shorting of stocks were gone from the internet!
We searched for references that would link Stock Patrol to short selling, but all the information on that subject had been scrubbed from Google, Yahoo, America Online, MSN and Excite.
We are disappointed about this Internet manipulation. It gives credence to the allegations in the deleted articles, at least that Mr. Bernstein sill is a manipulator.
We are wondering why Mr. Bernstein was so afraid, that he went to great lengths to delete those articles from Google, Yahoo, America Online, MSN and Excite? Sanitizing a major search engine is no simple job.
Does Google, Yahoo, America Online, MSN and Excite have anything to say?
Optimized by Software Submit.NET
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Friday, February 2, 2007
What Smells in the Stock Patrol.com Doghouse?
Source: PRLog - Global Press Release Distribution (http://www.prlog.org)
By John Stockman
Dated: 2007-01-31 21:46:14
(Uncovering the shrewdest stock manipulator in America, part II)
It must be the Watchdog himself, Hartley Bernstein!
Only Hartley Bernstein, president and editor of a handful of websites dedicated to disclosing suspected wrong doings by publicly traded companies, really knows for sure.
Since July 1999, Stock Patrol.com and other reporting services under the same umbrella such as Radar’s Doghouse and The Stock Watchdog, have been providing an inside view of Wall Street, with detailed reports on public companies, brokerage firms, and regulatory developments. Their mission? To help investors navigate their way through the securities markets and the financial industry.
Is this the true picture?
We think not! In May of 1999 Mr. Bernstein pleaded guilty to securities fraud, conspiracy and perjury, and agreed to forfeit US$850,000 in profits. He then decided to turn over a new leaf and be one of the good guys. A good guy? If the definition of being a good guy is being the shrewd manipulative mastermind of a suspected illegal short selling group, then he has succeeded.
The now disbarred attorney, Mr. Bernstein, is so shrewd and convincing that even market regulators, who are some his most faithful readers, have fallen for his scheming ways. Dozens of companies that have been profiled on Mr. Bernstein’s syndicate of reporting services have been seriously hurt by unsubstantiated negative connotations promoted by the reports. Could it be that Mr. Bernstein has developed a syndicate of reporting services just to influence the market? Mr. Bernstein’s syndicate has a large following that can be very easily influenced by bad news. It’s nice to have that kind of power especially when you have the kind of knowledge about the public markets that Mr. Bernstein has. Has he really turned the corner or is he undermining the markets by releasing detrimental news about publicly traded companies just to take advantage of the short selling opportunity.
One person who second-guessed Mr. Bernstein’s turnaround was Richard D. Owens, the assistant US attorney who prosecuted Bernstein. Mr. Owens stated at the hearings that when Bernstein first came to the government, "we, of course, raised our eyebrows a bit." And no wonder. Owens knew that operating "fraud detection" sites such as StockPatrol.com, Radar’s Doghouse or The Stock Watchdog is hardly an untainted concept. One effort, StockDetective.com, founded after its parent company was found by federal prosecutors to have been the target of a stock manipulation scheme. And also, a stock adviser, Amr Ibrahim Elgindy -- whose Web sites, insidetruth.com and anthonypacific.com, promised to expose penny-stock schemes -- was indicted in Brooklyn on federal charges of operating a stock manipulation and extortion racket.
Isn’t it Obvious?
How does one afford to live a lavish lifestyle and own an eight-room Georgian-style apartment on Park Avenue in Manhattan, just from the goodness of your heart? It’s quite obvious you can’t. It takes a lot of money to be able to afford that type of lifestyle, and the suspicion is that Mr. Bernstein is making his money off of unsophisticated investors playing the market long. “ONLY IN AMERICA”!! as Don King
stated.
Optimized by Software Submit.NET
By John Stockman
Dated: 2007-01-31 21:46:14
(Uncovering the shrewdest stock manipulator in America, part II)
It must be the Watchdog himself, Hartley Bernstein!
Only Hartley Bernstein, president and editor of a handful of websites dedicated to disclosing suspected wrong doings by publicly traded companies, really knows for sure.
Since July 1999, Stock Patrol.com and other reporting services under the same umbrella such as Radar’s Doghouse and The Stock Watchdog, have been providing an inside view of Wall Street, with detailed reports on public companies, brokerage firms, and regulatory developments. Their mission? To help investors navigate their way through the securities markets and the financial industry.
Is this the true picture?
We think not! In May of 1999 Mr. Bernstein pleaded guilty to securities fraud, conspiracy and perjury, and agreed to forfeit US$850,000 in profits. He then decided to turn over a new leaf and be one of the good guys. A good guy? If the definition of being a good guy is being the shrewd manipulative mastermind of a suspected illegal short selling group, then he has succeeded.
The now disbarred attorney, Mr. Bernstein, is so shrewd and convincing that even market regulators, who are some his most faithful readers, have fallen for his scheming ways. Dozens of companies that have been profiled on Mr. Bernstein’s syndicate of reporting services have been seriously hurt by unsubstantiated negative connotations promoted by the reports. Could it be that Mr. Bernstein has developed a syndicate of reporting services just to influence the market? Mr. Bernstein’s syndicate has a large following that can be very easily influenced by bad news. It’s nice to have that kind of power especially when you have the kind of knowledge about the public markets that Mr. Bernstein has. Has he really turned the corner or is he undermining the markets by releasing detrimental news about publicly traded companies just to take advantage of the short selling opportunity.
One person who second-guessed Mr. Bernstein’s turnaround was Richard D. Owens, the assistant US attorney who prosecuted Bernstein. Mr. Owens stated at the hearings that when Bernstein first came to the government, "we, of course, raised our eyebrows a bit." And no wonder. Owens knew that operating "fraud detection" sites such as StockPatrol.com, Radar’s Doghouse or The Stock Watchdog is hardly an untainted concept. One effort, StockDetective.com, founded after its parent company was found by federal prosecutors to have been the target of a stock manipulation scheme. And also, a stock adviser, Amr Ibrahim Elgindy -- whose Web sites, insidetruth.com and anthonypacific.com, promised to expose penny-stock schemes -- was indicted in Brooklyn on federal charges of operating a stock manipulation and extortion racket.
Isn’t it Obvious?
How does one afford to live a lavish lifestyle and own an eight-room Georgian-style apartment on Park Avenue in Manhattan, just from the goodness of your heart? It’s quite obvious you can’t. It takes a lot of money to be able to afford that type of lifestyle, and the suspicion is that Mr. Bernstein is making his money off of unsophisticated investors playing the market long. “ONLY IN AMERICA”!! as Don King
stated.
Optimized by Software Submit.NET
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Stock Patrol Suspected as a Front in a Short-selling Scam
There is a company out there called StockPatrol.com which publishes a website that many investors rely on. StockPatrol acts as watchdog warning investors of allegedly bad publicly traded companies. But things may not be what they seem.
Analysts are looking at a correlation between StockPatrol’s negative reporting and waves of short-selling. What they find interesting is that there seems to be a certain pattern.
This is how the short-selling scam is suspected to work.
Selling often starts shortly before StockPatrol puts out its negative report – while a company’s stock price is still high. This brings an amount of money into the sellers’ accounts.
When StockPatrol releases its negative report, it initiates a downward momentum. The short-sellers continue to sell, reinforcing the downward trend and in the process bring in additional money.
As the panicked shareholders of the affected company try to get out of the declining stock, the stock tumbles, at which point the short-sellers quietly start buying the necessary amount of stock back to cover their short positions at a fraction of their original price.
The difference they keep as their profit. Obviously, the affected company, its management and shareholders don’t benefit from this. They are the losers.
The money the short-sellers can make on the backs of small company investors must be significant, considering that StockPatrol deals in low priced stocks where even small changes in price represent a large percentage change. Further, StockPatrol has to be aware that through its negative reporting it is actually sabotaging small company prospects, thus removing risk from shorting those companies.
An ingenious modus operandi – assured money making mechanism that is virtually risk-less.
Operating out of his multi-million dollar five bedroom apartment in midtown Manhattan with one bedroom dedicated to the StockPatrol, its sole operator, Mr. Hartley Bernstein receives no compensation for his work and dedicates his time and own money purely for the social cause of being a self-appointed watchdog of the securities markets. StockPatrol states that its mission is to inquire, investigate, research and report on interesting, odd and unusual developments in the securities markets.
Upon closer look however, StockPatrol’s reports amount to clever derogatory innuendoes by Mr. Bernstein. He gives them a particular kind of spin. But these aren’t simply inconsequential private opinions. Mr. Bernstein has built a following and, when he makes an innuendo to bash a company, he knows it is bound to produce a negative market response.
StockPatrol does a lot of reporting. But it appears that Mr. Bernstein has never bothered to substantiate his innuendoes and has never contacted the firms he attacks. In fact, when one brave company challenged him for a public debate he simply disappeared.Obviously, Mr. Bernstein wouldn’t be shorting himself. Shorting would have to be done through untraceable off-shore accounts and by remote parties without a direct connection to him.
But there must be one connection. Short-sellers somehow happen to know ahead of time on which companies StockPatrol is going to issue its reports. Is it a mere coincidence, or is there a friendly leak at StockPatrol?Ingenious as it may be, shorting small cap stocks is not only wrong it is actually illegal, especially on a downward trend!
As it turns out, Mr. Bernstein actually has a background in securities scheming, deceit and lying – even perjuring himself in Court. He is no stranger to law breaking.
Mr. Hartley Bernstein is a disbarred New York attorney. He is also a convicted felon. Mr. Bernstein was found guilty of stock fraud and perjury at the U.S. District Court in New York. If you want to spend $25 you can download the indictment and conviction details.
As in organized crime cases, in this case the government used Mr. Bernstein as one of the key figures to convict the others. In exchange for his testimony against his buddies in crime, Mr. Bernstein bargained for himself a lighter sentence.
Mr. Bernstein apparently claims that he is reformed now. Notwithstanding, his background must be considered. According to a New York Times article a few years ago on Mr. Bernstein’s past, some regulators are skeptical and believe that recidivism with this type of crime is standard.
It does look odd that Mr. Bernstein is running StockPatrol – it’s like having a convicted bank robber manage a bank or having and ex child molester work in an elementary school.
Mr. Bernstein has the audacity to make up unsubstantiated innuendoes giving them his typical spin that portrays business people building companies as being somehow crooked. In reality, the crooks by enlarge come from the securities industry victimizing companies for their ends.At a minimum, Mr. Bernstein, as well as the regulators who permit him to go on, must realize that they are responsible for effectively depressing the stock of the small companies that Mr. Bernstein denigrates through his innuendo reporting.
Don’t these small firms deserve government protection against such attacks by a convicted felon?
While there inevitably must be bad apples among small cap companies, as there are among large companies, it does not appear that the majority of the firms that Mr. Bernstein attacks have done anything wrong.
If there is any wrongdoing by the companies that Mr. Bernstein has been allowed to slander, then regulators should charge those companies. But that is not the case.
A question has to be asked, are regulators looking the other way when it comes to wrongdoing by Mr. Bernstein? If so, what is the rationale? The word on the Street is that certain regulators value Mr. Bernstein and have allowed him to carry on with his innuendo reporting “for prophylactic reasons” to keep small companies in check, so to speak.
If there is truth to this, this would bring into question the regulators’ ethics and wisdom.
What is happening is that Mr. Bernstein, acting as a quasi-governmental representative, is harming legitimate small business, undermining capital formation at the grassroots level and affecting the integrity of the small cap market. He should be investigated.
Understandably, for the regulators securing actionable evidence against someone skillful like Mr. Bernstein may not be so easy the second time around and he may represent an embarrassment. There may be however grounds for civil action by the affected companies.Investors and executives of affected companies have been wondering for some time now whether Mr. Bernstein is just an overzealous man who acts for no other reason but to selflessly protect the investing public’s interests, or if there is a more practical side to this – Whether there is basis to suspicions that StockPatrol and its related outlets (Stock Watchdog, Radar’s Doghouse, Stock or Schlock, The Radar Screen, Buyer Be Weary, Know Your Broker, Regulations on Patrol) are a front for one of the biggest short-selling scams in the small cap market.
What is even more disconcerting is that everybody is afraid to talk about Mr. Bernstein out of fear of retaliation. Even news reporters are shy to explore legitimate concerns regarding Mr. Bernstein.
Optimized by Software Submit.NET
Analysts are looking at a correlation between StockPatrol’s negative reporting and waves of short-selling. What they find interesting is that there seems to be a certain pattern.
This is how the short-selling scam is suspected to work.
Selling often starts shortly before StockPatrol puts out its negative report – while a company’s stock price is still high. This brings an amount of money into the sellers’ accounts.
When StockPatrol releases its negative report, it initiates a downward momentum. The short-sellers continue to sell, reinforcing the downward trend and in the process bring in additional money.
As the panicked shareholders of the affected company try to get out of the declining stock, the stock tumbles, at which point the short-sellers quietly start buying the necessary amount of stock back to cover their short positions at a fraction of their original price.
The difference they keep as their profit. Obviously, the affected company, its management and shareholders don’t benefit from this. They are the losers.
The money the short-sellers can make on the backs of small company investors must be significant, considering that StockPatrol deals in low priced stocks where even small changes in price represent a large percentage change. Further, StockPatrol has to be aware that through its negative reporting it is actually sabotaging small company prospects, thus removing risk from shorting those companies.
An ingenious modus operandi – assured money making mechanism that is virtually risk-less.
Operating out of his multi-million dollar five bedroom apartment in midtown Manhattan with one bedroom dedicated to the StockPatrol, its sole operator, Mr. Hartley Bernstein receives no compensation for his work and dedicates his time and own money purely for the social cause of being a self-appointed watchdog of the securities markets. StockPatrol states that its mission is to inquire, investigate, research and report on interesting, odd and unusual developments in the securities markets.
Upon closer look however, StockPatrol’s reports amount to clever derogatory innuendoes by Mr. Bernstein. He gives them a particular kind of spin. But these aren’t simply inconsequential private opinions. Mr. Bernstein has built a following and, when he makes an innuendo to bash a company, he knows it is bound to produce a negative market response.
StockPatrol does a lot of reporting. But it appears that Mr. Bernstein has never bothered to substantiate his innuendoes and has never contacted the firms he attacks. In fact, when one brave company challenged him for a public debate he simply disappeared.Obviously, Mr. Bernstein wouldn’t be shorting himself. Shorting would have to be done through untraceable off-shore accounts and by remote parties without a direct connection to him.
But there must be one connection. Short-sellers somehow happen to know ahead of time on which companies StockPatrol is going to issue its reports. Is it a mere coincidence, or is there a friendly leak at StockPatrol?Ingenious as it may be, shorting small cap stocks is not only wrong it is actually illegal, especially on a downward trend!
As it turns out, Mr. Bernstein actually has a background in securities scheming, deceit and lying – even perjuring himself in Court. He is no stranger to law breaking.
Mr. Hartley Bernstein is a disbarred New York attorney. He is also a convicted felon. Mr. Bernstein was found guilty of stock fraud and perjury at the U.S. District Court in New York. If you want to spend $25 you can download the indictment and conviction details.
As in organized crime cases, in this case the government used Mr. Bernstein as one of the key figures to convict the others. In exchange for his testimony against his buddies in crime, Mr. Bernstein bargained for himself a lighter sentence.
Mr. Bernstein apparently claims that he is reformed now. Notwithstanding, his background must be considered. According to a New York Times article a few years ago on Mr. Bernstein’s past, some regulators are skeptical and believe that recidivism with this type of crime is standard.
It does look odd that Mr. Bernstein is running StockPatrol – it’s like having a convicted bank robber manage a bank or having and ex child molester work in an elementary school.
Mr. Bernstein has the audacity to make up unsubstantiated innuendoes giving them his typical spin that portrays business people building companies as being somehow crooked. In reality, the crooks by enlarge come from the securities industry victimizing companies for their ends.At a minimum, Mr. Bernstein, as well as the regulators who permit him to go on, must realize that they are responsible for effectively depressing the stock of the small companies that Mr. Bernstein denigrates through his innuendo reporting.
Don’t these small firms deserve government protection against such attacks by a convicted felon?
While there inevitably must be bad apples among small cap companies, as there are among large companies, it does not appear that the majority of the firms that Mr. Bernstein attacks have done anything wrong.
If there is any wrongdoing by the companies that Mr. Bernstein has been allowed to slander, then regulators should charge those companies. But that is not the case.
A question has to be asked, are regulators looking the other way when it comes to wrongdoing by Mr. Bernstein? If so, what is the rationale? The word on the Street is that certain regulators value Mr. Bernstein and have allowed him to carry on with his innuendo reporting “for prophylactic reasons” to keep small companies in check, so to speak.
If there is truth to this, this would bring into question the regulators’ ethics and wisdom.
What is happening is that Mr. Bernstein, acting as a quasi-governmental representative, is harming legitimate small business, undermining capital formation at the grassroots level and affecting the integrity of the small cap market. He should be investigated.
Understandably, for the regulators securing actionable evidence against someone skillful like Mr. Bernstein may not be so easy the second time around and he may represent an embarrassment. There may be however grounds for civil action by the affected companies.Investors and executives of affected companies have been wondering for some time now whether Mr. Bernstein is just an overzealous man who acts for no other reason but to selflessly protect the investing public’s interests, or if there is a more practical side to this – Whether there is basis to suspicions that StockPatrol and its related outlets (Stock Watchdog, Radar’s Doghouse, Stock or Schlock, The Radar Screen, Buyer Be Weary, Know Your Broker, Regulations on Patrol) are a front for one of the biggest short-selling scams in the small cap market.
What is even more disconcerting is that everybody is afraid to talk about Mr. Bernstein out of fear of retaliation. Even news reporters are shy to explore legitimate concerns regarding Mr. Bernstein.
Optimized by Software Submit.NET
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)