Universal Express certainly wasn't the biggest promotional pump and dump of all time, but it's definitely one of the most brazen. Much of former CEO Richard Altomare's looting of shareholders through the sale of unregistered securities took place after the SEC had told him to stop and ordered him to resign as CEO. Then there was the company's crusade against the evil naked short sellers, its acquisition of the Jackson family memorabilia collection, and the seemingly endless press releases.

A federal judge called Altomare a "repeated and remorseless" violator of the securities laws.

The New York Times' Floyd Norris has been covering this travesty, as has Gary Weiss.

Norris offers some interesting tidbits from the latest receiver's report:

From April 2006 to May 2007 - the latter date after the judge had ordered him to stop running the company - Mr. Altomare had the company spend $558,900 at a retail jewelry store in Boca Raton, Fla. In October, he pawned the jewelry for $500,000 ...

In July - after my column, and after the Securities and Exchange Commission asked a judge to hold him in contempt for failing to obey the earlier order - Universal Express paid $30,000 "to cover Altomare's marker at the Wynn Las Vegas," a casino.

Oh, and Mr. Altomare may have absconded with unreleased Jackson family master tapes.

But amazingly, the naked short selling conspiracy theory Kool-Aid drinkers will not be dissuaded from their belief that Universal Express was the victim of a concerted campaign involving the SEC to destroy the company for blowing the whistle on naked short selling. Check out this comical post from InvestorsHub.