With the former CEO of naked short selling conspiracy theory poster child Richard Altomare locked up, the group Gary Weiss calls the baloney brigade is badly in need of a new commander in crap.

Well it looks like they can forget about Biovail Corporation (NASDAQ: BVF). Fortune's Roddy Boyd reports that, a couple months after the company settled an SEC complaint for $10 million, "The big Canadian drug company agreed Friday to plead guilty to U.S. kickback and conspiracy charges ... Biovail and a New Jersey-based subsidiary will pay a $24.6 million fine to avoid a court case that could have cost them future business with federal agencies."

Gradient Analytics -- which had published negative research about Biovail and head cry baby Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSTK) and was subsequently sued by both companies -- appears to have been right on the money in its criticisms of Biovail.

Moral of story: when a company starts suing people and lashing out at its critics, sell the stock. That philosophy would have saved people a ton of money on Biovail.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: O'Reilly Automotive, Corning and Lincoln National were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• William Blair downgraded O'Reilly Automotive (NASDAQ: ORLY) to Market Perform from Outperform following weak Q1 results, citing the potential for further downward EPS revisions.
  
• Thomas Weisel downgraded Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) to Market Weight from Overweight citing balanced risk/reward given the backdrop of a maturing LCD penetration and generational upgrade cycle, and the challenging environment.
  
• Wachovia downgraded Lincoln National Corp. (NYSE: LNC) to Market Perform from Outperform as they believe the weak Q1 market weakness will impact profitability.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Smith International (NYSE: SII) was cut to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer.
  
• Delphi Financial (NYSE: DFG) was downgraded at Friedman Billings to Market Perform from Outperform.
  
• CIBC downgraded Biovail (NYSE: BVF) to Sector Performer from Sector Outperformer.

Monday, April 21

• Mattel (NYSE:MAT) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 8:30am.
• Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) reports Q1 earnings; conference call at 9:00am.
• Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 9:30am.
• Toronto-Dominion (NYSE:TD) t o hold conference call about the acquisition of Commerce Bancorp (CBH) at 11:00am.

Tuesday, April 22

• Wyeth (NYSE:WYE) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 8:00am.
• The Federal Reserve to host a meeting regarding the Countrywide Financial (NYSE:CFC) takeover by Bank of America at 9:30am.
• AT&T (NYSE:T) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 10:00am.
• Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 11:00am.
• Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 5:00pm.

Wednesday, April 23

• Biovail (NYSE:BVF) PDUFA date for NDA of BVF-033 for the treatment of depression.
• UPS (NYSE:UPS) to report quarterly earnings; conference call at 8:30am.
• General Motors (NYSE:) to hold conference call on 1Q08 global sales at 9:00am.
• Delta (NYSE:DAL) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 10:00am.
• Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 5:00pm.

Thursday, April 24

• Hershey (NYSE:HSY) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 8:30am.
• Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) to report Q3 earnings; conference call at 5:30pm.

Friday, April 25

• Wendy's (NYSE:WEN) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 9:00am.

Naked short selling whiner Biovail (NYSE: BVF) has settled accounting fraud charged with the SEC, agreeing to pay a fine of $10 million. According to the SEC's complaint:

The SEC's complaint alleges that present and former senior Biovail executives, obsessed with meeting quarterly and annual earnings guidance, repeatedly overstated earnings and hid losses in order to deceive investors and create the appearance of achieving earnings goals. When it ultimately became impossible to continue concealing the company's inability to meet its own earnings guidance, Biovail actively misled investors and analysts about the reasons for the company's poor performance.

The SEC adds that former chairman and chief executive officer Eugene Melnyk, former chief financial officer Brian Crombie, current controller John Miszuk; and current chief financial officer Kenneth G. Howling still face charges.

Biovail's allegations of a naked short selling conspiracy and menacing antics intimidated analysts, convincing Banc of America Securities, which had been negative about the company, to drop coverage of the stock. On his blog, financial journalist Gary Weiss writes that "Despite all the post-Enron rhetoric about the sanctity of independent analysts, the SEC has done woefully little against companies like Biovail and Overstock that want analysts to be obedient little puppies."

It seems like every few weeks, another naked short selling poster child is exposed as a securities fraud. Back in 2006, then-CEO Eugene Melnyk told 60 Minutes that "When you've got these companies, these people out there trying to bring you down, we're lucky we survived."

Moral of story: when a company starts complaining about naked short sellers conspiring to drive down the share price, sell the stock and ask questions after.

For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

"My favorite speculative stock for 2008 is Toronto-based Biovail (NYSE: BVF)," says Nilus Mattive, editor of Dividend Superstars.

"The company makes branded and generic drugs that are delivered orally. It used to concentrate on research & development for other companies, but lately it's become more of a fully integrated pharmaceutical concern.

"Some of its products are marketed and sold by other companies -- a good example is its pain medication Ultram ER, which is marketed by Johnson & Johnson.

"Investors have punished Biovail because of development setbacks in BVF-033, one of the company's most promising compounds. The FDA issued a non-approval letter, and more recently said it would not be examining newly submitted data until April. Biovail is also dealing with intensifying generic competition in other product lines.

Monday October 1

* Beijing Med-Pharm Corporation (NASDAQ: BJGP) to hold a conference on the acquisition with Sunstone Pharma at 9am.

Tuesday October 2

* Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) to report monthly sales at 1pm, General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) to report monthly sales at 2pm.
* PDUFA date for Biovail Corporation (NYSE: BVF)/Depomed Inc (NASDAQ: DEPO)/King Pharmaceutical Inc's (NYSE: KG) Glumetza for glycemic control in diabetic adults.

Wednesday October 3

* Threshold Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: THLD) to discuss Glufosfamide results from Phase III Clinical Trial at 4:30pm.

Thursday October 4

* Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ) to report Q2 earnings; conference call at 10am.
* Lawson Software (NASDAQ: LWSN) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 4:30pm.
* Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) to report Q2 earnings; conference call at 5pm.

Friday October 5

* PDUFA date for Bristol Myers Squibb's (NYSE: BMY) Abilify for the treatment of schizophrenia and manic episodes associated with Bipolar I Disorder.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: ConocoPhillips (COP), Transocean (RIG), LifePoint Hospitals (LPNT), EOG Resources (EOG) and Quicksilver Resources (KWK) were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Banc of America cut ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) to Neutral from Buy on valuation and the lack of upstream catalysts.

• Deutsche Bank cut Transocean (NYSE: RIG) to Hold from Buy based on the GlobalSantaFe (GSF) merger.

• Raymond James downgraded LifePoint Hospitals (NASDAQ: LPNT) to Market Perform from Strong Buy following the company's cut in guidance. Merrill Lynch downgraded LifePoint Hospitals to Neutral from Buy.

• Citigroup downgraded EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG) and Quicksilver Resources (NYSE: KWK) to Sell from Hold as both trade above the sector averages for NAV and cash flow and neither is well protected in the likely event commodity prices deteriorate...

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• BMO Capital downgraded Biovail (NYSE: BVF) to Market Perform from Outperform.

• Brean Murray cut Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SPPI) to Sell from Buy.

• Wedbush downgraded Cosi Inc (NASDAQ: COSI) to Hold from Buy.

• RBC Capital downgraded Ventana Medical (NASDAQ: VMSI) to Sector Perform from Outperform.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).