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Overstock earnings questioned by ex-con

Posted Apr 21st 2008 3:00PM by Zac Bissonnette (RSS feed)
Filed under: Blogs, Scandals

Former Crazy Eddie CFO and sometime Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) critic Sam E. Antar has posted an item on his blog accusing that company of a "stock market manipulation scheme."

Read Overstock.com and Patrick Byrne: Anatomy of a Stock Market Manipulation Scheme – First Quarter Earnings Release here.

In the post, Antar alleges that the first quarter earnings press release issued on Friday was "intentionally timed with expiration of options to manipulate the market (i.e., as a "short squeeze") and to bury and downplay grave news of a criminal investigation in California."

Analyzing the company's numbers, Antar points out that the company's revenue from its auction business declined more than 44% year-over-year, in spite of CEO Patrick Byrne's claim as recently as January that "things look better from here" for the auction site.

Antar accuses the company of violations of SEC rule 10b-5: interesting given that the company is currently the target of an SEC investigation.

Here are a few of my past posts on the company that one securities lawyer affectionately refers to as OverSchlock.com:

Shop at Overstock, Support Cyberstalking.
Patrick Byrne, Hypocrite
Patrick Byrne Defending USXP Fraud?
More Goofy Press Releases
Byrne overpaid at $0?

Is Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne defending the Universal Express fraud?

Posted Mar 4th 2008 6:21PM by Zac Bissonnette (RSS feed)
Filed under: Law, Scandals

If you've read my posts on Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSTK) CEO Patrick Byrne's allegations of a vast conspiracy of market manipulation involving a character from Star Wars and crooked reporters, you know that I'm a bit skeptical. But for this post, let's put all that aside and assume that Patrick Byrne's whacked out conspiracy theory is right on: there is indeed a cabal of hedge fund managers and "captured journalists" working overtime to drive down his company's stock price.

In the comments section of his latest blog post accusing Gary Weiss of being a Scaramouch, someone identifying himself or herself as "The Good Samaritan" posted the following (edited for rambling):
Patrick...been following your yeoman work in this area ... I must say it mirrors my own experience over the past several years with Universal Express, Inc. and Richard Altomare ... you should know that Altomare and his general counsel are about to rain on their parade in the 2nd circuit court very shortly...since USXP is so far along in their particular battle (having already won two judgments against the naked shorts), and most who follow this area admire you for your fearless position against the entrenched low-lives operating this scandal for the misguided forces on wallstreet ... do not forget the small but equally worthy fights also going on in this vast battlefield...
A little bit of background on Universal Express and Richard Altomare: The company has massively diluted shareholders while dumping unregistered securities on the market -- and has racked up an accumulated deficit of nearly $100 million in the process. Remarkably, all that dilution and all those losses have come on paltry revenue -- just over $1 million in 2006.

Continue reading Is Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne defending the Universal Express fraud?

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S&P 500+4.581,110.23

Last updated: November 25, 2009: 04:00 PM

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