Updated:
To the Securities and Exchange Commission:
In my last letter, I detailed how Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) deliberately concealed a 2008 overpayment to a fulfillment partner that was later recovered and improperly reported as income in Q1 2009. Now Grant Thornton has written a rare public letter to Overstock.com agreeing [...]
To the Securities and Exchange Commission:
On November 18, 2009, Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) held conference call where CEO Patrick M. Byrne, company President Jonathan E. Johnson, and CFO Steve Chesnut sought to justify the company's improper treatment of accounting errors under investigation by the SEC, the company's firing of [...]
This evening Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) held a conference call to discuss certain financial reporting violations covered extensively in this blog, their firing of Grant Thornton as their auditors who agreed with me on the accounting issues now being investigated by the SEC, and their [...]
Updated
In a real dumb move, Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK), led by CEO Patrick Byrne, dismissed Grant Thornton as the company’s auditors and filed an unreviewed Q3 2009 10-Q because of material disagreements over certain accounting issues with its now fired auditors.
Those material disagreements relate to reports in my [...]
The Securities and Exchange Commission settled charges against SafeNet Inc. (SNFT.UL) for backdating of stock options and violations of Regulation G which governs non-GAAP financial measures such as EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization). The various defendants agreed to injunctive relief and civil penalties ranging from [...]
The Securities and Exchange has expanded its continuing investigation of Bidz.com (NASDAQ: BIDZ) to include "the Company’s co-op marketing contributions and minimum gross profit guarantees." On February 10, 2009, the SEC started an investigation into Bidz.com's inventory disclosures for possible violations of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) in response to' [...]
Overstock.com delays Q3 2009 10-Q report
Yesterday, Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) announced that it missed the Securities and Exchange Commission deadline for the filing its Q3 2009 financial report on time. The company disclosed:
The registrant has been unable to complete its financial statements for the quarter ended September 30, 2009, as [...]
A message to any Democrat, Republican, or Independent lawmaker who is thinking of abolishing or weakening the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. As a convicted felon, who committed his crimes in cold blood and with callous disregard for my victims, I will publicly endorse each and every one of you as [...]
Patrick Byrne is afraid to answer questions about Overstock.com's (NASDAQ: OSTK) continuous violations of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and SEC disclosure rules. Because of those violations, Overstock.com's current financial reports cannot be accurately compared to reports in corresponding prior periods.
In its latest Q3 2009 financial report Overstock.com disclosed [...]
To Patrick Byrne:
You have denied me personal access to the conference call and have provided arbitrary and unreasonable conditions not imposed on other participants in the call. In any case, I will be seeking access to the call to ask possible follow up questions.
You are perfectly aware that some of [...]
Apparently, Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) is going to stubbornly tough it out and force the Securities and Exchange Commission to take enforcement action to make its financial reports comply with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The SEC re-opened its investigation of Overstock.com in response to a series of investigative [...]
Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne is in a pickle or let’s just say that he is in a sour pickle. He has to make key decisions within the next weeks, before issuing his Q3 2009 financial reports, on how to handle certain financial reporting violations uncovered by this blog and now [...]
Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission Enforcement Division took the unusual step of re-opening an investigation of financial reporting irregularities at Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) after dropping a previous investigation just fifteen months earlier in June 2008. The SEC re-opened its probe of Overstock.com in response to a [...]
According to a background check conducted by Barry Minkow, co-founder of the Fraud Discovery Institute, Terrell Herring, President and COO of inVentiv Health Inc. (NASDAQ: VTIV) "claims to have an MBA degree from Pacific Western University, a well known 'diploma mill' that ceased to exist by that name" [...]
To Mary Schapiro (Chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Commission):
The Securities and Exchange Commission must take immediate action to require Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) to properly restate all financial reports affected by its accounting errors and stop the company from issuing any more financial reports that violate Generally Accepted Accounting Principles [...]
The Scheme
In this blog post, I will provide evidence of what I believe is a stock market manipulation scheme involving InterOil (NYSE: IOC), John Thomas Financial, and Clarion Finanz AG. I believe that InterOil with the assistance of Clarion Finanz concealed John Thomas Financial’s involvement [...]
Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK), led by masquerading stock market reformer CEO Patrick Byrne (pictured slobbering drunk to the right), can’t seem to maintain proper internal controls for financial reporting. Just last Friday, Overstock.com disclosed that it improperly issued an extra 201,421 unregistered shares of common [...]
For certain key Bidz.com (NADSAQ: BIDZ) insiders it seems that diamonds are not forever as they continue selling shares, while the company buys back its stock, faces a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into its accounting practices, and defends several lawsuits claiming securities and [...] Documentation obtained by this blog shows that Carl Caserta, who in 1991 was barred by the Securities and Exchange Commission from “association with any broker, dealer, or investment advisor” still has an available, current, and active email address (carl.caserta@interoil.com) at InterOil (NYSE: IOC). Other documentation obtained by this blog [...]
Bidz.com (NASDAQ: BIDZ) should seriously consider replacing Stonefield Josephson Inc. as its auditors. According to a March 2007 Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) Inspection Report, Stonefield Josephson, Inc. was cited for significant deficiencies in five of thirteen audits reviewed or about 38.5% of audits sampled. See below:
The [...]
Note: My previous blog post was deleted by me and replaced by this redacted version because it included certain sensitive information that I subsequently decided to sent to law enforcement.
InterOil (NYSE: IOC) filed a deliberately false Form D with the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a May 2008 [...]
InterOil (NYSE: IOC) filed a deliberately false Form D with the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a May 2008 $95 million private placement convertible debt offering and tried to conceal material details of the transaction in later regulatory filings. Worst yet, Wayne Kaufman of John Thomas Financial, a New [...]
To President Barack Obama:
Within a couple of years, you can expect a massive crime wave on an unprecedented scale resulting from spending trillions of extra taxpayer dollars to stimulate the economy and bail out the financial sector in a relatively brief period of time. Not enough attention is being paid [...]
Convicted felon turned fraud fighter Barry Minkow, co-founder of Fraud Discovery Institute or FDI, issued a report citing potential independence and conflict of issue problems between Medifast Inc. (NYSE: MED) and their auditors, Bagell, Josephs, Levine & Company L.L.C. In addition, a recent Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) [...]
The Children’s Place (NASDAQ: PLCE) is violating Securities and Exchange Commission Regulation G governing non-GAAP financial measures in its financial reports. In its most recent earnings release for Q1 2009, Children’s Place reported a non-GAAP financial measure known as “Adjusted income from continuing operations net of income taxes” [...]
Securities lawyer Howard Sirota and I discuss Danny Devito's plans to make a movie glamorizing the life of Crazy Eddie Antar with Alexis Glick on Fox Business Channel's "Money for Breakfast."
Written by:
Sam E. Antar (former Crazy Eddie CFO and a convicted felon)
Other media covering this [...]
Interoil Corp (NYSE: IOC) has no proven oil and gas reserves. They may not have any "commercially viable reserves" at all. However, those facts have not stopped Vice President of Investor Relations at Interoil Corp, Mr. Wayne Andrews from privately hyping that “we’ve got over 3 trillion cubic feet of [...]
Bidz.com (NASDAQ: BIDZ) which is already under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into its inventory accounting practices and is being sued for alleged shill bidding on its web site, is now facing several class action lawsuits alleging securities fraud and a new investigation by [...]
Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) and its management team led by its CEO and masquerading stock market reformer Patrick Byrne (pictured on right) continued its pattern of false and misleading disclosures and departures from Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) in its latest Q1 2009 financial report.
In Q1 2009, [...]
Updated
Overstock.com's (NASDAQ: OSTK) earnings conference call is scheduled to start on Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at 3:00 PM Eastern. Therefore, I have submitted the questions below for CEO Patrick Byrne to answer. Before asking each question, I provide the context of my questions. Let's see if the masquerading stock [...]
Divorce is hard enough. However, when the CEO of a public corporation hires a paid internet stalker to spread innuendo, smears, and lies about a company critic’s ongoing matrimonial action to discredit him, that is called issuer retaliation. I’ll just call it outright scummy. Even worse is the threat [...]
Updated:
According to Overstock.com's (NASDAQ: OSTK) proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, April 2, the company's $1,250,000 payment to terminate a management consulting agreement with Icent LLC, a company headed by departing Board Member James V. Joyce, was 3.5 times the amount of annual fees [...]
After yesterday's stock market closed, Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) announced the resignation of James V. Joyce from its Board of Directors. However, Overstock.com's press release made no reference to a $1,250,000 payment for the termination of consulting services to Icent LLC, a management consulting company headed by Mr. Joyce. Overstock.com [...]
The Fraud Discovery Instititute (FDI) led by my close friend convicted felon, turned fraud fighter, Barry Minkow has issued a new report entitled, "Ten Red Flags for Fraud at Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (NYSE: TRK)." Minkow started a new website called SpeedScamMotorSports.com and posted a You Tube [...]
To Grant Thornton (new auditors for Overstock.com):
When Crazy Eddie was gearing up to go public, many of the top accounting firms clamored for our business. Some accounting firms passed on taking us as a client (smart move) and others continued to compete for our business (dumb move).
Unfortunately, Main Hurdman, now [...]
Convicted felon David Alexander and I are inteviewed by Alexis Glick on the Fox Business Channel "Money for Breakfast" show.
What's going through Bernie Madoff's mind while committing fraud.
[...]
After the market close yesterday, Bidz.com (NASDAQ: BIDZ) disclosed that the Securities and Exchange Commission started a formal investigation of the company's inventory accounting practices and other matters:
The Company was notified recently by the SEC of a formal investigation relating to certain aspects of its inventory accounting practices, as' [...]
Convicted felon turned fraud fighter and personal friend Barry Minkow, co-founder of the Fraud Discovery Institute (FDI) has uncovered yet another corporate executive who did not receive college degrees claimed in SEC filings. This time, a background check by FDI found that Intrepid Potash Inc. (NYSE: IPI) President [...]
So far, Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) has stubbornly refused to correct recent Q4 2008 GAAP violations, exposed last week by this blog that allowed the company to improperly report a $1 million profit, rather than an $800,000 net loss. Instead on last Friday, Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne was caught trying [...]
Latest GAAP Violations by Overstock.com in Q4 2008 Financial Report Improperly Turn a Loss into a Profit
Last Friday, Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) reported a fourth quarter 2008 net profit of $1 million dollars. CEO Patrick Byrne proudly told investors, "After a tough three years, returning to GAAP profitability is a" [...]
President-Elect Barack Obama’s plans to jump start the economy by quickly providing "badly needed stimulus" through massive government spending. As the criminal CFO of Crazy Eddie, the most gullible victims of my crimes were those investors who ran to invest huge sums of money without careful due diligence on where [...]
In a video just posted on YouTube late Thursday evening, convicted felon turned fraud fighter Barry Minkow (co-founder of the Fraud Discovery Institute) called Lennar Corporation (NYSE: LEN) a "financial crime in progress."
He added:
We know fraud and you're (Lennar) just fraud.... I'll be back very soon with interviews [...]
My cousin Crazy Eddie Antar taught me that “people live on hope.” As white collar criminals, we preyed on your hopes and dreams by feeding you our spin and lies.
Investors demand confident leadership and strong financial performance from company managements. They want to hear management exuding confidence about their [...]
Advice about white collar crime from a convicted felon: A bad economy causes many white collar crimes to float to the surface.
Once, I asked a N.Y.C. police officer assigned to the harbor patrol, why are so many dead bodies are pulled out of the rivers around Manhattan every spring. He [...]
In a video posted on YouTube, a confident Barry Minkow, co-founder of the Fraud Discovery Institute, charged Microsemi Corp. (NASDAQ: MCSS) President and CEO and STEC Inc. (NASDAQ: STEC) Board Member James J. Peterson with "stock fraud."
Minkow said that Peterson knowingly "lied" in a Microsemi press release, [...]
Corruption and unethical behavior by politicians is a cancer that slowly and deliberately destroys the integrity of our government institutions and ultimately threatens the stability of our Republic.
The Democratic Party which will control the Presidency, the Senate, and the House of Representatives has a unique opportunity to show that they [...]
