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Post by mango on Feb 1, 2023 11:52:43 GMT -5
SEC court document detailing two college professors engaged in an elaborate naked short selling scheme involving options. MannKind is one of the listed securities that was victim of this criminal activity. www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2014/33-9522.pdf |
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Post by longliner on Feb 1, 2023 11:56:04 GMT -5
This is excellent Harry. Thanks for sharing. Now someone get this to Michael Castagna with the hope he could simply comment on this to raise the issue. I did ask him about it some time ago. His overall mindset is to improve the bottom line, grow sales, focus on the business and the rest will sort itself out This is essentially the same answer I received from HR when I asked why the company didn't defend itself against online attacks. The reply was something to the affect of "Our policy is to focus on our business, while we appreciate your support, we don't engage with the online attacks". This is not a direct quote as this was some time ago, however, it sounds like they still keep "the first things first" and focus on growing the business. |
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Post by mango on Feb 1, 2023 12:03:10 GMT -5
SEC court documents detailing the inner workings of a complex naked short selling scheme by OPTIONSXPRESS, INC., THOMAS E. STERN, and : JONATHAN I. FELDMAN. MannKind is listed as a victim to this criminal activity. www.sec.gov/alj/aljdec/2013/id490bpm.pdf |
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Post by prcgorman2 on Feb 1, 2023 12:13:04 GMT -5
One wonders if tomorrow's naked shorting report will show today had a big spike.
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Post by akemp3000 on Feb 1, 2023 12:16:05 GMT -5
Focusing on growing the business should of course be the primary focus. That said, a comment or two simply suggesting naked shorting is being reviewed could have a positive effect on the stock price which, in a small way, would contribute to the growth of the business with little effort. If the decision is to continue to ignore the large shorting for such a small company, no worries, the company remains on a good path regardless.
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Post by harryx1 on Feb 1, 2023 12:53:15 GMT -5
FWIW, a company doesn't need to land on the RegSho list to be naked shorted. However if they do land on the list, that means excessive naked shorting is happening. Agreed, it's just another data point. But it does say there isn't a high-enough degree of FTDs (reported?) to trigger getting on the list. Possibly, but they have found ways around showing up on the RegSho list now by mis-marking tickets as long instead of short & moving trading to off exchange clearing houses. So a company may not show up on the list even though there is a high degree of FTDs. |
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Post by prcgorman2 on Feb 1, 2023 13:27:52 GMT -5
Agreed, it's just another data point. But it does say there isn't a high-enough degree of FTDs (reported?) to trigger getting on the list. Possibly, but they have found ways around showing up on the RegSho list now by mis-marking tickets as long instead of short & moving trading to off exchange clearing houses. So a company may not show up on the list even though there is a high degree of FTDs. Criminals do like to exploit vulnerabilities in systems which make it easy. Congress for instance. (Just joking, sort of.) |
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Post by longliner on Feb 1, 2023 18:24:40 GMT -5
Focusing on growing the business should of course be the primary focus. That said, a comment or two simply suggesting naked shorting is being reviewed could have a positive effect on the stock price which, in a small way, would contribute to the growth of the business with little effort. If the decision is to continue to ignore the large shorting for such a small company, no worries, the company remains on a good path regardless. I applaud M/C's focus regarding "invest in growth" and his focus on growing the company. I believe a forensic assessment of the illegal short overhang at Mannkind would be worth the investment now. I would not advocate making this suggestion public unless we actually employ a forensic assessment, (The boy who cried wolf comes to mind). Depending on the findings we may continue as we are, or, we may choose to call attention to the illegal activity. The window to investigate shorting may close, SEC may choose to address the problem by preventing companies from making forensic searches or prevent them from taking action on the findings. I doubt they will take any significant action regarding the criminals. If we find significant illegal shares, and respond as GNS has, we may find ourselves at $25. per share in days (as they have, (% wise). This would certainly be the shareholder support we have been looking for from the company. I assume the Mann Group would be interested in this pursuit since Al was subject to the illegal short activity up until his passing. With Shkreli back behind bars, hopefully a margin call would bury him. From a company perspective, it may present an ideal time to raise funds. I really like the idea of carving those funds out of the shorts side. |
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Post by letitride on Feb 1, 2023 23:59:13 GMT -5
If naked shorting is not a crime why bother. And if it is a crime the FBI and the AG need to step in.
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Post by prcgorman2 on Feb 2, 2023 7:21:14 GMT -5
Shkreli back behind bars? Is that news or conjecture? I’d prefer the former, but I would agree his avarice knows no bounds and he seems incapable of not pushing the boundaries of legal investing, so I can see why there would be conjecture he might get caught in an investigation and enforcement action against illegal naked shorting. As despicable as I assume he and his former mentors are, both Shkreli and Cramer appear to be brilliant and possess above-average intelligence, and large war chests. There are few things I’d like to see more than a take down of those two, but I don’t expect it.
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Post by caesar on Feb 2, 2023 7:46:00 GMT -5
Shkreli back behind bars? Is that news or conjecture? I’d prefer the former, but I would agree his avarice knows no bounds and he seems incapable of not pushing the boundaries of legal investing, so I can see why there would be conjecture he might get caught in an investigation and enforcement action against illegal naked shorting. As despicable as I assume he and his former mentors are, both Shkreli and Cramer appear to be brilliant and possess above-average intelligence, and large war chests. There are few things I’d like to see more than a take down of those two, but I don’t expect it. FWIW; Shkreli is doing his thing and is not in jail - so much for justice! He seems to be focusing on his attention on software engineering (Open Source). For example, this is from his newsletter: "I have a new financial software package I’m hoping to unveil soon. It’s called Godel and you can request a beta invite by filling this form out: forms.gle/QW2NEeuPPzoz7Ri57I hope Godel will provide a refactored AWS-style version of what Bloomberg is today. The Bloomberg terminal has a lot of issues I won’t enumerate, and every client knows what they are. Usage-based pricing (as well as a free tier), native web access and so many more advantages will propel Godel to success." Ends with: "Finally, I’ve been enjoying the video game “Rust”. It’s a very immersive survival game that speaks to my OCD/hoarder nature. I need to quit! Until next time, Martin Shkreli" |
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Post by Clement on Feb 2, 2023 8:07:49 GMT -5
Can you imagine what might be in Shkreli's "financial software package"? We know what a crook he is. It could contain subroutines that report your financial moves and/or inquiries right back to its creator. Or it could do other things like modifying or delaying select feeds. Use your imagination. What fun to contemplate!
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Post by Clement on Feb 2, 2023 8:25:26 GMT -5
It appears that Shkreli named his new financial software package after Kurt Godel. "What is Gödel famous for? By the age of 25 Kurt Gödel had produced his famous “Incompleteness Theorems.” His fundamental results showed that in any consistent axiomatic mathematical system there are propositions that cannot be proved or disproved within the system and that the consistency of the axioms themselves cannot be proved." www.ias.edu/kurt-g%C3%B6del-life-work-and-legacy#:~:text=By%20the%20age%20of%2025,axioms%20themselves%20cannot%20be%20proved. But I think Shkreli is more like Bart Simpson. I didn't do it. Nobody saw me me do it. You can't prove a thing. |
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Post by longliner on Feb 2, 2023 9:44:58 GMT -5
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Post by caesar on Feb 2, 2023 10:03:25 GMT -5
Shkreli's newsletter regarding Druglike. "Druglike also has had some updates including a more rapid time-to-start for screening. Try it out at www.druglike.com. I’m hoping to add molecular dynamics, pharmacokinetics and other simulators to the total package at some point. Other upgrades would include fiat payment, API, and of course, a decentralized compute strategy. One idea is to use webworkers/wasm to bootstrap your own simulation jobs, where you can add your friends’ local compute to your ‘workspace’. A private folding@home. As I’ve said many times, Druglike is not a drug company in any way, shape or form, and the FTC has not suggested it is. Druglike is software and never touches an actual tangible thing, like a chemical or a mouse or god forbid, a prescription medicine. So, what was that news about? My lawyers and I missed a deadline to file a routine update with the FTC and schedule a meeting. That will be done. I’m not in contempt and won’t be ‘in trouble’ over this. Mea culpa. It turns out some people on my team were sick during the response period and there was some telephone tag. Total non-event, but don’t tell that to the media who insists this is somehow ‘news’." |
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