The Conspiracy Widens

The naked short selling conspiracy has widened to encompass Floyd Norris of the New York Times! Yup, friends and neighbors, the chief financial correspondent of the Times is corrupt.

We have that on the word of the naked shorting poster child Universal Express and its CEO Richard Altomare, the standard-bearer of the anti-shorting Baloney Brigade until that banner was hoisted by Patrick Byrne of Overstock.com. Apparently Altomare is fighting hard to regain leadership of that phony cause, judging from a recent escalation of his (or, I guess, strictly speaking, his attorneys') rhetoric.

In a filing that slimed its way into the courthouse on July 12, and which has mouldered there unnoticed, lawyers for the company and Altomare said:

. . . it is important to note that the Commission has
taken out of context a number of reported facts from the
USXP quarterly and annual filings and those non-contextual
statements are subject to explanation without which the
Court will be misguided.

Two examples of the Commission’s statements taken out
of context. First, its remarks at Response at n. 5 that
USXP took out a full page statement in The New York Times
on the subject of naked shortselling to respond to Floyd
Norris’ advocacy on behalf of those who have a multihundred
million if not multi-billion dollar stake in the
naked shortselling scandal unfolding every day. Appellate
decisions in other courts have judicially recognized the
use of paid advocates employed by underhanded, even
criminal elements intending to break small companies
through the combination of “bashing” on the internet and
naked shortselling of stock. [Emphasis added]

The second example.... eh, who cares? I assume that "paid advocate" means paid by someone other than the Times. (Sure would like to see those "appellate decisions." Too bad there ain't any.)

The "Commission" referred to above is the SEC, which has asked that Altomare be jailed for disobeying previous court rulings. The SEC has been fighting a protracted battle to yank Altomare as CEO, and to have the entire company fumigated for multiple securities law violations. Altomare has fought back the baloney way, by a full-court P.R. press that included the Times ad mentioned in the brief.

This kind of thing makes me wonder why some people in the media continue to take these fruitcakes seriously.

© 2007 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved.



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