A Major Federal Institution Endorses the Baloney Brigade!

I'm pleased to report tonight that a major federal institution has given a ringing endorsement to the Baloney Brigade stock market conspiracy nutcases. Yup, none other than the Federal Bureau of Investigation has taken an interest.

I am sure that there are a lot of high-fives among the penny stock peddlers and inept CEOs who are using naked shorting as an excuse for their incompetence and criminality, now that the Douglas MacArthur of the Baloney Brigade, deposed Universal Express CEO Richard A. Altomare, and the company's general counsel Chris Gunderson, are the subject of an active criminal investigation by the FBI.


I'll bet this must please Altomare, who almost literally wraps himself in Old Glory at every opportunity, as do the other vaguely right-wing and libertarian fruitcakes who push this discredited cause, such as Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne. The latter once talked about "men with guns" expressing interest in his allegations.

I am sure that is true in his case, and of course we know that is true with Altomare.

Word of the FBI investigation emerged yesterday (Oct. 11) in a court document filed in the SEC's lengthy litigation against Universal Express.

Altomare's lawyer Arthur Tifford, begging the court to put off an Oct. 12 contempt hearing, said as follows:

On 18 September 2007 Assistant United States Attorney Rhonda Jung and Special Agent Thomas Zukauskas, Federal Bureau of Investigation telephoned me as counsel for Mr. Altomare. In that conversation AUSA Jung informed me that there is an active criminal investigation of Messrs. Altomare and Gunderson and asked if I wanted to arrange an appointment with the government to discuss a disposition of the case as to Mr. Altomare.

It didn't work -- the judge almost instantaneously denied the motion -- but at least we now know, from Altomare's own lawyer, that his client is in the cross-hairs of the feds. (Gee, shouldn't that have been disclosed to sharehol... ehh, never mind.)

I've uploaded the full document to my website, since Blogspot doesn't have that capability.

I am sure that leading Baloney Brigade organs, such as Phil Saunders' "Sanitycheck" website, will spread the word: the FBI is on the case, just as they have long expected. And if that "active criminal investigation" ends... well, badly, the only baloney Altomare will be spewing will be the cheap stuff they serve at government expense.



© 2007 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved.



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Wall Street Versus America was published by Penguin USA on April 6.
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