Turning Over a Rock at Universal Express

The court-appointed receiver for naked shorting poster child Universal Express has turned in her first report, which is available on the web here.

It's all here: a company that raped its shareholders while blaming "naked short selling." Also there are threatening emails sent to the Jane Moscowitz, the receiver.

Floyd Norris's commentary touches on the salient details, but you really have to wade through these remarkable documents to understand the full extent of this company's sliminess and the creepiness of its CEO, Baloney Brigade Commanding General Richard A. Altomare.

The documents released by Moscowitz should be required reading for the fast-dwindling ranks of SEC commissioners, who continue to waste their time with the overblown naked shorting issue.

The normally restrained Floyd sums up the situation in unusually strong language: "The gravy train appears to be over for Richard Altomare, the man who ran a company called Universal Express and paid himself very well out of cash from shares that were illegally sold to the public."

That's what it's all about: screwing shareholders. But judging from the crudely threatening emails to Moscowitz that she cites in her report (you can gag on them here), I'd say some of these shareholders deserve all the screwing that they get.

Well, at least you can say this much for Universal Express: unlike the creepy, threatening emails of Judd Bagley on behalf of Overstock.com, these apparently originated from deluded nuts and were not the full-time job of a company official.

© 2007 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved.



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