'Who's Bud Burrell?' and Other Questions Richard Altomare Won't Answer

Altomare is suddenly speechless on naked shorting

Naked shorting poster child Universal Express is a prime example of how corporate executives use stock market conspiracy theories to cover up their own sleaziness and, sometimes, criminality. Just take a look at the court documents on the company's web site, and particularly the latest filing -- a fascinating deposition by CEO Richard Altomare on Nov. 27.

You really should read through that deposition -- it is a hoot. It reads like something out of a Kefauver Committee hearing on organized crime in the early fifties, with Altomare refusing to answer most of the questions posed by the court-appointed receiver, Jane Moscowitz, on Fifth Amendment grounds.

While I'm sure that prosecutors will be most interested in persistent questions by Moscowitz implying that Altomare looted the company, my favorite was this:

Q. Did you ever seek to have any records analyzed that would determine whether, in fact, there had been naked short selling of the stock of Universal Express, Inc.?

A. I respectfully decline to answer that question based upon my constitutional rights as guaranteed to me by the 5th Amendment of the United States Constitution and the same rights provided to me in the Constitution of the State of Florida.

Q. In fact, you don't really know whether there has been any naked short selling of the shares of Universal Express, do you?

A. I respectfully decline to answer that question based upon my constitutional rights as guaranteed to me by the 5th Amendment of the United States Constitution and the same rights provided to me in the Constitution of the State of Florida.

Q. It's merely been a convenient thing that you could tell shareholders while their shares went down to an amount that I don't even know how to express what point .00001 is?

A. I respectfully decline to answer that question based upon my constitutional rights as guaranteed to me by the 5th Amendment of the United States Constitution and the same rights provided to me in the Constitution of the State of Florida.

So in other words, a CEO who had once been a leading troubadour of the Baloney Brigade anti-naked-shorting movement -- he has a prominent role in Wall Street Versus America -- is now not only clamming up on the subject, but says that talking about it may incriminate him in a criminal act. In what criminal act, I wonder. Lying to shareholders, perhaps?

It will be interesting to see how Patrick Byrne, who has made similar claims about naked shorting and stock market conspiracies, will fare when his chance comes to provide a deposition to the SEC, which is investigating him and Overstock.com on a variety of things. Naked shorting claims are mentioned in the subpoenas, according to Overstock SEC filings.

As I suggested (see update to this item) some weeks ago, Moscowitz also bore down on Altomare about his links to the crackpot Bud Burrell, a penny stock operator and regular on the now almost-defunct "thesanitycheck" stock market conspiracy website. The result was more stonewalling:

Q. Who's Bud Burrell?

A. I respectfully decline to answer that question based upon my constitutional rights as guaranteed to me by the 5th Amendment of the United States Constitution and the same rights provided to me in the Constitution of the State of Florida.

Q. Is Bud Burrell on the Universal Express payroll?

A. I respectfully decline to answer that question based upon my constitutional rights as guaranteed to me by the 5th Amendment of the United States Constitution and the same rights provided to me in the Constitution of the State of Florida.

Q. Didn't Bud Burrell have a company called Quantum Matrix that you were paying $4,000 to every so often?

A. I respectfully decline to answer that question based upon my constitutional rights as guaranteed to me by the 5th Amendment of the United States Constitution and the same rights provided to me in the Constitution of the State of Florida.

Burrell has already said publicly that he was on the payroll and was a "significant" unsecured creditor, and also made vague threats against no one in particular that, if I were Ms. Moscowitz, I would take seriously.

Altomare can run from these questions, but he can't hide. The company is under FBI investigation, and Moscowitz indicated that still more subpoenas are flying.

She's particularly interested in jewelry purchases for Altomare at corporate expense, which Altomare--in one of the few questions he did answer--lamely claimed had come from "salary" directly sent to the jewelers.

© 2007 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved.



-----------

Wall Street Versus America was published by Penguin USA on April 6.
Click here for its Amazon.com listing and here for more information on the book, from my web site, gary-weiss.com.

Going Postal in Baloney-land

As I have noted in several posts, the paranoia of the anti-naked shorting loons sometimes froths over the top into obscenity and violence.

The threats against Universal Express receiver Jane Moscowitz by deranged anti-shorting cultists, and the creepy threats against a Wikipedia administrator by Judd Bagley of Overstock.com, are examples of that.

The rhetoric from these lowlifes seems to have ratcheted up a notch.

I'm grateful to a reader for bringing to my attention some really troubling, violent rhetoric from a character named C. Austin "Bud" Burrell, who runs a pink sheet company and is one of a cluster of penny stock types to bang away at stock market conspiracy theories in "thesanitycheck" website.

Burrell is justifiably obscure, but he recently garnered some attention when it was revealed that his constant hyping of naked shorting poster child Universal Express (in rants like this and this) came at a price -- he was on the payroll of Universal Express as a "consultant."

The strain of railing against a nonexistent crisis seems to be extracting a toll on the poor dear, as today we get a violence-tinged rant.


Burrell begins by likening "the typical serial financial criminals" (translation: people who disagree with him) to serial killers, and then spits on the experiences of real combat veterans by likening his silly posturing to serving under fire in the military: "I am 7 years in, and bluntly, I am well past hoping to completely repair myself psychologically." He'll get no argument from me on that.

Burrell continues,

I warn everyone here and now that if one or more of you wants to try and drag me back into this morass, don't expect to survive in whole form. I have had enough of this corrupt insanity. If I am threatened again by anyone for any reason, I will retaliate on the spot without limits. I won't wait to find out if you really meant it, or for you to try and choke out an apology. (emphasis added)

You can hope that I can call the FBI first, but that will depend entirely on how serious I think you are. You should not interpret this as a warning, but much more as a promise from someone who keeps his as a part of his personal identity.

No. My hope is that someone else calls the FBI first, and the sooner the better.

© 2007 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved.



-----------

Wall Street Versus America was published by Penguin USA on April 6.
Click here for its Amazon.com listing and here for more information on the book, from my web site, gary-weiss.com.

Does it Matter When Ms. Moscowitz Takes Over Your Company?

Yes, friends, that is today's philosophical question. Does Moscowitz matter? I learned from an Internet rumor today that a receiver had been appointed to take over naked shorting poster child Universal Express, that her name was Moscowitz and that she's now running the show.

Then I turned to the company's website. Nothing. Edgar: nothing, no SEC filings. No Moscowitz.

So then I checked the electronic filings of the U.S. District Court in lower Manhattan, and there she be: Moscowitz!

I found an order by Judge Gerald E. Lynch, dated Aug. 31 and filed on Sept. 4, that said as follows:

For the reasons stated in the order of August 30, 2007, and upon due consideration of potential candidates, it is hereby ordered that Jane W. Moscowitz of Miami, Florida be appointed receiver for Universal Express Inc. to determine Universal Express's actual financial state, to collect and conserve what assets the company has, and to report its findings to the court.

Just so you don't think I'm making this up, here is a screen shot of the decision:



What this means is that Universal Express's loudmouth CEO Richard Altomare, the sergeant-at-arms of the naked shorting conspiracy loons, is out out OUT! (As Ralph Kramden would have said.) Moscowitz is in.

Now, back to my question. Is this important? I mean, when the court names a lady to come in to your offices and "collect and preserve" your assets -- isn't that worth disclosing to your shareholders?

As a matter of fact, as I pointed out the other day, when the judge issued his initial decision on August 30, Altomare issued a press release not mentioning that a receiver was going to be appointed. So I guess the company wouldn't want to mention that the receiver has been named, that her name is Moscowitz, and that the loudmouth is out out OUT.

Which leads me to another question that I have raised before: Where is the Justice Department? Is there any particular reason why Universal Express isn't the subject of more than an SEC lawsuit?

UPDATE: It will be interesting to see what kind of slugs Ms. Moscowitz can find under the rug. One just outed himself yesterday -- C. Austin "Bud" Burrell, who operates a pink sheet outfit called Private Trading Systems when he isn't yammering nonsense about naked shorting. Here's a pretty good take on that company and its interesting ownership.

Burrell, a shrill defender of Universal Express, and now a leading defender of that other naked shorting "victim" Overstock.com, disclosed yesterday on Phil Saunders' "thesanitycheck.com" website that he had been on the Universal Express payroll up till about two years ago. He also said that he is a "very significant unsecured creditor."

He later said, " I provided litigation support to the in house General Counsel for over 4 years. What they owe me is privileged."

Note to Ms. Moscowitz.

It will be interesting to see how much money this naked shorting poster child -- and Universal Express's brethren like Overstock.com and Novastar Financial -- has been flushing down the toilet with characters like this.

© 2007 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved.



-----------

Wall Street Versus America was published by Penguin USA on April 6.
Click here for its Amazon.com listing and here for more information on the book, from my web site, gary-weiss.com.