Latest Comentaries
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April 28, 2008. Sprott's Timminco dealings openly questioned
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April 23, 2008. Timmincošs convoluted dealings and "furious" insider selling comes to light.
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April 22, 2008. Q-Cells acknowledges having no relevant information on Timminco.
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April 21, 2008. Globe and Mail changes course on Timmico stock promotion.
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March 31st 2008. Q-Cells makes outlandishly conflicting claims about upgraded metallurgical silicon.
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December 4, 2007 - Ackman's Charitable Contribution Shows Value of Short-Selling
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October 17, 2007 BusinessWeek Facelift Fails to Beautify Work of Gene Marcial
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October 29, 2007 REFR: 42 Years of Hype
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October 29, 2007 After 42 years of Hype REFR resorts to recycling old promotional schemes.
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April 09, 1997 - A Free Market Solution To Persistent Stock Fraud, by Manuel P. Asensio
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August 18, 2002 - Published Sunday, August 18, 2002 on page C4 of the Philadelphia Inquirer. |
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Published Sunday, August 18, 2002 on page C4 of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Letters | The right to speak out against corruption Your story in the Sunday magazine ("Ill Will," July 14) was indeed timely in light of the recent revelations of corruption in public companies. Americans know it exists but believe the system can control corruption. This belief gives Americans the confidence to work, save and to invest in stocks and mutual funds. Sometimes though, Americans underestimate the treachery of stock promoters and the system's failure. I earn my living on Wall Street by researching companies I believe to be long on hype and short on substance. Some of the companies I research go beyond hype. Over 30 of the companies I have researched were ultimately discovered to be frauds. They include some of the largest recent Internet and telecom scams. The business press published our opinions about these companies long before their falls. One of the smallest, least consequential, and most hyped and troubling companies I have researched is headquartered in Philadelphia and headed by Dr. William A. Carter. Hemispherx Biopharma Inc. has been ordered by regulators to stop promoting its drug, Ampligen, because it never had been approved for marketing anywhere despite 30 years of experimentation. It was taken public by Wall Street basement-level brokers who were later criminally convicted of securities fraud, money laundering and stock price manipulation. My research on this company is available on the Internet. Hemispherx spent millions of its "investors" dollars and three years on a SLAPP lawsuit against me. The millions didn't go far. A federal judge dismissed most of the claims. The defamation claims against me were transferred to state court. Then things suddenly started going Carter's way. Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Albert W. Sheppard ruled in favor of Hemispherx and against me in nearly every pre-trial ruling. He made a dubious ruling on jurisdiction even though I hadn't even been in Philadelphia for 20 years and then decided that Hemispherx would be treated as a private plaintiff in his courtroom, even though it is a public company and despite the importance of public debate about the safety of its product. As an added bonus, Sheppard ruled that I could not mention many of the facts my research had uncovered; I was on trial for giving an opinion and was unable to show the jury the factual basis of my opinion. Despite the "Sheppard-handicap," I won the jury's verdict on every single point. Then, 12 days before this paper published a story about the trial, Sheppard ordered a new trial. The story calls Sheppard a problem solver and me a problem Sheppard could not solve. What problem did Sheppard need to solve? Are there too many analysts warning investors of possible problems? Who is the problem? An individual who offers the public his opinion or a judge whose aggressive anti-free speech rulings precluded a full airing of the facts about this company? Americans have been made aware of the cost of corruption. The system needs checks and balances. By granting Hemispherx a new trial, Sheppard harmed each American's right to speak out against corruption. The judge's rulings are an assault on free speech and the public's right to know. I hope Philadelphia voters remember Sheppard's outrageous behavior come election time. Manuel P. Asensio New York City Editor's note: Judge Sheppard granted Hemispherx a new trial, citing Asensio's "obdurate, contumacious and prejudicial misconduct" in front of the jury. Asensio vows he will continue to fight for the public's right to know. |
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