Well, well, well, What do we have here? It looks like the boy(s) over at stocklemon.com crawled out from under thier rock today to attack another company. This time it is Medifast.

Here is an interesting tidbit. The AMEX Specialist who handles Medifast? Specialist #985

http://www.amex.com/?href=/equities/listCmp/EqLCCmpDesc.jsp?Product_Symbol=med

The AMEX Specialist who handles Home Solutions of America? Specialist #985

http://www.amex.com/?href=/equities/listCmp/EqLCCmpDesc.jsp?Product_Symbol=hom

The AMEX Specialist who handles Flight Safety Technologies? Specialist #985

http://www.amex.com/?href=/equities/listCmp/EqLCCmpDesc.jsp?Product_Symbol=flt


Stocklemon.com has only reported on 8 companies in the amex. 3 of them were handled by #985. 2 of them were handled by Specialist #896 (iig and ipa).

According to HOM's press release announcing the move from the AMEX over to the Nasdaq (http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060615/20060615005529.html?.v=1), thier specialist was Cohen Specialist LLC - I am assuming that they are specialist 985.

But wait a second here. From the AMEX Weekly bulletin, dated July 16, 2004 (http://www.amex.com/amextrader/tdrInfo/data/wklyBulletins/2004/07162004wkly.pdf), Mr. Thomas G. McNamara, of Cohen Specialist LLC held badge number 896-M. That is the specialist number that was handling IIG and IPA, when they were attacked by stocklemon on 2/24/2005 and 9/22/03.

From the AMEX website:

Specialist
A floor member of an exchange who accepts primary responsibility for making a fair and orderly market in a security at all times the exchange is open for business. In general, a specialist will make a two-sided market and provide limited liquidity to other market participants.

Perhaps this should be:

Specialist
A floor member of an exchange who accepts large amounts of money from hedge funds to ensure they are able to illegally drive down the price of a particular stock. In general, a specialist will make a one-sided market and provide limited liquidity market participants on the wrong side of the company he is attacking for personal profit

Here is some more on Cohen: (http://www.asensio.com/Reports/ReportView.aspx?ReportId=682&CompanyId=146&CompanyName=Report)

Disturbed? Let the AMEX know!!

Trade Complaints Amex Listings (including Amex-listed issues, options, and ETFs) - Call the Customer Inquiry Hotline at 212-306-1381 or e-mail tradecomplaints@nasd.com

P.S. This discovery was made by someone over at the yahoo forum. I can't take credit for this one, but I can tell everyone about it :)

Whats in a name???

ALOT of you people have complained about my 'handle' This is what is was supposed to stand for.

Welcome to Stocklemonaide!

Howdy. Welcome to the wonderful world of Stocklemonaide! What is Stocklemonaide for heaven's sake? Long story, but hopefully I can get all of this information out there for everyone, because I find it VERY important!!!

So, you know what to do when life hands you lemons, right? Well, it isn't always that easy, especially in the stock market. You see, there is a website out there called Stocklemon.com. I can't tell you what kind of service they claim to be, because on their website, they don't really claim to be anything. When you go to their website, you see the current 'report' on whatever company they have their sights on at the moment, a link to see their 'scorecard', and a bunch of archived reports. They don't have a mission statement, and they don't post any information about the 'investigators' .

The funny thing is, they have a startling success rate. When you check out their report card you will notice that they report to have investigated 54 companies.

Here are the results according to that reportcard:

• 24 Grade A+: Company delisted, subject of regulatory action, stock halt and/or shareholder class action suits, stock collapse
• 18 - Grade A: Massive share price collapse of 75% or more since stocklemon report
• 9 - Grade B: Substantial share price drop since stocklemon report - 30% or more (But wait, isn't 75% more than 30%? - are they double grading these?)
• 1 - Grade F: Stock price appreciation
• 2 - Grade I: Incomplete

Holy Cow!! Wow, these guys never miss!!! LOL.... For the purpose of getting ready for what I am about to teach you, I want you to do the following before proceeding:

1. Get up and go to the person nearest to you
2. Tell this person 'I am psychic'
3. When the person asks 'How are you psychic?", Respond "You are going to have a really bad face-ache"
4. As they stand there, looking confused, punch them AS HARD AS YOU CAN in the face.
5. Say "I told you I am psychic" and walk away.
6. Come back and read some more about stocklemon.com

I guess I could have just said that Stocklemon creates self-fufilling prophacies, but that was a better visual of what seems to be the stocklemon business model. You, see, I am fully convinced that stocklemon is the Public Relations arm for either a single large hedge fund, or a network of them. These hedge funds perform a vicious "Bear Raid" on a stock by short selling the stock, and crushing the share price at the same time. This causes panic in investors, who sell out, assuming the worst. It also causes a lot of investors 'stop losses' to get triggered, and their stock is sold automatically when it goes below a certain price. This is especially bad, because if that order is a 'market order', and the stock is under the full attack of a large hedge fund, those orders may very well get filled at the low of the day. For more information on 'bear raids', check out this link http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=12062.

Here is the current disclaimer on the stocklemon website, if you bother to read that far:

"At any times the principles of Stocklemon.com might hold a position in any of the securities profiled on the site. Stocklemon.com Will not report when a position is initiated or covered. Each investor must make that decision based on his/her judgment of the market."

Another ploy that Stocklemon is accused of is using the various financial message boards to create 'FUD' among investors. 'FUD' = Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. I will chronicle the startling relationship between Stocklemon's most recent target, Home Solutions of America, and the sudden appearance of numerous posters on the Yahoo Finance message board for that company. These posters, out of the goodness of their own heart, showed up just in time to 'warn' everyone of the pending doom, and the stellar track record of the Lemon. LOL, real humanitarians, no doubt. I'm sure they didn't hold a short position in the stock either, wink wink.

So, I am guessing that some of you are thinking 'Isn't this illegal'? Well, it seems that there is no clear answer to that question. Stocklemon.com Seems to have at least one active lawsuit against it at almost any time. Here is another blog that details a lot of the lawsuits against the Lemmonheads: http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?.query=stocklemon&page=1&offset=0&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3Dbd81eca091de2ab3%26clickedItemRank%3D15%26userQuery%3Dstocklemon%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fsocialize.morningstar.com%252FNewSocialize%252Fasp%252FFullConv.asp%253FforumId%253DF100000005%2526convId%253D172120%26invocationType%3D-%26fromPage%3DNSCPResultsB%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fsocialize.morningstar.com%2FNewSocialize%2Fasp%2FFullConv.asp%253FforumId%253DF100000005%2526convId%253D172120

And here is another article that details the legality of short selling, in this case when a lawsuit is filed in conjunction with a short sale: http://www.legalreforminthenews.com/Reports/WLF-2-24-06-MAYahya.pdf

This is just a beautiful situation. Stocklemon.com Proves a trackrecord by attacking mostly pink sheet and otc stocks. They generate a following of opportunistic short sellers impressed by their 'results'. They sit behind a mask of anonomyous and thrash away at companies, while that the stock is shorted without mercy. The company then has to defend itself, is distracted from operations, and their ability to hit future goals could be compromised (i.e. the loss in market cap may prevent future M&A activity). And the law seems to be on their side, or at least ambivalent about it. What a country, eh? How did you make your 50 million today?

Who the Hell are these guys?

The wonderful thing about stocklemon, is they get to move in the shadows, tossing stones at publicly traded companies. These publicly traded companies have to abide by SEC regulations, and are required to post regular updates with the SEC at www.sec.gov. Stocklemon, however is NOT in the public record. Well, almost.

While I am not one of those internet hacker types, by any means, I do know that a simple 'whois' returns the following:

Per the WHOIS database the stocklemon.comdomain name is registered to:

Bill Harris

8300 sunset blvd #308

los angeles, ca 90046

USPhone: 213-596-5761

Email: info@stocklemon.com

Email: stocklemon@hotmail.com

Ok, well that isnt especially useful. What is useful, however, is that they are always getting sued. A current lawsuit is open against them in Clark County, Nevada. Now, the clark county district court doesn't have an especially slick website, but if you want to see the case, click on this link:

http://courtgate.coca.co.clark.nv.us/DistrictCourt/asp/CaseNoEdit.asp?CaseNo=06A521546

Additionally, this was also reported:

The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, Utah) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News); 4/14/2005Byline: Bob Mims Apr. 14--

"Andrew Left, the Los Angeles-based stock researcher who founded the site, finds that claim disingenuous, pointing to an on-site disclaimer accompanying items about iMergent that notes "the principles of StockLemon.com might hold a position in any of the securities profiled on the site." "I've disclosed that from Day One," said Left, who confirms he holds a "short" position on iMergent stock. "I take my personal research and put true information online on my Web log."

Ah Ha! Now we are getting somewhere. We have two lawsuits filed against an 'Andrew Left'. We have the Salt Lake Tribune quoting him, as well as saying he is in southern california. Hey, wasn't thier domain registered there?

Andrew Left is a pretty interesting name. I can't say I have ever met or heard of another person with that last name.

According to superpages.com, there are 15 people in the state of california with the last name of 'Left'. None with a first name of Andrew.

http://www.whitepages.com/10866/search/Replay?search_id=30101331303270493292&lower=1

If we bump that out nationwide, we come up with 300 people. 300 out of 300+ million people. Wow, that is a one in a million LAST name. There is an Anthony Left listed, but no 'Andrew Left'. Hmmmmm

http://www.whitepages.com/10866/log_feature/search_suggestion/search/FindPerson?name=left&name_begins_with=1&search_suggestion=3&query_type=1296&parent_search_id=40101351293070587650

Ok, so where do we go from here? Well, google, of course! One of the first things that pop up, is here:

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m5072/is_37_23/ai_78404920

"Faced with mounting debts, failed ventures and internal problems, parent company Detour Media Group Inc. is looking for a partner to help keep the L.A.-based fashion and lifestyle magazine alive."

"Since March, investors have filed to sell off nearly 1 million shares and the company's stock has been at less than $1 per share for more than a year. Detour President and Chief Executive Andrew Left resigned on Aug. 22, while former publisher Barbara Zawlocki left he magazine in April."

What? Hmmm, an Andrew Left, In southern california? Now we are getting somewhere. It seems that this 'Detour Magazine' was a publicly traded company. Here is his bio from the SEC Filing of the Proxy statement for the 2001 shareholder meeting:

"Andrew Left assumed the position of President and Chief Executive Officer in April 1999, and director in November 1999. Mr. Left received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Northeastern University in 1993. Since his graduation from Northeastern University, Mr. Left managed his family portfolio, specifically in the stock market. During this time he developed an expertise in Internet companies and the Internet. Mr. Left devotes substantially all of his business time to the Company."

Wow, so we now know that this guy was the President and CEO of a publicly traded company!! COOL! He must be really familiar with all of that CEO type stuff, right? I bet he would make a great stock investigator!! Well, wait a second here. Stocklemon only reports on bad stocks, right? If the Andrew Left of Stocklemon is the same Andrew Left who was president and CEO of this fashion magazine, what would he know about MIS-managing a company? More than you might think ;)

Check out this filing: http://sec.freeedgar.com/displayText.asp...

"By notice dated March 30, 2000, the staff of the Salt Lake City DistrictOffice of the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC" or "the Commission") hasnotified the Company and its Chairman, Edward T. Stein, that it is recommendingto the SEC that an enforcement action be filed against both the Company and Mr.Stein relating to accuracy of certain of the Company's financial statements in1997 and 1998. Based on discussions between the staff and the Company's counsel,the Company believes that the enforcement action would be based on: (i) theimproper presentation of certain quarterly financial information; and (ii) thefailure to record in accordance with generally accepted accounting principlesthe proper compensation expense resulting from the issuance in 1997 of optionsto purchase 2,200,000 shares of Common Stock in 1997 to consultants. Accordingto the notice from the Commission, the SEC anticipates alleging that the Companyviolated Section 17 A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10B of theSecurities Exchange Act of 1934 and various rules promulgated thereunder.Pursuant to the requirements of Section 12 of the Securities andExchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed onits behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.DETOUR MAGAZINE, INC.(Registrant)Dated: August 31, 2000By: s/ Andrew Left --------------------------Andrew Left, President"

Ok, so what the hell does this prove? Well, not much. But speculation sure is fun. I find this little gem to be especially interesting. According to a statement released on March 19, 2002:http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/9......

"Effective August 22, 2001, our President and CEO, Andrew Left, tendered hisresignation as an officer of our company and was replaced by Edward Stein on aninterim basis. Mr. Left will continue to consult with our management on aninformal basis."

Hmmm, I wonder what Mr. Left of Detour magazine went off to do? Sail around the world? Play some golf? Maybe look into a different business venture? I wonder when the first 'Report' was filed by stocklemon?

08.06.2001
StockLemon releases report on iJoin Systems

And there you have it. The first stocklemon report is released about 2 weeks before Mr. Left reportedly left the company. Of course, they didnt even report that until March of 02, it seems. 2 weeks is close enough for speculation.

Here is an interesting order that came through on 6/6/6 for HOM - Home Solutions of America.

Brief History of a Detour - Or, The right guy for the Job?

According to the form 10-ksb, filed on 12/27/1996 (http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/935730/0001013596-96-000058.txt), the "ICHI-BON INVESTMENT CORPORATION" described itelf as follows:

"Ichi-Bon Investment Corporation (the "Company" or"Registrant") was incorporated under the laws of the State ofColorado on May 18, 1990, for the purpose of investments inbusiness and real estate projects. Other than issuing shares toits original shareholders, the Company never commenced activitiesrelating to its original business purpose. In May 1990, theCompany authorized the issuance of 500 shares to two persons innocence for services valued at $500. Thereafter, in August 1994,the Company's Board of Directors authorized a forward split of theCompany's issued and outstanding common stock, whereby 1,000 sharesof common stock were issued for every one share of common stockissued and outstanding. The Company presently has 500,000 sharesof its Common Stock issued, which are held by 10 persons. Also inAugust 1994, the Board of Directors of the Company elected tochange the Company's principal business purpose to those activitiesdescribed below under "Plan of Operation". As such, the Companycan be defined as a "shell" company, whose sole purpose at thistime is to locate and consummate a merger or acquisition with aprivate entity."

May, 1997, there is some funky stock exhange reverse merger mojo mumbo jumbo between Ichi Ban and Detour. (http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/935730/0001013596-97-000123.txt)

Strange. On the proxy statement dated 02/28/2001 (, they identify Andrew Left as the president and CEO, as well as a board member. Weird thing is, he was never mentioned on a previous filing. Don't real companies have to say something when they get a new president and ceo? I may be mistaken here, if anyone would like to review the filings, please, be my guest!

"Andrew Left assumed the position of President and Chief Executive Officer in April 1999, and director in November 1999. Mr. Left received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Northeastern University in 1993. Since his graduation from Northeastern University, Mr. Left managed his family portfolio, specifically in the stock market. During this time he developed an expertise in Internet companies and the Internet. Mr. Left devotes substantially all of his business time to the Company."

Wait a second, maybe this explains it (from the same document above)!!!

"From a review of its available information, it appears that Messrs. Left and Nesis did not file applicable Form 3's with the Commission when they assumed their respective positions with the Company, but these reports were filed late."

Ok, ok, give the guy a break, will ya? I mean, heck, whats a few late filings between friends? 18 of the 40 filings shown on the SEC website (www.sec.gov) were NT's (Notification of inability to timely file ). Dont forget, these guys were running a fashion magazine! I mean how were they supposed to keep up with their filings with all of those models? I mean Fashion Models. Yeeooww.

So Anyway, what we know now, is that Andrew Left was pressie from April 1999 forward, right? Well, not really, because THEY NEVER FILED ANYTHING STATING THE CHANGE IN AN EXECUTIVE POSITION. Oh Well. Anyway, lets take them at their word, and see how he performed from April 1999 until he bailed in August 2001. I am going to cut through all of the numbers and focus on shareholder equity.

Quarter ending March 1999 (Quarter ending before Mr. Left assumed the helm) - Total Equity (5,638,317)

Quarter ending June 1999 (1st Quarter under Left's control) - Total Equity (5,903,201)

Quarter ending Sept 1999 (2nd Quarter under Left's control) - Total Equity (6,086,749)

Quarter ending Dec 1999 (3rd Quarter under Left's control) - Total Equity (6,838,803)

Quarter ending Mar 2000 (4th Quarter under Left's control) - Total Equity (6,375,893)

Quarter ending June 2000 (5th Quarter under Left's control) - Total Equity (6,601,245)

Quarter ending Sept 2000 (6th Quarter under Left's control) - Total Equity (7,500,071)

Quarter ending Dec 2000 (7th Quarter under Left's control) - Total Equity (9,067,588)

Quarter ending Mar 2001 (8th Quarter under Left's control) - Total Equity (9,068,464)

Quarter ending Jun 2001 (9th Quarter under Left's control) - Total Equity (9,883,455)

Well, crap. That was quite a run. Wonder what happened to the stock price while he was on board?

Quarter Ended High Low

March 31, 1999 $0.47 $0.18

September 30, 2001 $0.165 $0.025

Andrew Left's salary for 2001: $152,656

I guess that is why this happened:

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/935730/000101359602000031/fm10k_12-01.txt

"In February 2002, we commenced an action against Andrew Left, our former President, which action has been filed in the Superior Court for the State of California for the County of Los Angeles, Case No. BC269050, for the recovery of approximately $25,000, plus costs, interest and exemplary and punitive damages.Our complaint alleges fraud and deceit, negligent misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty and unlawful monetary conversion. As of the date of this Report,our complaint has been filed and we are awaiting the filing of an answer. While no assurances can be provided, we are optimistic that we will be successful in this matter."

The company also had to file several ammended returns, and they did so with in 45 days of Mr. Left leaving the company. Detour Media group filed one more SEC report, a year later, in August of 2002. Another "Notification of inability to timely file Form".

If, and I stress the word if, this is the same Andrew Left who how runs stocklemon.com, they found the right guy for the job, in my humble opinion.

Why spend your own money, when you can steal it from your comany?

Wow. Running a magazine is tough work, huh? Well, what the hell do you do after losing your company 5 million dollars in 16 months? Here's a crazy theory - how about steal $25k to start up your own website, and fund a short attck on your first victim?

A judgement was filed against Mr. Left on August 16, 2002 for the full amount sought in the case.

According to Stocklemon's own reportcard (http://www.stocklemon.com/files/051021/reportcard.pdf), ijoin systems went from 9$ to .0001 cents. So, just for speculation, lets 'pretend' that Mr. Left took the $25k he stole from Detour, and spent $2500 to start up stocklemon.com. The other $22,500 would have let him go short on 2500 shares of ijoin. At a profit of $8.999 per share, the stolen money from Detour could have turned into his 'startup money of $22,500 into $45,000.

How much is Left? (worth)

Lets play a game, and backtest stocklemon's reportcard, using the $25k in stolen loot from Detour. All stock quotes here provided by bigcharts.com. All fees excluded, and we will pretend he did NOT use margin. All Shorts on the open, covers on the close.

Aug 6, 2001. Go short on IJoin Systems (IJON) with $22,500. Ijon opened @ 9.15, resulting in 2459 shares short.

Aug 20, Cover the short @ the close @ 4.15. Congrats, you just turned your stolen 25k into $34,795.

Aug 21, 2001. Go short on Junum, Inc @ 4.00 resulting in 8698 shares short.

Aug 30, Cover the short @ the close @2.00. Congrats, you just turned your stolen 25k into $52,155.

Aug 31, 2001. Go short on Xaibe, Inc @ 6.00 resulting in 8692 shares short.

Sept 16, 2001 Cover the short @ the close @3.00. Congrats, you just turned your stolen 25k into $78,232.

Sept 17, 2001. Go short on MAAX @ 3.15 resulting in 24825 shares short.

Nov 14 2001 Cover the short @ the close @1.35. Congrats, you just turned your stolen 25k into $122,936.

ok, screw it - this will take forever and these historical quotes on otc stocks are a pain to find. lets just say he averaged 25% per trade. Mr. Left would now be worth $3,848,781,182.53. Yup, thats 3.8 BILLION, with a B. Ok, I'd bet there was the occasional hooker and crack rocks, but you get the idea. They claimed that they only missed once, and they cut a 440m dollar market cap stock (HOM) in half in one day. These guys have some serious bank behind them.

From Websters.com:
1 entry found for ill-gotten gains.
ill-gotten gains
"Benefits obtained in an evil manner or by dishonest means, as in They duped their senile uncle into leaving them a fortune and are now enjoying their ill-gotten gains. [Mid-1800s]"

Shall I quote some case law? Ok, I shall:
From a 1998 case in California (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=9th&navby=case&no=9910404)

"In United States v. Stoddard, 150 F.3d 1140, 1147 (9th Cir.1998), this court implicitly considered whether restitution ofprofits from lost corporate opportunities was authorized by the VWPA. In Stoddard , the defendant, an official of a sav-ings bank, misappropriated $30,000 from an escrow account and used the money to fund two real estate purchases. 150F.3d at 1142-43. The defendant later sold the properties at a profit. Id. The district court ordered restitution in the amount of $116,223, apparently encompassing the defendant's profits from the real estate transactions."

Think the former Detour Board would like to hear about this?

stocklemonaide.blogspot.com contains the author(s) own opinions, and none of the information contained therein constitutes a recommendation by the author(s) that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. All information on stocklemonaide.blogspot.com should be considered speculation, and not fact. Although we try to provide as much publicly availiable data as possible, we are not responsible for the accuracy of any information provided.