InvestorsHub Logo
Followers 52
Posts 2539
Boards Moderated 9
Alias Born 08/30/2000

Re: None

Thursday, 11/02/2000 3:36:13 PM

Thursday, November 02, 2000 3:36:13 PM

Post# of 484
Market Marker Manipulation or Pump & Dump

The following communication is how due diligence can expose certain patterns in the history of a security’s trading. The stock I will use will be ECNC (the old BETT). The historical pattern seems to be repeating itself.

Of course it was alleged that market makers were holding it down but it also was a classic "Pump & Dump". Was it one or the other or a combination of both. Well lets examine the trading, careless errors and filings to see.

Some notable dates on the trading volume and filings are:

10KSB/A Thursday, (07/01/1999) & (08/19/1999) states "As of August 31, 1998, the registrant had 14,284,234 shares of common stock issued and outstanding." Summary as of Aug-31-1998 Cash $0.00 with Net Income ($197,000.00), (.02)

10QSB/A Thursday, (07/01/1999) States, "As of November 30, 1998, the registrant had 14,475,234 shares of common stock issued and outstanding." Summary as of Nov-30-1998 Cash $12,000.00 with Net Income ($8,000.00), (.00)

10QSB/A Friday, (07/02/1999) States, "As of February 28, 1999, the registrant had 14,354,798 shares of common stock issued and outstanding." Summary as of Feb-28-1999 Cash $22,000.00 with Net Income ($184,000.00), (.01)

Red Flag ERROR: However, the filing states "This was an error of overly issuing 4,284,234" really more really but that is what the filing states. So they converted that over sell to preferred stock.

SB-2/A Friday, (7/2/1999) registering 20,000,000 shares but it also stated, "Although the Shares will be "free trading," and is an established market for the Shares, there is not a large public float in the Shares at this time (15,250,000 shares owned by approximately 400 shareholders)."

Red Flag S8 Friday, (7/2/1999) 1,550,000 common stock to (7) Consultants (Steve Goodman, Rogel Patawaran, Edward Wexler, Richard Epstein, Ezzat Jallad, Shar Offenberg, & Richard Parnes) and the stock was trading in the $0.35 range.
Note: the consultants got 10% of the of the quotes public float in the SB-2 in this S8 dilution and the authorized was 10M.

Red Flag Trading: On Wednesday, (7/7/1999) it opened at .36 and closed at .39 going as high as .43 on 57,765,000 shares traded.

Red Flag Trading: Wednesday (7/28/1999) it opened at .35 closed at .34 with .36 as the high on 23,862,000 shares traded.

Red Flag Stock Structure: SB2 Friday, (8/20/1999) registering 61,000,000 shares!!!!

Red Flag Trading: Monday, (8/23/1999) it opened at $0.185 and closed at .20 on 86,840,000 shares traded. The next day (8/24/1999) it opened at $0.20 and closed at $0.23 on 87,690,000 shares traded. No real movement in stock but it did go to over $0.41 over the next several days/weeks but eventually was down to $0.85 by October 25, 1999.

10QSB (08/23/1999) States, As of June 30, 1999, the registrant had 30,885,100 shares of common stock issued and outstanding. Summary as of Jun-30-1000 Cash $184,000.00 with Net Income ($3,736,000.00), (.25)

Red Flag ERROR: Change 3 months later: 10QSB/A (11/16/1999) States, "As of June 30, 1999, the registrant had 30,885,100 shares of common stock issued and outstanding." Summary as of Jun-30-1000 Cash $184,218.00 with Net Income ($3, 3,735,786.00), (.25)

Red Flag Stock Structure: The outstanding had doubled and it also stated the authorized was now 100,000. Not sure how the authorized when from 10M to 100M. Anyway, 15,250,000 (400 shareholders) + 1,550,000 (consultants) + 20,000,00 (SB2A) + 61,000,000 (SB2A) = 97,800,000 as of this 10Q and the filings most of which happened after June 30, 1999 this left only 2,200,00 left out of the authorized.

8K (8/26/1999) Issuing 2,600,000 shares for ebet of which 1,000,000 were restricted.

Red Flag S8 & SB2 Monday, (8/30/1999) Stated the authorized was now 200,000,000 and another 1,083,000 for (4) consultants (Robert Bragg, Dominique Einhorn, Richard Epstein again, & Jane Hauser)

Red Flag Trading: Wednesday, (9/01/1999) the stock was trading from .30 range barely going over .41 on volume for 5 days of 1M to 3M shares a day.

10QSB (09/03/1999) States, "As of August 13, 1999, the registrant had 60,523,775 shares of common stock issued and outstanding." But the balance sheet is through Dec, 31, 1998 Summary Cash $4,000.00 with Net Income ($18,000.00) (.010)

Red Flag Stock Structure: The outstanding doubled again in 6 weeks roughly or 4 times the Feb, 28, 1999 figures in as many months.

8K (9/15/1999) Acquisition for the assets of Rogel Technolgies and 2,500,000 restricted shares and I believe 1.250M in options form .50 to $2.00 plus other considerations.

Red Flag 8K (11/16,1999) on Isla Escondida, S.A., a Costa Rica Corporation on August 31, 1999 for 7,000,000 free trading shares of common that apparently went OFF-SHORE!

10QSB (11/18/1999) States, "As of September 30, 1999, the registrant had 74,096,000 shares of common stock issued and outstanding." Summary as of Sep-30-1999 Cash $44,646.00 with Net Income ($10,143,238.00), (.22)

Red Flag ERROR: Missed 3M so a changed came almost four more later: 10QSB/A (03/09/2000) States, "As of September 30, 1999, the registrant had 77,852,101 shares of common stock issued and outstanding." Summary as of Sep-30-1999 Cash $44,646.00 with Net Income ($10,143,238.00), (.31)

Red Flag Stock Structure: In 7 months the outstanding issued has gone to 77M in round numbers, which is 5.5 times the Feb numbers of 14M in round numbers not to mention the net loss was now around $10M.

Red Flag Trading: On (12/16/1999) the stock began to trade with a 15M share volume day and between .185 and closed at .27. With the front load complete, the "Pump"& "Hype" opinionated speculation began to sweep through the internet. From this point it traded in the 3M to 10M shares a day in the .50 range until (1/6/2000) when it closed at $.75. It then maintained over 10M shares in volume a day or higher on the "Pump" & "Hype" till (1/12/2000) and went as high as $2.00.

Red Flag ERROR IN FILING LEADS TO LAWSUIT SETTLEMENT: 8K (1/18/2000) disclosing "This settlement calls for the payment of $200,000 and 5,000,000 free trading shares of the Registrant to CALP in accordance with the terms of the debenture agreement."

Red Flag Debenture

Trading: From (1/12/2000) the volume drop to about 3M a day till (2/2/2000) where it dropped to 1-2M shares a day but maintain $1.50. The reduction in volume shows the stock trading was losing interest. The "Hype" & "Pump" was losing its luster primariy because nothing appeared to be coming true

Red Flag S8 (2/2/2000) for 6,000,000 shares for (7) consultants (Laurel-Jayne Yapel Manzanares, Marcine Aniz Uhler, William Lane, Earl Gilbrech, Edward James Wexler again, Dominique Einhorn again) Should take about three weeks to get the certificates normally to someone.

Trading: Three weeks later (2/23/2000) the volume doubled to about 3M a day but it stayed in the $1.50 range.

Trading: (2/29/2000) the volume exploded to 16M and 17M March 1, 2000 which took the price up to over $4.00 closing at $4.25. The volume reduced to around 10m shares a day through Mar-7-2000 where it got to around $10.00 share price. On 3-8-2000 the volume went to 19.8M closing at $16.50 then March 9, 2000 it opened at $20.875 with a high of $21,875 and closed at $14.50 on 14.1M . On March 10-00 the volume went back to 18.9M opening at $16.00 and closing at $10.00 … Monday March 13, the stock was halted by the SEC, which is detailed below.

Red Flag ERROR: 8K on (3/31/00) "In a complaint filed on March 23, 2000 (Securities and Exchange Commission v. eConnect and Thomas S. Hughes, Civil Action No. CV 00 02959 AHM (C.D. Cal.)), the Commission alleged that since February 28, 2000, eConnect has issued false and misleading press releases claiming: (1) eConnect and its joint venture partner had a unique licensing arrangement with PalmPilot; and (2) a subsidiary of eConnect had a strategic alliance with a brokerage firm concerning a system that would permit cash transactions over the Internet. The complaint further alleges that the press releases, which were disseminated through a wire service as well as by postings on internet bulletin boards, caused a dramatic rise in the price of eConnect stock from $1.39 on February 28 to a high of $21.88 on March 9, 2000, on heavy trading volume. The Commission suspended trading in eConnect's stock on March 13. The complaint alleges that despite the trading suspension and the Commission's related investigation, eConnect and Hughes continued to issue false and misleading statements concerning eConnect's business opportunities."

10KSB (05/09/2000) States, "As of May 1, 2000, the Registrant had 162,394,801 shares of common stock issued and outstanding." Summary as of Dec-31-1999 Cash $126,172.00 with Net Income ($23,273,393.00), (.63)

10QSB (05/30/2000) States, As of May 1, 2000, the Registrant had 162,394,801 shares of common stock issued and outstanding." I had to check the balance sheet for Mar-31-2000 Cash was $1,247,262.00 with a Net Income ($19,156,849.00) (.14).

Red Flag ERROR: Summary as of Mar 31, 2000 Cash $44,646.00 with Net Income ($10,143,238.00), (.31) …

10QSB (8/21/2000) States, "There are 180,583,813 shares of common stock outstanding as of August 1, 2000. Summary as of June 30,2000 Cash $164,143.00 with a Net Income ($28,350,717.00) (.19)

Red Flag ERROR: 10QSBA (10/19/2000) States, "As of August 1, 2000, the Registrant had 180,583,813 shares of common stock issued and outstanding." Summary as of June 30,2000 Cash $164,143.00 with a Net Income ($28,350,717.00) (.19)

Red Flag Financial: Cash down 87% Net Loss up 33% from March to June filing

There appears to be a lot of amended filings correcting various errors in the filings. I do not know to what extent or if this carelessness is fraught throughout the filings, but it does appear to follow a historical pattern in say the news releases. For example one civil suit alleges new release errors in (a) that, contrary to EConnect's November 23, 1999 press release, EConnect had never acquired Top Sports SA; (b) that, contrary to EConnect's February 22, 2000 press release, EConnect was not generating anywhere near $10,000 a day from its PowerClick division's network of websites; (c) that, contrary to EConnect's February 28, 2000 press release, EConnect did not have a strategic alliance with Empire Financial Group, Inc.; and (d) that, contrary to the implication of EConnect's February 29, 2000 SEC filing, EConnect did not have an agreement to use an internet cash payment system developed by SafeTpay; or(SEC alleged error) did eConnect and its joint venture partner have a unique licensing arrangement with PalmPilot;
http://www.secfraud.com/filedcases/ecnccomplaint.html

eConnect and Hughes settled the SEC charges without admitting or denying the accusations. A court has yet to determine whether any disgorgement, civil penalties or other relief will be assessed against eConnect or Hughes, according to the quarterly report. In addition, 21 purported class action suits have been filed against the company between March 14 and April 12 for the alleged misrepresentations and omissions in the public statements which led to the rise in eConnect's stock price. 1. http://www.foxnews.com/vtech/0530/t_rt_0530_18.sml
http://www.whafh.com/cases/econnect.htm
http://securities.stanford.edu/cases/ecnc.html

What can cause ECNC to be halted again. Well, the settlement is described in an (4/13/2000) ECNC PRNewswire Press Release where it states, "The judgement that eConnect and Mr. Hughes consented to, in essence, prohibts eConnect making any statement that would violate Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder."

And what about the outside the company where in April, a man was accused of pumping and dumping econnect using a investment company that he started by the name of Independent Financial Reports (IFR). IFR claimed to have no stock in ECNC, however this person had bought 177,000 shares through another company that he had formed named Silver Screen Industries. He used the Internet, particularly message boards, to pump the stock from @ $3 to @ $22 within one months time. This individual would spread positive, yet false, rumors that ECNC was going have very positive news and that the stock price was targeted for @$90/share. IFR also put out an strong buy recommendation on ECNC and said that this stock was completely undervalued and was worth well over $100/ share. Although we do not know the name of the individual we do know that we was a 43 year old tree trimmer with no financial experience and that the web enabled him to quickly pump a stock and cash out with over $1.5 million in one month. www.ragingbull.com/news.cgi?articleid=REUT113561

To be coninuted ...

Hey, it's my opinon and I could be wrong!

Gary Swancey



:=) Gary Swancey

Join the InvestorsHub Community

Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.