Folks, this is a must see while you have some downtime in front of your PC/laptop. I’ve provided just a couple of teasers below to provide some incentive. Hat tip to Paul Kedrosky for pointing it out. As he states, these photos are heart-stopping and life-affirming. give yourself time to look and think:
Harry Markopolos, Nov 7 2005
SEC Submission On Madoff
The $50 Billion Madoff Ponzi scheme has received enormous coverage, so I won’t bother repeating what everybody already knows. Rather, like many people, I’m betting dollars to doughnuts that he wasn’t able to pull this off on his own. At the very least, from day 1, I’ve stated that his sons had to be involved. Turning him in was merely a poor attempt to let Dad take the fall while making the sons look like heroes. (I see a Law & Order episode coming).
However, the train doesn’t stop there. A $50 Billion scam in the securities markets requires the cooperation and silence of a lot of people. To this end, the SEC is taking a lot of heat for failing to investigate Madoff despite very compelling information being presented to it. Specifically, fellow Greek Harry Markopolos submitted a paper to the SEC titled “The World’s Largest Hedge Fund Is A Fraud“.
How accurate is it? Paul Kedrosky best described as “indefatigable, honest and empirical in making his case”.
WAS BERNIE MADOFF A LONE THREAT TO MARKOPOLOS SAFETY, OR A LARGER WORSE GROUP?
Markopolos deserves accolades for not only providing irrefutable evidence – but for being courageous enough to do the right thing at the risk of his personal and family’s safety. You have to ask yourself why was he concerned? Was he afraid of the actions of just one man, Bernie Madoff, after being uncovered? Or did Madoff require the involvement of nefarious characters to pull off a scam of this magnitude?
It all comes down to whether you believe in the lone gunman theory or not. I don’t. When making your decision, consider this:
MADOFF NIECE (and Compliance Officer) MARRIED SENIOR SEC INSPECTION OFFICIAL
Yep, you read that right. A top SEC compliance official (Eric Swanson) who worked for the SEC – when it found no problems at Bernard Madoff’s firm in 2005 – just happened to start dating and eventually marry Madoff’s niece, who was a compliance lawyer for Madoff’s company.
Now, they could have just met in a bar somewhere or, as Swanson claims, at an industry conference. However, I can think of another way for an Senior SEC inspection official and a compliance lawyer to meet. Like, during a preliminary investigation?
Madoff is going to be the crowining jewel of fraud in US capital markets – let’s just hope it doesn’t extend to actual corruption in US regulatory markets. It all comes down to whether the SEC was simply grossly incompetent, or on the take. It’s 50-50 right now …. but the relationship between an inspection official and a compliance officer puts my money on the latter.
Othewise, I can’t imagine why the SEC would ignore a complaint when the submitter basically tells you the life of him and his family could be on the line. Under this circumstance, why was he ignored by the SEC?
Regards,
George
Good morning to you all. Please find enclosed a summary of the breaking small-cap and micro-cap financial news we highlighted on our TV show this morning. It’s December 18 and we’ve found 4 great press releases and stock halts from both sides of the border to report on at the open. Another great day for small-cap and micro-cap financial news.
If you are new to the show, it is a daily, fast-paced, edgy report that we put out at or before the open everyday that strictly reports on the best small cap and micro cap news of the day in 3-5 minutes. You can watch AGORACOM TV right from our home page .
If you miss an episode or want to search for your company in our archive, you can visit our industry leading Small-Cap Podcast site at any time:
If you want to subscribe to our Small-Cap RSS Feed or download our podcast everyday via iTunes, or your favourite podcatcher, just use the following:
As always, don’t forget to visit the AGORACOM Marketplace where we list compelling summaries for over 85 great small-cap and micro-cap companies that you can sort by exchange and industry to suit your personal investing tastes.
TODAY’S SMALL-CAP AND MICRO-CAP BREAKING FINANCIAL NEWS BEFORE THE OPEN
Our daily show focuses on content over form so that you can get profitable information into your hands as fast as possible. The same holds true for these entries in our small-cap, micro-cap news blog, where I simply cut and paste my TV notes for your benefit, without any editing, so don’t give me a hard time! 
Now, onto our show notes for the day.
** Denotes an AGORACOM Client. AGORACOM TV Only Reports News From AGORACOM Clients That Meets The Same Newsworthy Threshold Of All Other Press Releases.
Good morning to you all. Please find enclosed a summary of the breaking small-cap and micro-cap financial news we highlighted on our TV show this morning. It’s December 17 and we’ve found 4 great press releases and stock halts from both sides of the border to report on at the open. Another great day for small-cap and micro-cap financial news.
If you are new to the show, it is a daily, fast-paced, edgy report that we put out at or before the open everyday that strictly reports on the best small cap and micro cap news of the day in 3-5 minutes. You can watch AGORACOM TV right from our home page .
If you miss an episode or want to search for your company in our archive, you can visit our industry leading Small-Cap Podcast site at any time:
If you want to subscribe to our Small-Cap RSS Feed or download our podcast everyday via iTunes, or your favourite podcatcher, just use the following:
As always, don’t forget to visit the AGORACOM Marketplace where we list compelling summaries for over 85 great small-cap and micro-cap companies that you can sort by exchange and industry to suit your personal investing tastes.
TODAY’S SMALL-CAP AND MICRO-CAP BREAKING FINANCIAL NEWS BEFORE THE OPEN
Our daily show focuses on content over form so that you can get profitable information into your hands as fast as possible. The same holds true for these entries in our small-cap, micro-cap news blog, where I simply cut and paste my TV notes for your benefit, without any editing, so don’t give me a hard time!
Now, onto our show notes for the day.
** Denotes an AGORACOM Client. AGORACOM TV Only Reports News From AGORACOM Clients That Meets The Same Newsworthy Threshold Of All Other Press Releases.
The Will Hunting Of Wall Street - "He's Wickid Smawt"
Readers of my blog are very well acquainted with Barry Ritholtz, arguably the best financial blogger on the web. For those of you who are hearing about him for the first time, Barry Ritholtz is the Will Hunting of Wall Street – a down to earth guy who is “wicked smawt”.
On December 8th, he completed this interview with Barron’s (highly recommended reading) in which he gave his outlook on the markets. He provided an outlook on various sectors, including following outlook on gold:
Has gold bottomed?
I don’t know where gold bottoms. We recommended gold for the first time in 2002 or 2003. It was strictly an inflation trade, thanks to Greenspan. And then when the GLD gold ETF first came out, we recommended that. Gold has a date with $1,500 somewhere in the future [up from $763 an ounce now], [now trading at $857]Â but whether it makes that move from 700 or from 400, I have no idea. You just can’t print that much paper and debase the currency and not see some sort of reaction.”
When really intelligent people talk openly about 5-digit gold, the commodity has moved beyond the fringe and into the mainstream. This potentially bodes very well for North American juniors…..stay tuned.
Regards,
George
This is the big question of the day.
As you know, the US Fed today established a target range for the federal funds rate of 0 to 0.25%, effectively cutting its key rate for overnight lending to banks by between 0.75% and 1%.
This is the kind of event that history books (ebooks) will be writing about 100 years from now. I’m not going to bother reporting on it, as you can find a great write-up here and here.
Rather, I’d like to provide some meaningful insight from some of the world’s brightest financial minds. Apart from my own 🙂 I’ll continue to update this post throughout the next 24 hours as I scan great bloggers and writers, so make sure to keep checking back.
Mohamed El-Erian, Co-CEO & Co-CIO of PIMCO
Mohamed El-Erian, Co-CEO & Co-CIO of PIMCO was on CNBC today (Fast Money) and, amongst other things, he stated as follows:
Why is this different from Japan? The Fed is acting earlier and more aggressive than Japan’s central bank. In addition, US banks have taken write-downs far earlier than Japanese banks. Nonetheless, he says we still have to be careful about unintended consequences.
….more to come
The US Fed today established a target range for the federal funds rate of 0 to 0.25%, effectively cutting its key rate for overnight lending to banks by between 0.75% and 1%.
Gold prices broke through $850 on the news and are trading at $857.50 on the spot market.
I am very proud to announce that AGORACOM is a white sponsor of tonight’s #hohoto holiday party, with all proceeds going towards the Toronto Daily Bread Food Bank.
Tickets are sold out but you can still make a contribution to the event by going here. Weak economy or not, there are people (kids) who need some serious help and $10 would go a long way towards making their holiday a little better.
CREATED, PLANNED AND SOLD OUT VIA TWITTER IN JUST 2 WEEKS 
What makes this event incredible is that it all came together online via Twitter … and grew like wildfire, resulting in some major media coverage. Last I heard, which was last week, the event had raised $18,000 and is much higher by now. I’ll let you know the final number when it is announced later today.
I know a lot of people helped put it all together – but the catalyst and quarterback was Rob Hyndman. Congratulations on spearheading an incredible event that will help put a smile on hundreds of faces during the holidays.
Regards,
George
Good morning to you all. Please find enclosed a summary of the breaking small-cap and micro-cap financial news we highlighted on our TV show this morning. It’s December 15 and we’ve found 4 great press releases and stock halts from both sides of the border to report on at the open. Another great day for small-cap and micro-cap financial news.
If you are new to the show, it is a daily, fast-paced, edgy report that we put out at or before the open everyday that strictly reports on the best small cap and micro cap news of the day in 3-5 minutes. You can watch AGORACOM TV right from our home page .
If you miss an episode or want to search for your company in our archive, you can visit our industry leading Small-Cap Podcast site at any time:
If you want to subscribe to our Small-Cap RSS Feed or download our podcast everyday via iTunes, or your favourite podcatcher, just use the following:
As always, don’t forget to visit the AGORACOM Marketplace where we list compelling summaries for over 85 great small-cap and micro-cap companies that you can sort by exchange and industry to suit your personal investing tastes.
TODAY’S SMALL-CAP AND MICRO-CAP BREAKING FINANCIAL NEWS BEFORE THE OPEN
Our daily show focuses on content over form so that you can get profitable information into your hands as fast as possible. The same holds true for these entries in our small-cap, micro-cap news blog, where I simply cut and paste my TV notes for your benefit, without any editing, so don’t give me a hard time!
Now, onto our show notes for the day.
** Denotes an AGORACOM Client. AGORACOM TV Only Reports News From AGORACOM Clients That Meets The Same Newsworthy Threshold Of All Other Press Releases.
