A Short blog post of much importance

If you come across a bear and decide to run, what matters is that you run faster than the slowest person you are with, not that you be able to outrun everyone you are with or outrun the bear. This same sort of logic applies to trading, too. You don’t need to be the smartest (or fastest) trader around, just smarter (of faster) than enough people with enough buying power to move stocks.

 

Disclosure: This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.

New Wall Street Report pump and dump: Petroterra Corp $PTRA

Starting after the market close last Friday, WallStreetReport.org started sending emails promoting Petroterra Corp (PTRA). The emails continues yesterday (Monday) and today. The emails linked to a video at http://wallstreetreport.org/wrp1/ptsv34332.php and to a landing page promoting PTRA here: http://wallstreetreport.org/wrp1/ptsw34332.php

WallStreetReport.org is a relatively new stock promotion website and I have only been subscribed to them since August. The only other stock they have promoted to me was BLKG, starting on August 11th and continuing off and on until September 3rd.

Petroterra was previously pumped via a different online landing page back in late March of this year. That first landing page is still online and it looks like the new landing page copies many of the elements of the first one. The volume so far this time is much higher than the volume back in March. In July PTRA shares had a 1 for 2.5 reverse split, so the current price of 1.20 is equivalent to a price back in March of $0.48.

Disclosed budget: $150,000
Promoter:  WallStreetReports.org / Herwick Ltd.
Paying party: Mass Peak Ltd.
Shares outstanding: 26,888,850
Previous closing price: $1.12
Market capitalization: $30 million

ptra_header_graphic

 

Excerpt from disclaimer:

The Wall Street Report is published by Herwick Ltd. In an effort to enhance public awareness of PetroTerra Corp. (“PTRA”) and its securities through the distribution of this advertisement, Mass Peak Ltd. has provided the publisher with a weekly budget of approximately $150,000 to cover the costs associated with creating, printing and distribution of this advertisement. The publisher will retain any excess sums after expenses as its compensation. The publisher has not undertaken to determine if Mass Peak Ltd. is, or intends to be in the future, directly or indirectly, a PTRA shareholder as it has no meaningful way to verify such facts. Readers should take this into consideration in evaluating bias. The name Chris Porter is a pseudonym for the writer who was paid $5,000 for his/her contributions to the report.

Full disclaimer:

IMPORTANT NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER: This stock profile should be viewed as a paid advertisement. The Wall Street Report is published by Herwick Ltd. In an effort to enhance public awareness of PetroTerra Corp. (“PTRA”) and its securities through the distribution of this advertisement, Mass Peak Ltd. has provided the publisher with a weekly budget of approximately $150,000 to cover the costs associated with creating, printing and distribution of this advertisement. The publisher will retain any excess sums after expenses as its compensation. The publisher has not undertaken to determine if Mass Peak Ltd. is, or intends to be in the future, directly or indirectly, a PTRA shareholder as it has no meaningful way to verify such facts. Readers should take this into consideration in evaluating bias. The name Chris Porter is a pseudonym for the writer who was paid $5,000 for his/her contributions to the report. If successful, this advertisement will increase investor and market awareness, which may result in increased numbers of shareholders owning and trading the common stock of PTRA, increased trading volumes, and possibly increased share price of PTRA’s common stock. This publication is not, and should not be construed to be, an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. This publication, its publisher, and its editor do not purport to provide a complete analysis of any company’s financial position. The publisher and editor are not, and do not purport to be, broker-dealers or registered investment advisors. This publication is not, and should not be construed to be, personalized investment advice directed to or appropriate for any particular investor. Any investment should be made only after consulting a professional investment advisor and only after reviewing the financial statements and other pertinent corporate information about the company. Further, readers are advised to read and carefully consider the Risk Factors identified and discussed in the advertised company’s SEC filings. Investing in securities, particularly micro cap securities such as PTRA, is speculative and carries a high degree of risk. Past performance does not guarantee future results. This publication is based exclusively on information generally available to the public and does not contain any material, non-public information. The information on which it is based is believed to be reliable. Nevertheless, the publisher cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information. This publication contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding expected continual growth of the featured company and/or industry. The publisher notes that statements contained herein that look forward in time, which include everything other than historical information, involve risks and uncertainties that may affect the company’s actual results of operations. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include the size and growth of the market for the company’s products and services, the ultimate degree of success in the company’s drilling excursions, the company’s ability to fund its capital requirements in the near term and long term, pricing pressures, etc. The Wall Street Report is the publisher’s trademark. All other trademarks used in this publication are the property of their respective trademark holders. The publisher is not affiliated, connected, or associated with, and is not sponsored, approved, or originated by, the trademark holders unless otherwise stated. No claim is made by the publisher to any rights in any third-party trademarks.

PDF copy of pump page

ptra_chart

 

Disclaimer: I am short PTRA and may look to short more in the near future. I may also cover my short. I will not update this disclaimer after trading the stock. I have no relationship with any parties mentioned above. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.

Broker/Dealer and OTC Market Maker Delaney Equity Group sued by SEC

Four days ago the SEC announced its suit against Delaney Equity Group LLC, a Florida-based stock broker and OTC market maker (market maker ID: DLNY), for allegedly refusing to hand over documents related to an investigation by the SEC’s microcap fraud task force.

See the SEC litigation release. Excerpt:

 The SEC’s complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleges that in April 2015, the SEC Enforcement Division required Delaney to produce to it various categories of documents it was legally required to preserve and produce, upon demand, to the SEC. The complaint further alleges that Delaney, despite being granted several extensions and having made repeated representations through its counsel that the firm would produce documents, has failed to provide any responsive documents to date.1-1 1-2 1-main

The case is 9:15-cv-81384-DMM Securities and Exchange Commission v. Delaney Equity Group LLC. The case is in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida with Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks presiding.

SEC complaint (PDF)

Docket listing:

Doc.
No.
Dates Description
10
Filed: 10/09/2015
Entered: 10/13/2015
Docket Text Set/Reset Motion/R&R Deadlines and Hearings
8
Filed & Entered:   10/08/2015
Docket Text Acknowledgment of Service
9
Filed & Entered:   10/08/2015
Docket Text Motion for Preliminary Injunction
7
Filed & Entered:   10/07/2015
Docket Text Order on Motion for Temporary Restraining Order
1
Filed & Entered:   10/06/2015
Docket Text Complaint
2
Filed & Entered:   10/06/2015
Docket Text Judge Assignment
3
Filed & Entered:   10/06/2015
Docket Text Clerk’s Notice of Consent to Proceed Before Magistrate Judge
4
Filed & Entered:   10/06/2015
Docket Text Summons Issued
5
Filed & Entered:   10/06/2015
Terminated: 10/07/2015
Docket Text Motion for Temporary Restraining Order
6
Filed & Entered:   10/06/2015
Docket Text Notice (Other)

 

This is not the first time that Delaney Equity Group LLC has run afoul of regulators. The company and its founder David C. Delaney were censured by and fined a combined $255,000 by FINRA in 2012 for abetting the sale of unregistered shares in microcap stocks.

From the FINRA offer of settlement:

During the period from December 2008 through July 2010, DEG, acting through
Delaney, its President, Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) and Anti-Money Laundering
Compliance Officer (AMLCO), allowed customer B.A. and its numerous affiliated
accounts to sell almost a billion newly issued, unregistered equity shares offive issuers:
Connectyx (CTYX), ProPalms USA, Inc. (PRPM), Shot Spirits (SSPr), Solos Endoscopy
(SNDY) and Green Bridge (GRBG). As a result, DEG and Delaney participated in the
distribution ofalmost a billion shares ofunregistered and non-exempt securities, in
contravention ofSection 5 ofthe Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act). and in violation
ofFINRA Rule 2010.

Customer “B.A.” is Big Apple Consulting.

Disclaimer: I have no relationship with any parties mentioned above. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.

Portlogic Systems $PGSY promoted via online landing page

This morning I received emails promoting Portlogic Systems (PGSY) for the first time. The emails link to this website: http://breakawaystocks.com/pgsy/

Considering the low budget for this promotion and the poor stock promotion environment currently I doubt it goes up very much and it should make for a good short soon.

 

Disclosed budget: $200,000
Promoter:  Eric Dickson / Breakaway Stocks
Paying party: Aspen Agency Ltd
Shares outstanding: 33,525,784
Previous closing price: $0.87
Market capitalization: $29 million

PGSY_image

pgsy

Excerpt from disclaimer:

Portlogic Systems, (PGSY), the company featured in this issue, appears as paid advertising, paid by Aspen Agency LTD to provide public awareness for PGSY.

KP has received and managed a total production budget of up to $200,000 per week for this advertising effort and will retain any amounts over and above the cost of production, copywriting services, mailing and other distribution expenses, as a fee for its services. Breakaway Stocks is paid $5,000 as an editorial fee from KP and also expects to receive new subscriber revenue as a result of this advertising effort.

Full disclaimer (from landing page):

IMPORTANT NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER: This featured company sponsored advertising issue of Breakaway Stocks does not purport to provide an analysis of any company’s financial position,
operations or prospects and this is not to beconstrued as a recommendation by Breakaway Stocks or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security. Portlogic Systems, (PGSY), the company featured in this issue, appears as paid advertising, paid by Aspen Agency LTD to provide public awareness for PGSY. Aspen Agency LTD has approved and signed off as “approved for public dissemination” all statements made herein regarding PGSY’s history, assets, technologies, current as well as prospective business operations and industry information. Breakaway Stocks and Kingsborough Publishing (KP) have used outside research and writers using public information to create the advertisement coming from Breakaway Stocks about PGSY. Although the information contained in this advertisement is believed to be reliable, Breakaway Stocks and KP makes no warranties as to the accuracy of any of the content herein and accepts no liability for how readers may choose to utilize the content. Readers should perform their own due-diligence, including consulting with a licensed, qualified investment professional or analyst. Further, readers are strongly urged to independently verify all statements made in this advertisement and perform extensive due diligence on this or any other advertised company. Breakaway Stocks is not offering securities for sale. An offer to buy or sell can be made only with accompanying disclosure documents and only in the states and provinces for which they are approved. Many states have established rules requiring the approval of a security by a state security administrator. Check with http://www.nasaa.org or call your state security administrator to determine whether a particular security is licensed for sale in your state. Many companies have information filed with state securities regulators and many will supply investors with additional information on request. KP has received and managed a total production budget of up to $200,000 per week for this advertising effort and will retain any amounts over and above the cost of production, copywriting services, mailing and other distribution expenses, as a fee for its services. Breakaway Stocks is paid $5,000 as an editorial fee from KP and also expects to receive new subscriber revenue as a result of this advertising effort. *More information can be received from PGSY’s investor relations firm.Further, specific financial information, filings and disclosures as well as general investor information about publicly traded companies like PGSY, advice to investors and other investor resources are available at the Securities and Exchange Commission website www.sec.gov and www.nasd.com. Any investment should be made only after consulting with a qualified investment advisor and after reviewing the publicly available financial statements of and other information about the company and verifying that the investment is appropriate and suitable. Investing in securities is highly speculative and carries a great deal of risk especially as to new companies with limited operations and no history of earnings. The information contained herein contains forward-looking information within the meaning of section 27a of the Securities Act of 1993, as amended, and section 21e of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements regarding expected growth of the featured company. In accordance with the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, PGSY notes that statements contained herein that look forward in time, which include everything other than historical information, involve risks and uncertainties that may affect the Company’s actual results of operations. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include the size and growth of the market, the Company’s ability to fund its capital requirements in the near term and in the long term; pricing pressures, technology issues etc.

 

PDF copy of landing page

Disclaimer: I have no position in PGSY. I have no relationship with any parties mentioned above. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.

(Late post) Arrests of several people involved with spam promoter StockCastle

This post is late — the arrests came almost two months ago. This is a very complicated case with many people in many countries.

I have written previously about the spam promoter ‘StockCastle’ (one of their first domains was StockCastle.com but they used dozens of other names). During their prime, StockCastle moved stocks and brought good volume. I have not received any promotional emails from any of their websites since early 2014. In fact, their two most recent stock promotions ended with the SEC suspending trading in the stocks. Nevada Gold Corp (NVGC) was suspended on November 27, 2013. StockCastle’s next pump was Imogo Mobile Technologies (IMTC) in February 2014. On February 19th, 2014 the SEC suspended trading in IMTC.

Below are links to a bunch of stories about the arrests and the SEC case:

SEC press release about civil charges against Gery Shalon, Joshua Aaron, and Ziv Orenstein
SEC complaint (PDF)
Criminal complaint (PDF) against Gery Shalon, Joshua Aaron, and Ziv Orenstein

Interestingly, neither NVGC nor IMTC was mentioned in the SEC’s complaint, despite both having been suspended by the SEC.

New York Times Dealbook: 4 Arrested in schemes said to be tied to JP Morgan breach
Reuters: Israelis sought in U.S. securities fraud remanded until Aug. 10
Jerusalem Post: Two Israelis facing extradition to US for ‘pump and dump’ scam ordered kept in custody
Bloomberg: Digital Misfits Link JPMorgan Hack to Pump-and-Dump Fraud
Nodummy review of StockCastle pumps mentioned in litigation (and follow-up post)

 

Disclaimer: I have no relationship with any parties mentioned above. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.

 

Excel Macro to run trade report on DAS Trader Pro trade log

I have been mucking about with some programming lately and I only just realized that the work I had been doing to get my average price on trades so I can enter it into my trade log was easily automated. The below Excel (2010 is the version I use) macro has made my life a little easier so I am sharing it here. This can be used with the ‘trade’ output of DAS Trader Pro (which I am currently using with Centerpoint Securities) but with slight changes could be used on the output from Sterling Trader Pro or other trading platforms. There are easier ways to get the summaries, but I make sure to record trades I make in my trade log with details including my trade plan and post-trade evaluation — most of the time I’ll put together all the trades in each ticker to save time and because I’m trading the stock with one strategy. So for my purposes I like having the average price (including fees) shown neatly.

First, start with how the data should be formatted prior to the macro working. Go to “Trade” in DAS Trader Pro and then click “Trades”. Select the columns and copy and paste into an Excel worksheet named “scratchpad” (and make sure to paste into column B). Then hit Control + A to select the entire range of data and run the macro (I have it hotkeyed on my computer to Control+P). This will create a new worksheet, run a pivot table, copy the pivot table data, delete the pivot table worksheet, and paste the pivot table data and price per share in an easy to read format in another new worksheet.

Here is how the data should be formatted in your trade report that you paste into Excel (you do not need a header row):

inputdata

And below is how the data will be output:

macro_output

Obviously, you can use this same basic code framework to get lots of other data easily (such as ECN fees, etc). The one thing this code will not do is account for per-trade fees. I don’t have them at Centerpoint (clearing through ETC) so I didn’t program them. Also, make sure you enter your per-share commission into the code. Use this code at your own risk — I provide it without warranty or support.

Warning: if you are a programmer you will find my code ugly. You have been warned.

Below is the code:

Sub DAStraderAvgPrices()

‘ DAStraderAvgPrices Macro
‘ For this to work you need to copy pasta the following columns from DAS into the ‘sheet ‘scratchpad’
‘Time | Ticker | Buy/Sell | Price | Shares | Route | ECN Fees | Amount of trade
‘Those columns all must be there in that order or it will mess lots of things up.
‘The trades must be pasted into column B and then select all the trade info ‘(control+A)

Dim myRange As Range
Dim i As Long
Dim HeaderRange As Range
Dim HeaderPasteRange As Range
Dim TopLeft As Range
Dim objTable As PivotTable
Dim objField As PivotField
Dim rng As Range
Dim ws1 As Worksheet
Dim pt As PivotTable
Dim rngPT As Range
Dim rngPTa As Range
Dim rngCopy As Range
Dim rngCopy2 As Range
Dim lRowTop As Long
Dim lRowsPT As Long
Dim lRowPage As Long
Dim PivotTableSheet As String
Dim celltxt As String

‘this is my commission rate
commission = 0.0035

Set myRange = Selection

‘sort by column C then D (ticker then buy/sell)
myRange.Sort Key1:=Columns(3), Order1:=xlAscending, Key2:=Columns(4) _
, Order2:=xlAscending, Header:=xlGuess, OrderCustom:=1, MatchCase:= _
False, Orientation:=xlTopToBottom
‘the above works! Yay!

‘this section calculates the cost basis (including ECN fees and commissions) of each fill
For i = myRange.Rows.Count To 1 Step -1
Set BuySell = myRange.Cells(i, 3)
If BuySell.Value = “B” Then
myRange.Cells(i, 8) = (myRange.Cells(i, 4) + commission) * myRange.Cells(i, 5) + myRange.Cells(i, 7)
ElseIf BuySell.Value = “S” Then
myRange.Cells(i, 8) = (myRange.Cells(i, 4) – commission) * myRange.Cells(i, 5) – myRange.Cells(i, 7)
ElseIf BuySell.Value = “SS” Then
myRange.Cells(i, 8) = (myRange.Cells(i, 4) – commission) * myRange.Cells(i, 5) – myRange.Cells(i, 7)
End If
Next i

‘Here we append the header row to the data
myRange.Cells(0, 1) = “Time”
myRange.Cells(0, 2) = “Ticker”
myRange.Cells(0, 3) = “Buy/Sell”
myRange.Cells(0, 4) = “Price”
myRange.Cells(0, 5) = “Shares”
myRange.Cells(0, 6) = “Route”
myRange.Cells(0, 7) = “ECN Fee”
myRange.Cells(0, 8) = “Amount”

‘Pivot table time!

‘only uncomment the following two lines when testing on specific region
‘ActiveWorkbook.Sheets(“scratchpad”).Select
‘Range(“B4”).Select

ActiveWorkbook.Sheets(“scratchpad”).Select
myRange.Cells(0, 1).Select

Set objTable = ActiveSheet.PivotTableWizard

Set objField = objTable.PivotFields(“Ticker”)
objField.Orientation = xlRowField
objField.Position = 1

Set objField = objTable.PivotFields(“Buy/Sell”)
objField.Orientation = xlRowField
objField.Position = 2

Set objField = objTable.PivotFields(“Shares”)
objField.Orientation = xlDataField
objField.Position = 1
objField.Function = xlSum
objField.NumberFormat = “##,###”

Set objField = objTable.PivotFields(“Amount”)
objField.Orientation = xlDataField
objField.Position = 2
objField.Function = xlSum
objField.NumberFormat = “##,###.##”

‘Pivot tables with multiple data fields have hidden field “data” —
‘adding the below line makes it display correctly
objTable.AddFields Array(“Ticker”, “Buy/Sell”), “Data”

‘Copy the Pivot table and paste it into a new worksheet as values
On Error Resume Next
Set pt = ActiveCell.PivotTable
Set rngPTa = pt.PageRange
‘On Error GoTo errHandler

PivotTableSheet = ActiveSheet.Name

‘If pt Is Nothing Then
‘ MsgBox “Could not copy pivot table for active cell”
‘ GoTo exitHandler
‘Else
Set rngPT = pt.TableRange1
lRowTop = rngPT.Rows(1).row
lRowsPT = rngPT.Rows.Count
Set ws1 = Worksheets.Add
Set rngCopy = rngPT.Resize(lRowsPT – 1)
Set rngCopy2 = rngPT.Rows(lRowsPT)

rngCopy.Copy Destination:=ws1.Cells(lRowTop, 1)
rngCopy2.Copy Destination:=ws1.Cells(lRowTop + lRowsPT – 1, 1)
‘End If

If Not rngPTa Is Nothing Then
lRowPage = rngPTa.Rows(1).row
rngPTa.Copy Destination:=ws1.Cells(lRowPage, 1)
End If

ws.Columns.AutoFit

‘Stopping Application Alerts
Application.DisplayAlerts = False

‘delete pivot table sheet
Sheets(PivotTableSheet).Delete

‘Add in some formatting and get price per share for buys/sells

Columns(“C:C”).ColumnWidth = 13.71
Columns(“D:D”).ColumnWidth = 14.86
Range(“G2”).Select
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = “Price”
Columns(“G:G”).Select
Selection.NumberFormat = “0.0000”
Selection.ColumnWidth = 11.43
Range(“F3”).Select
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = “=IF(ISBLANK(RC[-4]),””””,RC[-4])”
Range(“F3”).Select
Selection.AutoFill Destination:=Range(“F3:F197”), Type:=xlFillDefault
Range(“F3:F197”).Select
Range(“G3”).Select
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = _
“=IF(ISBLANK(RC[-3]),””””,IF(ISBLANK(RC[-5]),””””,RC[-3]/RC[-4]))”
Range(“G3”).Select
Selection.AutoFill Destination:=Range(“G3:G202”), Type:=xlFillDefault

‘Loop through table to clear all rows that contain “Total”
Last = Cells(Rows.Count, “D”).End(xlUp).row
For i = Last To 1 Step -1
celltxt = Cells(i, “A”).Text
If InStr(1, celltxt, “Total”) Then
Cells(i, “A”).EntireRow.ClearContents ‘ USE THIS TO CLEAR CONTENTS BUT NOT DELETE ROW
End If
Next i

ActiveSheet.UsedRange.Select

exitHandler:
Exit Sub
errHandler:
MsgBox “Could not copy pivot table for active cell”
Resume exitHandler
End Sub

 

Disclaimer: I have no position in any stocks mentioned as of this post being published but I may trade them in the future. I am a client of Centerpoint Securities (clearing through ETC). I have no relationship with any other parties mentioned above. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.

Calissio Resources $CRGP Sued by clearing firm Cor for running dividend scam

The type of microcap manipulation / fraud I most commonly blog about is the stock promotion, where someone is paid by insiders to promote an essentially worthless stock to naive investors. This is the most obvious kind of scam and perhaps the most prevalent but it is far from the only scam being run on OTC stock investors and traders. There is of course the debt-dilution scam, where insiders in the company conspire with death-spiral financiers that get the stock at a discount and then sell, driving the price inevitably downward. A recent SeekingAlpha article highlighted ten companies with linked insiders and lenders allegedly running this kind of scam. Of course, even if the insiders aren’t conspiring with death spiral lenders, such financing always drives the stock downward. A few months ago Zeke Faux of Bloomberg had a good article on Josh Saison, a major death spiral financier.

A much less common OTC scam is the fake dividend scam, where a penny stock company without significant assets or with assets of questionable value announces a large cash dividend. Normally, the dividend is just a way to pump the stock up so insiders can dump shares. But it appears that Calissio Resources (CRGP) has improved on that scam by finding away to pay itself real money by manipulating the dividend clearing/payment system, or at least that is what is alleged by COR clearing in a lawsuit against the company. Omaha.com has a good synopsis of the lawsuit and what has happened. FINRA ended up halting trading in CRGP on August 27th (without every explaining why) and the stock only just resumed trading today (on the grey market), down 86%.

One well-respected microcap fraud researcher noticed many similarities among CRGP and past dividend scams SRGE and SAEI and he speculated on who was ultimately behind them. The only thing that is completely certain about CRGP is that anyone who bought the stock because of the dividend news lost a lot of money if they didn’t sell prior to the halt. That is the usual outcome in penny stocks. For an in-depth look at the CRGP dividend, see Brenda Hamilton’s blog.

crgp

 

Disclaimer: I have no position in CRGP. I am currently a client of COR Clearing (through Speedtrader) although I am likely to soon close my account there.  I subscribe to PromotionStockSecrets.com, of which nodummy is a part-owner/manager. I have no relationship with any other parties mentioned above. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.

 

Avra Inc. $AVRN Pumped by WhatsApp spam

The SEC has been cracking down on email stock promoters over the last few years and there are only a couple effective email stock promoters left. Part of the problem is that using email to pump leaves lots of traces — to avoid spam filters the promoters need to use email services (like iContact) that will keep records of their names and payment information. If the SEC or DoJ investigates manipulation in a stock or illegal selling of unregistered shares it is relatively easy to locate the promoters. Spam promotions have worked in the past but it is very hard to beat modern spam filters (and of course spamming is treated as a more serious crime than stock manipulation).

Some intrepid promoters figured that the best way to avoid those problems of email is to just avoid it and instead use a messenger program, in this case WhatsApp. Many people were spammed with messages promoting Avra Inc (AVRA) this morning. What followed was a quick spike and massive dump. Expect more such WhatsApp spam promotions in the future.

Below are some screenshots of the WhatsApp spam messages shared on Twitter:

 

 

 

avrn
Below is the intraday 1-minute chart of AVRN

avrn_chart

Disclaimer: I have no position in AVRN although if it spikes again I will likely short it.  I have no relationship with any parties mentioned above. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.

Kourtland Wissler / Centerline Trades: Avoid at all costs

There is a lot that is very sketchy about Kourtland Kardashian (as he calls himself; his real name appears to be Kourtland Wissler). He has over 5 times the followers of Tim Sykes on Twitter (438,000 versus 84,000) despite his website CenterlineTrades.com being registered only in 2015 while Tim has been blogging / selling his services for 7 years and has been on TV numerous times. This makes me think that Kourtland bought followers in order to appear more popular than he is. Kourtland has also been accused of plagiarizing someone else’s work and then selling that material on Udemy.

 

Kourtland also makes some pretty implausible claims, such as turning $4000 into $25 million:

zzkourtland1

 

or being called “the best technical analyst in wall street [sic] history” by Forbes (this is from his Udemy page):

zzkourtland2

(Update 2016-6-16: I blocked the profile images in the two screenshots above (from Twitter and Udemy) — even though I believe they were clearly fair use — because I received a DMCA takedown request from Kourtland Wissler. So if you want to know what he looks like, you’ll have to see Kourtland Wissler’s mugshot.)

 

Kourtland has two other courses on Udemy besides the allegedly plagiarized course. His courses are generally positively reviewed but the tone of the positive reviews and the distribution of scores of the reviews (all the positive reviews are 5 stars and mention no negatives) makes me think that most if not all of the positive reviews are fake. Here are all the reviews of one course:

udemy_reviews1

And here are the most recent reviews and the distribution of reviews on his other trading course (which appears to be identical to the first one):

udemy_reviews2

While the large number of glowing 5-star reviews on his Udemy courses makes me think that they are fake, he also has some testimonials on his website. I have no proof that those testimonials are fake but the images for most of them are taken from random places on the internet — only one of the testimonial photos appears to come from an actual person that is said to have written the testimonial.

The first testimonial is from “Doug Smith” aka smiling black guy with nice teeth:

centerline_testimonials1

Take a look at the reverse image search results on Google below: it appears Doug Smith also goes by the name of Brian Smith and is a satisfied patient of many dentists.google_image_search

In fact, Doug Smith is a stock photo:getty_images

Is there a real Doug Smith who wrote that testimonial? Maybe. But if he is real, why post a stock photo?

The second testimonial is from Rafe Jamison, aka hot guy with dog:

centerline_boy_dog

As with Doug Smith, it turns out that the photo is not of the testimonial writer but rather a photo of a model taken from The Daily Telegraph:centerline_testimonial_boy_dog_real_iamgeAgain, this is not proof that the testimonial is fake but it doesn’t inspire confidence.

The third testimonial, from Perry R, actually appears to have a photo of Perry R, who exists on LinkedIn at least:

centerline_3rd_testimonial_linkedin

 

The fourth testimonial, from Sarah Kemp, appears to be another stock photo:

sarah

cute_girl_smile

The fifth testimonial, from Scotty Arlie, SEO Guru at Bright Street, not only appears to show a photo that appears many other places on the internet but also purports to be written by an SEO (search engine optimization) expert that cannot be found via Google search. So if he is an actual SEO Guru he must be the most incompetent one in the world.

scotty guy_car_searchBelow are the results of my Google searches for “Scotty Arlie” and ‘”Bright Street” SEO’:

brightstreet scotty_arlieFrom these searches, I conclude with high confidence that Scotty Arlie is not an SEO guru. And if the description of his job and company are false then I can conclude with moderately high confidence that he doesn’t exist and that the testimonial is therefore fake.

Disclaimer: I have no relationship with any parties mentioned above. Some of the information in this post was first mentioned online by a now-suspended Twitter user known as @IRSReporter; I will not link to his account because he posts lots of misleading things as well as occasionally interesting information. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.

 

SEC Suspends trading in Joymain International $JIDG

 

Joymain International (JIDG) had its trading suspended by the SEC on June 15th, 2015. The stock had been on an an incredible run and had achieved an insane $6 billion+ market capitalization. JIDG will reopen for trading on the grey market at the market open on June 29th, 2015.

SEC Trading suspension release (PDF)
SEC Trading suspension order (PDF)

 

jidgThe reason given for the suspension:

The Commission temporarily suspended trading in the securities of JIDG because of recent, unusual and unexplained market activity raising concerns regarding the adequacy and accuracy of publicly-available information, including information concerning Joymain’s financial condition and scope of operations.

The Commission acknowledges the assistance of FINRA in this matter.

Antoine Gara wrote about JIDG a week ago for Forbes.

Disclaimer: I have no position in JIDG. I have no relationship with any parties mentioned above. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.