17Sep DOJ Issues Six Criminal Indictments in CMKM Diamonds Case
ORDER YOUR AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF “THE NAKED TRUTH: INVESTING IN THE STOCK PLAY OF A LIFETIME” for only $14.82. That’s 45% off list price!
Seven years after the saga of CMKM Diamonds, Inc (CMKX) officially began, over four years after the company was revoked by the SEC, and a year-and-a-half after the SEC filed civil charges against eleven individuals and three corporate entities, the Department of Justice unsealed criminal indictments against six individuals in the largest penny stock fraud in history.
Former CMKM CEO Urban Casavant and alleged mastermind John Edwards, along with cohort James Kinney, transfer agent Helen Bagley, attorney Brian Dvorak, and Urban’s secretary Ginger Gutierrez were charged with five counts of securities fraud in the massive and complex scam, which involved the selling of over 700 billion shares of CMKX stock to unsuspecting shareholders for an estimated $250 million.
The 40-page indictment, unsealed today in Las Vegas, included allegations of selling unregistered shares of company stock “by use of the mails, over-the-counter mediums of exchange (e.g, the Pink Sheets), and other means” in violation of federal laws. The indictment states that “JOHN M. EDWARDS, URBAN CASAVANT, HELEN BAGLEY, BRIAN DVORAK, GINGER GUTIERREZ, JAMES KINNEY, and others known and unknown, conspired to fraudulently issue and sell unregistered shares of CMKM stock for the purposes of enriching themselves.”
Casavant was also charged with income tax evasion for failing to report a “large part of the income tax due and owing by him to the United States of America for the calendar year 2004.” The charges allege that Casavant “concealed income from the stock and securities of CMKM Diamonds, Inc., by using nominees to conceal and disguise his interest in the shares and the proceeds, and by routing proceeds to accounts of nominees, corporate alter egos, and other entities” within his control.
The charges also included four “forfeiture allegations,” seeking either fines or property seizure on each count. Each forfeiture count states, “It is the intent of the United States of America to seek forfeiture of any properties of the defendants up to $60,000,000 in United States Currency.”
Timothy S. Vasquez, who was instrumental in the arrest and conviction of John Edwards’ wife Diana Lee Edwards (formerly Diana Lee Flaherty) in 2006, was brought on board to head the criminal task force investigating the CMKX scam earlier this year, helping to breathe new life into an investigation that many people (including this reporter) believed had been shelved for good. The multi-agency task force was comprised of representatives from the DOJ, FBI, IRS, and the SEC. The indictment will be available on the CMKM Diamonds website tomorrow at www.cmkmdiamondsinc.com
Defendants Bagley, Kinney, and Gutierrez, who were arrested in Las Vegas yesterday, and Brian Dvorak, who was apprehended in Colorado, were released on bond today. Defendant John Edwards was arrested on September 7 in England. Extradition proceedings are ongoing. Urban Casavant, believed to be in Canada, is still at large.
With over 300,000 pages of evidence scanned during the discovery process, the trials involving all six defendants could take years, but at least the criminal justice process has officially begun. After years of waiting and hoping, sometimes all but giving up hope, today’s criminal indictments will hopefully offer some degree of closure for the over 50,000 victims in the CMKX scandal.
12Feb An Open Letter to Urban Casavant
Shortly before the May 10, 2005 SEC hearing to revoke CMKM Diamonds’ status as a publicly-traded company, then CEO Urban Casavant told his shareholders: “We have been working to assimilate a tremendous amount of documentation and gathering the necessary witnesses to prove our case at the public hearing.” Five days later at the hearing, Urban Casavant refused to answer a single question, invoking his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. In all, Urban uttered the phrase “Fifth Amendment” a total of forty times. To this very day, there are countless CMKX shareholders who are waiting for Urban Casavant to finally step forward and explain his actions as former CEO of CMKM Diamonds. These are my own feelings about the situation, which is why I have chosen to post it here instead of on the CMKM Diamonds, Inc. website.
An open letter to Urban Casavant:
For years, you have refused to speak directly to anyone about your role in the defrauding of 50,000 innocent CMKX shareholders. You even refused to answer questions in a public hearing to revoke the very company that you told investors would make them all millionaires, choosing self-preservation over loyalty to your many believers. Many still believe that you are innocent, but only because it is hard to fathom anyone having such a blatant disregard for human suffering.
The innocent do not spread lies in total disregard for the well-being of others, nor do they hide in darkness while recruiting others to proclaim their innocence. The hard evidence tells the entire story, and no amount of deceit can hide the truth.
If you truly believe that you are innocent, then step forward and explain the $250 million that disappeared from Company accounts, leaving only $558 when you finally fled to Canada for the very last time. Explain how you were justified in squandering hundreds of millions of dollars to support your extravagant lifestyle while your shareholders struggled just to get by. Explain why it was okay to give yourself and four of your family members $15 million dollars worth of UCAD stock…stock paid for with CMKX shareholders’ money. Tell us why it was okay for you to write six million dollars in checks to yourself and your wife (who didn’t even work for the company) on a single day, while those who believed in you were losing everything they owned. And how do you justify spending $3.3 million in cash on a mansion just six days later while some of your shareholders were losing their homes?
Think about it. The average college graduate will earn around $2 million dollars through honest hard work in their entire lifetime. Yet, on September 21, 2004, you wrote a $3 million check to yourself and another $3 million check to your wife, money taken directly from the pockets of your most loyal believers.
We firmly believe that through the efforts of CMKM’s current management and the diligence of CMKX shareholders that justice will ultimately be served. The lies that are being spread to this very day are nothing more than a sick attempt to manipulate those whose trust you violated from the moment this massive fraud was conceived. Your continued attempts to undermine our cause only strengthens our resolve.
While most shareholders have awakened to the truth, there are some who still want to believe in you, even in the face of hard evidence that show that while you were shaking shareholders hands with one hand, you were picking their pockets with the other. Urban Casavant, you can only hide for so long. Soon, the truth will be exposed for all the world to see, and all the propaganda, rumors, and outright lies will not save you.
24Jan A Plea for Justice: A Letter to President Obama
HELP US HOLD THE DOJ, FBI, and IRS ACCOUNTABLE!!! Ask them to arrest the crooks in one of the biggest stock market frauds in history!! Click the banner to sign the CMKM DIAMONDS PLEA FOR JUSTICE PETITION:
(Editor’s note: This is an edited version of a letter that has been sent by email to President Obama, numerous elected officials, and agencies, and will be sent out in hard copy form this coming week. I have personally pushed for reform in our financial system for the past five years, and believe that through the unwavering diligence of our shareholders and other market reform advocates, CMKM can truly become a symbol of justice served instead of justice denied. May it be the first step to a fair and honest system that protects all investors equally and restores trust and integrity to our financial markets.. Please feel free to repost this, send it to your mailing lists, forward it to your elected representatives, the media, or anyone else who cares about justice in America. You can view the original, longer version and selected supporting documents at http://www.cmkmdiamondsinc.com/letter-m_index.html )
Dear President Obama,
CMKM Diamonds and its shareholders respectfully ask that our government act responsibly in seeking justice in one of the largest singular frauds ever perpetrated in our financial markets. Although CMKM Diamonds, Inc. (trading as CMKX) was revoked over three years ago, the company’s current management and its shareholders still await the filing of criminal charges against the numerous individuals who defrauded over 50,000 shareholders of an estimated $250 million.
From late 2003 until the company was revoked in late 2005, criminals in control of CMKM Diamonds, Inc. sold over 703 billion shares of stock to unsuspecting shareholders in the largest penny stock fraud in history. It was the most shares ever sold in a single company. Corporate insiders were aided and abetted in their crimes by high-powered attorneys, accountants, transfer agents, major banking institutions, brokerage houses, and clearing firms. It occurred right under the noses of the SEC and NASD (now FINRA), both agencies ignoring dozens of blatant warning signs, allowing the scam to go on far longer than it should have.
The company’s stock was promoted to mostly blue-collar, Main Street investors on huge billboards with “Got CMKX?” written across them, company sponsored NHRA race cars, and lavish parties thrown with shareholders’ money. Homes were lost, marriages ruined, and lives destroyed. Many CMKX shareholders lost everything, enticed by former CEO Urban Casavant’s false promises to create a “million millionaires” and by stories of gold, diamonds, uranium, and even platinum mines. Casavant even convinced dozens of our soldiers stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq to invest in CMKX, giving them false hope of providing for their families while they were defending our country. One investor (a retired New York firefighter who was at the World Trade Center on 9/11), who lost everything, put over $200,000 of his own money into CMKX in hopes of using the return on his investment to open a retreat for the widows of firefighters who perished on 9/11.
Documents clearly show that a SEC investigation into CMKX was well underway as early as May of 2004, while the fraud was still underway, and before hundreds of billions of shares were sold to investors. While the Saskatchewan Financial Services Commission first halted Canadian trading in the company on October 26, 2004, CMKX continued to trade in the U.S. for another full year. Incredibly, some individuals involved in the scam continued to fraudulently sell stock for years after the company’s stock was revoked.
A letter signed by an SEC staff attorney and faxed to CMKX transfer agent Helen Bagley on May 26, 2004 requested documents from 1st Global Transfer pertaining to purported mastermind John Edwards, CEO Urban Casavant and others involved in the CMKX scam. On March 26, 2008, a copy of the SEC fax to 1st Global and an accompanying letter detailing possible negligence in the SEC’s handling of the CMKX fraud was supplied to SEC Inspector General David Kotz and to the General Accounting Office.
By design, the scheme was complex and widespread. The SEC investigation would eventually encompass 200,000 pages of documents and delve into the involvement of dozens of individuals, trading accounts, banking institutions, and other fraudulent companies. CMKX laundered their money through no less than 35 bank accounts, and Edwards, alone, had 36 trading accounts and dozens of fraudulent companies set up to hide the money trail.
To the SEC’s credit, they eventually filed civil complaints against John Edwards, Urban Casavant, corporate attorney Brian Dvorak, eight other individuals, as well as three corporate entities in April of 2008, a full two years after CMKX was revoked. Many of those involved, however, including CFO David DeSormeau, ex-SEC attorney D. Roger Glenn (who wrote opinion letters allowing over 300 billion shares of stock to be dumped into the market), and co-conspirators John Edward Dohnau, Michael Williams, and Rendal Williams, plus a cast of numerous other associates, have not been charged at all for their part in this massive fraud.
Independent of and parallel to the SEC’s investigation, a Task Force consisting of the Las Vegas Divisions of the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the IRS’s Criminal Investigation Division, with the co-operation of the SEC, conducted its own major investigation into this massive fraud. An FBI spokesperson said that they were weeks away from issuing indictments in September of 2006, but to date, the combined efforts of the DOJ, FBI, and IRS have yet to produce a single criminal charge filed against any individual or entity involved in robbing 50,000 CMKX shareholders. Many of the criminals have already fled the country, while others are involved in new scams with the intent of robbing other investors.
In the case of CMKX, while management and their cohorts were already flooding the market with hundreds of billions of unregistered and illegal shares, there is strong evidence to suggests that brokers not only aided and abetted the criminals in their schemes, but eventually began to directly defraud shareholders themselves by selling even more shares than were actually issued. Until brokers are forced to open their trading records, it is impossible to say how many billions, or even hundreds of billions of shares were sold and never delivered to shareholders’ accounts.
A single brokerage firm, NevWest Securities, utilizing clearing firm Computer Clearing Services (now owned by Penson Worldwide, Inc.) helped John Edwards trade over 250 billion shares of CMKX stock totaling over $53 million. Almost two years after the fact, the NASD (now FINRA) charged NevWest with “failing to file Suspicious Activity Reports (‘SAR’), or cease trading in multiple accounts owned and controlled” by Edwards. In what has become the norm in securities fraud cases, NevWest received little more than a slap on the wrist for their part in the scam, eventually paying a token fine of just $100,000 “without admitting or denying the allegations of the Complaint”.
More troubling still are the phone records from NevWest, which show that they contacted the SEC each time Edwards came in with CMKX certs to sell, many of which were clearly forged and fraudulent, some even “signed” by an individual who had been deceased for months. Instead of taking action to halt the obvious fraud against innocent shareholders, the SEC and NASD (FINRA) ignored the evidence and dozens of other red flags, allowing the scheme to continue unabated, costing unsuspecting buyers of CMKX stock hundreds of millions of dollars.
Clearing firms and brokers weren’t the only ones who ignored red flags that should have triggered the filing of Suspicious Activity Reports. Several Nevada banks, most prominently Silver State Bank and Wells Fargo Bank, allowed CMKM Diamonds and related fraudulent companies to run hundreds of millions of dollars through dozens of accounts. Among the transactions executed by Silver State Bank:
• Wire transfers totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars were executed with only the notation “transferring to Personal Acct. per cust. transfer via phone”.
• Checks from various accounts set up as shell companies and controlled by Casavant and Edwards written out only to “CASH”…including one for $350,000.
• Multi-million dollar wire transfers between Edwards and Casavant run through dozens of accounts they controlled there.
• Millions of dollars written out of company accounts to Casavant and his wife Carolyn, and several family members, often on temporary checks.
It is not, however, too late for our government agencies to find redemption in this tragic miscarriage of justice. In the case of CMKM Diamonds, the four agencies that expended considerable time, effort, manpower, and money to investigate this massive fraud can show the country that they are serious about cleaning up the stock market by immediately issuing indictments against those who defrauded tens of thousands of innocent investors in the largest penny stock fraud in our nation’s history.
Furthermore, the SEC and FINRA need to follow up on their earlier charges by taking clear and decisive action against not just the criminals themselves, but against anyone else who helped to perpetrate this massive fraud, whether they be at the corporate level, attorneys, accountants, transfer agents, brokers, market makers, or clearing firms.
New management in CMKM Diamonds, Inc. has filed numerous lawsuits in their efforts to recoup money stolen from the company and its shareholders, but it should not be up to a handful of dedicated individuals to right this monumental wrong alone. The Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) is available to help those who lose their money when brokerage firms fail. What safeguards are in place to help those who have been victimized by fraud that could and should have been prevented had our federal regulators not been asleep at the wheel?
I respectfully request, in fact I’m pleading with anyone who has compassion for their fellow citizens, to join us in our fight for justice in this case. You, Mr. President, are in that position of power. Please make the call now. Instruct the DOJ/FBI/IRS Task Force to act immediately so that these criminals do not escape justice, and so that others will be protected from further fraud by this group of hardened criminals. The current management of CMKM Diamonds, Inc., and, I’m certain, many of the company’s dedicated shareholders, are more than willing to assist you in any way possible.
Sincerely,
Mark Faulk, CEO
CMKM Diamonds, Inc.
If you need any further assistance, please contact Mark Faulk at 4justice@cmkmdiamondsinc.com
Supporting documents may be viewed at: www.cmkmdiamondsinc.com/supp_docs_index.html
Supporting Documents:
Jefferies letter to NASD
SEC fax to 1st Global Transfer
Silver State Bank CMKX check to Urban Casavant for $3,000,000
Silver State Bank CMKX check to Carolyn Casavant for $3,000,000
Silver State Bank CMKX petty cash check for $350,000
Wells Fargo Bank checks from St. George Metals (John Edwards) to CMKM Diamonds
Response from NevWest Securities detailing regular contacts with SEC and NASD
Letter Recipients:
President Barack Obama
Vice President Joe Biden
Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) Senate Majority Leader
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Speaker of the House
Senator Mitch Mitchell (R-KY) Senate Republican Leader
Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) House Republican Leader
Heads of various investigations:
Charyn Aldred, IRS
Brian Pugh, DOJ
Andrew Petillon, SEC
Ryan Randall, FBI
David Kotz, Inspector General, SEC
U.S. Senate Banking Committee:
Christopher J. Dodd, Chairman (D-CT)
Richard C. Shelby, Ranking Member (R-AL)
Tim Johnson (D-SD)
Jack Reed (D-RI)
Charles E. Schumer (D-NY)
Evan Bayh (D-IN)
Tom Carper (D-DE)
Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI)
Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Robert P. Casey (D-PA)
Jon Tester (D-MT)
Robert F. Bennett (R-UT)
Wayne Allard (R-CO)
Michael B. Enzi (R-WY)
Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
Jim Bunning (R-KY)
Mike Crapo (R-ID)
Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)
Mel Martinez (R-FL)
Bob Corker (R-TN)
U.S. Senate Finance Committee:
Max Baucus, Chairman (D-MT)
Charles Grassley, Ranking Committee (R-IA)
John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV)
Kent Conrad (D-ND)
Jeff Bingaham (D-NM)
John F. Kerry (D-MA)
Blanche L. Lincoln (D-AR)
Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Charles E. Schumer (D-NY)
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Ken Salazar (D-CO)
Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT)
Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME)
Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
Gordon Smith (R-OR)
Jim Bunning (R-KY)
Mike Crapo (R-ID)
Pat Roberts (R-KS)
John Ensign (R-NV)
John E. Sununu (R-NH)
Other Senators and Congressmen:
Rep. Joe Wilson, (R-SC)
Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL)
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME)
Senator James M. Talent (R-MO)
(This letter can also be viewed along with selected supporting documents at: http://www.cmkmdiamondsinc.com/letter_index.html )
30Dec Our Country’s Future is at Stake
(Editor’s note: This is a letter that was sent to President Elect Obama and Vice-President Elect Joe Biden. This particular letter was written by Steve Walker, one of millions who have been trying to warn those in charge about the dangers of naked short selling and fails to deliver, only to have their cries fall on deaf ears. We now turn to our new leaders with a renewed hope. Obama and Biden should have thousands of letters just like it. Send your story or comments to: http://change.gov/page/s/yourstory )
Dear Mr. Obama and Mr Biden,
Congratulations on you well deserved victory. Our country is in desperate need of people like you. I pray for your success.
In January 2003 I bought stock in Casavant Mining Kimberlite International, Inc. That same month, the company, in a press release, claimed to be a victim of naked short selling. I had never heard the term. Five years later, I am probably more knowledgeable on the subject than an average Senator. This practice has infiltrated our financial markets so deeply, they may never recover. It requires your immediate attention.
In 2003, there was little information available to the general public. Thanks to the internet, a small group of investors were able to share their due diligence. The more we found, the more we understood the dangers. Our numbers grew. We started chat rooms, message boards. Our numbers grew and grew. In October 2004, there was a radio call in show dedicated to the subject. One of the callers was named Patrick. He said he owned a company that was a victim of the practice. Very intelligent, very lucid gentleman. Shortly after, we learned this was Dr. Patrick Byrne from Overstock.com. He became our unofficial leader. The media, especially CNBC, tried to make him look like a lunatic. He went on CNBC, more than once and warned of systemic risk. He provided proof, ON THE AIR, of the naked short in Overstock. What did the CNBC anchors do? They laughed at him. Mocked him. Asked if he wouldn’t be better off running his company, rather than his mouth. One publication showed him with a flying saucer over his head. He persevered. He does to this day. So do I and many others. Why? Sometimes I wonder why, but I always come back to the same thing. Our country’s future is a stake.
In 2004, we alerted every major news organization, the SEC, and many in Congress. In 2005, there were demonstrations in Washington and New York. We wrote comment letters on RegSho on the SEC website. We did so again and again, as they said they needed more time and more comments. Why did they need more comments, when every time they asked for comments, 99% demanded they put a stop to it?
Now fast forward three years and Dr Byrne was right and we were right. When the full story of the mortgage meltdown comes out, I believe we will find naked short selling weaved into the fabric of the entire mess.
What needs to be done now? First a permanent ban on naked short selling. Period. No market maker exceptions, no exceptions period. You want to short a stock? Fine, locate it. And once you borrow the shares, no one else can borrow the same shares.
Second, a complete overhaul of the SEC. Top to bottom. First they tried to ignore us, then they tried to stall us. And now they are exposed for all the world to see. Even Chairman Cox wants an investigation. Bernie Madoff is the tip of the iceberg.
Third and MOST important, force the Depository Trust and Clearing Company to open their books. The same DTCC in charge of clearing derivatives and mortgage backed securities, is also in charge of clearing and settling trades. The whole story is there, behind closed doors, under lock and key. Now, I challenge anyone to find the real ownership of the DTCC. Do the names Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, Chase and Citi ring a bell? The same greedy bozos who created the mortgage crisis, clear and settle their own trades. In secret. They refuse to open their books. Why? A two year old can tell you why. The answers are there, if anyone has the huevos to take these people on.
So Mr Obama and Mr. Biden, if you really want change, follow the gold plated road to the DTCC, open there books, straighten this mess out. And whatever you do, DON’T LET THESE GREEDY BASTARDS SELF REGULATE EVER AGAIN.
That’s my story and only you can make it a happy ending.
Good luck and Godspeed.
26Nov The Goldman Gang
It’s the stuff that Hollywood movies are made of; a greedy heartless mega-conglomerate that controls our lives in some significant way, either our pharmaceutical industry, our military-industrial complex, or maybe even our government. It is always a shadowy and nefarious entity, one that that can only be exposed through seemingly chance meetings in seedy neighborhood bars, where unidentified people talk in hushed whispers.
And so it is with this story. I’m not even sure why I’m writing about this. I don’t have answers yet, only questions and the vague ramblings of paranoid industry insiders, who invariably introduce themselves and then admonish me to forget their names, to throw away their business cards.
I’ve been in New York City now for the past four weeks, a world so far removed from Oklahoma that as I lie awake writing these words late at night, I’m not even certain that what I’m about to say is relevant in Middle America. With the disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street, the stock market and futures market seems about as meaningful to Oklahomans as igloos and Eskimos.
But yet here we are, facing what will eventually be remembered as the worst economic meltdown in the history of our country. And the rubble on Wall Street is directly affecting even the most unaware worker in the smallest town in the Midwest.
As I’ve spoken to those on the street (and by “street” I mean Wall Street), I’ve come to realize that there is one clear villain in this economic global crisis, a villain that even those in the industry are hesitant to talk about. Goldman Sachs. It was a name that came up time and again in conversations, but unfortunately, those conversations were always “off the record” and without attribution.
First, a trader who literally wandered by on the street spoke of “The Goldman Gang”, but was hesitant to share details, admonishing me that he still had to deal with people on Wall Street. Then, in a random late evening stop at a dingy neighborhood bar in Soho, another trader slid onto the bar stool next to mine. We talked for a few minutes, and I’m not even sure how it happened, but the subject quickly turned to Wall Street and the recent events of our economy. Somehow we began to discuss naked short selling and the manipulation of the stock market, and he quickly tied that in to his area of expertise, trading the futures markets.
And then he asked me a simple question: Did I know who had ruined the oil futures market, who had singlehandedly manipulated the market and driven up prices to almost double their value of just months earlier? Because I knew that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were the two biggest speculators in the oil futures market, I ventured their names as a guess. He narrowed it down to a single company: Goldman Sachs.
I knew they had infiltrated the federal government, from Treasury Secretary and former Goldman CEO Henry Paulsen to Goldman board of directors member Gordon M. Liddy (named by Paulsen to take over AIG after their $85 billion bailout), and from former Goldman executive Joshua Bolton (now Bush’s chief of staff) to former Goldman chairman Stephen Friedman, now chairman of the New York Fed. Paulsen also brought in former low level Goldman banker Neel Kashkari to oversee the distribution of the $700 billion bailout. Other Paulsen treasury insiders include former Goldman Sachs executives Dan Jester, Steve Shafran, Kendrick R. Wilson III, Edward C. Forst, and Robert Steele.
And if that isn’t enough, former Clinton Treasury secretary Roboert Rubin was an ex-chairman at Goldman as well, and he in turn promoted former Goldman executive TImothy Geithner to the Treasury as well, and Geithner eventually became head of the New York Fed.
Is the Goldman Gang looking out only for the interests of Wall Street? Probably, even if only because they have a myopic viewpoint of what needs to happen to fix what they themselves broke. They undoubtedly believe that what’s best for Wall Street is best for America, so even if their motivation is sincere, their actions are slanted strongly in favor of Wall Street.
But there is without a doubt more to it that just a government top heavy with ex-Goldman cronies. It is a fact that they are (along with Morgan Stanley) the largest oil futures trader in the world, and it is absolutely true that they are the largest hedge fund operator in the world. Their influence in the market and on our economic policies is undeniable, and even their competitors are hesitant to rock the boat when it comes to exposing the amount of manipulation that originates with Goldman Sachs.
As the next few weeks pass by, I hope that responsible journalists will continue to ask questions about Goldman’s activities, and shed some light on pain that is being felt all the way from Wall Street to Main Street. We can never have reform in our markets without accountability, and pulling back the curtain on the Goldman Sachs Gang is as good a place as any to begin the process.
And that, as always, is the Faulking Truth.
(Mark Faulk’s first book is entitled The Naked Truth: Investing in the Stock Play of a Lifetime, and is now available at www.thenakedtruthbook.com. Tune in with Mark and Paul Faulk every Saturday from 1-2 PM CST on The Faulking Truth X2 Show at www.toginet.com
19Oct A Special Faulking Truth Show!
Please join DeWayne Reeves and Mark Faulk on October 20th from 12-1pm CST at toginet.com as they talk about the recent stock market events, including the 700 billion dollar ripoff package, and about how awesome Mark’s secretary is (keep your fingers crossed for that last one…). Call 1-877-864-4869 to join in and tell us how much money you’ve lost in the past few weeks, and give us your opinion on the bailout….I.m sorry, the “rescue package”.
27Aug The Naked Truth About The Naked Truth
After almost five years of covering financial fraud on The Faulking Truth, and over two years of writing The Naked Truth: Investing in the Stock Play of a LIfetime, I have honed the thirty-second sound bite to a fine art. At first, I reveled in boring everyone (and I mean everyone, including random people who I accosted on street corners and in homeless shelters), but after the hundredth retelling of the intricacies of the seedy underbelly of financial fraud, I began to bore even myself. Since then, I’ve gradually refined my litany to the point where I can condense the book into a single catchphrase-laden paragraph for drunken partygoers sucking back jello shots:
“Wellllll…..basically, it’s about a tiny diamond mining company from Canada whose CEO promised to create a ‘million millionaires’, but instead teamed up with a bunch of crooks from Las Vegas and sold over 70o billion (emphasis on ‘billion’) shares of stock to 50,000 shareholders, raking in over $250 million. Eventually, a small group of shareholders end up taking on the crooks and the entire financial system in an effort to find justice and retribution.”
Then, for the really thinking-impaired, I follow up with “It’s sort of an Ocean’s Eleven meets Erin Brockovich and John Grisham kind of thing.”
And sometimes, I end with “And in the (yet to be signed, sealed, or delivered) movie, Bruce Willis leaps out of a second story window with flames licking at his middle-aged but still muscular naked ass and lands right on top of Julia Roberts…and they make out as the credits roll.”
And then we all laugh…okay, I guess you have to be there. Trust me, it’s funny as hell.
On the book website (blatant promo HERE: www.thenakedtruthbook.com), I describe it a little more eloquently, but then, I’m assuming people reading the internet are both educated and sober. (Yeah, I know, but it’s a nice thought):
“CEO Urban Casavant initially told investors he would create ‘a million millionaires,’ but, instead, shareholders were led down an uncertain path where they couldn’t separate guilty from innocent or fact from fiction, a path fueled by rumors, innuendos, and outright lies. This tale of promises and blind faith fueled by hopes of riches paints the metaphor of the proverbial American Dream. Readers will live the range of emotions, from elation to disappointment, and everything in between, that 50,000+ shareholders experienced on a roller coaster ride they called ‘The Stock Play of a Lifetime’. Encompassing more than the company’s trials and tribulations, the book follows the shareholders’ fight against inept bureaucracy at the highest levels of America’s financial governance….and then Bruce Willis leaps out of a second story window with flames licking at his middle-aged but still muscular naked ass and lands right on top of Julia Roberts…and they make out as the credits roll.”
So yeah, that’s about it. Two years of intense research and sleep deprivation, hundreds of interviews, a couple of death threats, and a not-so-healthy dose of blood, sweat, and yes, even a few tears, condensed into 350 pages of scintillating page-turning drama.
Yeah, that’s right, I said “scintillating”. What of it?
Surprisingly, the book isn’t even in stores yet, but it’s been featured in an upcoming documentary on financial fraud (coming soon to a theater near you….unless you live in Oklahoma) and has already attracted serious interest in the movie rights. True, “serious interest” doesn’t come with a check attached, but it’s yet another bit of information that makes me a hit at parties, dinners, and even the occasional funeral.
So anyway, buy the damn book (reprise blatant promo: www.thenakedtruthbook.com) so I can pay some past-due bills, or better yet, come to the NONfactory at 3122 N. May in Oklahoma City from 6:00 to 8:30 PM on Saturday, Sept. 6th, and buy it at a discount, and I’ll even sign it for you. And there’s art…and maybe even music, and naked dancers. And if you wait until I’ve had a glass or two of wine, I might even write something clever in your book.
Eh, probably not (and I lied about the naked dancers too).
But you should come anyway. Bring your own jello shots, and I’ll regale you with witty witticisms, complete with animated hand gestures and graphic gory details…wearing all my clothes.
And that’s the Faulking (Naked) Truth.
Contact Mark Faulk at faulkingtruth@gmail.com
21Aug Conversations with Robert A. Maheu
Mark Faulk’s first book, entitled The Naked Truth: Investing in the Stock Play of a Lifetime, is now available at www.thenakedtruthbook.com.
Conversations with Robert A. Maheu
March 8, 2007; March 11, 2007; June 12, 2007; January 18, 2008
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Because of the significance that shareholders attached to Bob Maheu’s involvement in the CMKX saga, I decided, with Bob’s permission, to release the entire portion of my interviews with him pertaining to CMKX. That way, the shareholders of the company and the readers of The Naked Truth: Investing in the Stock Play of a Lifetime can decide for themselves the extent of Maheu’s involvement with the company, or any so-called “sting operation.”
On a personal note, I have to say that my conversations with Bob Maheu were a highlight of this project. As I told him during my conversations with him, I have the utmost respect for Bob Maheu, both as a person of integrity, and for his countless accomplishments over a long and productive life.
After first insisting that I call him “Bob” instead of Mr. Maheu, he led me down a fascinating path through some of his many achievements, including his involvement in the attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro, his years as the alter-ego of Howard Hughes, and his role in aborting a contract between Aristotle Onassis and the King of Saudi Arabia that would have given much of the control of the world’s oil to Onassis. At the time of our conversations, Maheu was involved in extensive interviews covering his entire life, which will eventually be turned into a documentary on the Bay of Pigs and a movie script based on Maheu’s life.
This entire written transcript has been viewed and approved for accuracy by Bob Maheu. (more…)
21Aug Business Beat Live interview with Mark Faulk
01Aug Silver State Bank: Like Rats From a Sinking Ship
Silver State Bank: Like Rats From a Sinking Ship
By Mark Faulk
August 1, 2008
http://www.faulkingtruth.com/Articles/CommentaryToo/1086.html
(Editor’s note: Mark Faulk’s first book, entitled The Naked Truth: Investing in the Stock Play of a Lifetime, detailing the sordid story of CMKM Diamonds (CMKX)is now available at www.thenakedtruthbook.com Seriously, just go buy the damn book. You won’t regret it. Join Mark and Paul Faulk from 1-2 PM CST on The Faulking Truth X2 Show at www.TogiNet.com Mark Faulk will be on Gnosis with host Chuck Aubrey this Saturday from 3-4 PM PST on AM 1330, KJLL in Tucson, AZ, which streams live on the web at www.tucsonsjolt.com )
The fallout from the Silver State Bank fiasco continued on Friday as the company announced a wider-than-expected quarterly loss and CEO Corey Johnson resigned. Johnson’s resignation follows the resignation of Board of Directors’ member Andrew McCain, who was on the bank’s Auditing Committee. McCain is the son of presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain. McCain and Johnson’s departures came on the heels of resignation of one of the bank’s executive vice-presidents, who left just two months ago. (more…)
