White Collar Fraud

Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne Sleeps With a Gun

2013-01-29T10:12:00.000-05:00

In numerous blog posts in the past, and in widespread media coverage, evidence has accumulated for years that Overstock.com CEO (NASDAQ: OSTK) Patrick Byrne has shown signs of being mentally unbalanced and paranoid.

Byrne has blamed his company's financial woes on an unnamed "Sith Lord." He hired paid goons to stalk his real and imagined adversaries and to write lengthy conspiracy theories on the Internet. Byrne has close ties with Bo Gritz. The Anti-Defamation League lists Bo Gritz as a far-right extremist with “extensive connections to both white supremacists and anti-government groups and leaders.”

Patrick Byrne

Patrick Byrne's infamous temper tantrums when he doesn’t get want he wants are well documented too. He made obscene and misogynistic comments to a female reporter. He suggested that she gave “blowjobs” to Goldman Sachs traders. He suggested that a male reporter “Sucks It Likes He’s Paying the Rent.” An independent research analyst was told that “You deserve to be whipped, f--cked and driven from the land.” He almost had a fistfight with a lobbyist after Utah legislators repealed his pet bill.

But the severity of Patrick Byrne's issues has only just become evident. He appears to have crossed the red line that separates paranoia from being a figure of speech to a description of actual mental illness.

According to a stunning revelation, buried in a police report that was filed in conjunction with Byrne's recent arrest for trying to carry a concealed weapon on an airplane, Byrne sleeps every night with a semiautomatic Glock 23 .40-caliber pistol by the side of his bed, loaded and ready to kill with lethal hollow-point bullets. [Read copy of police report.]

I am not making this up. Below are the details, which are a matter of public record:

Byrne provides conflicting details to police

Last week, this blog reported that Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne was arrested after Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers found a loaded semi-automatic pistol concealed in his carry-on bag at an airport security checkpoint. The gun was loaded with twelve rounds of ammo. Byrne was handcuffed, according to the newly released police report, and spent several hours in Salt Lake County jail before being released on bail. The incident was so serious that the FBI was notified, though it declined to take action, according to the police report.

At first, the police said that that Byrne told them “he did not know of a gun in his luggage and had no idea where it would be.” The Salt Lake Police Department report provided details of Byrne’s arrest:

DETAILS:
I responded to Terminal Two screening, lane two on a report of a firearm located in a passengers carry on luggage. TSA officer, Randy Glenn, discovered what appeared to be a firearm in carry on luggage in the lane two baggage x-ray machine. I went over and viewed the X-Ray screen and could make out the clear shape of a firearm with bullets in the magazine. I obtained the bag from the baggage belt and took it over to the passenger, BYRNE, Patrick, and asked him if he knew of a firearm he would be carrying. He stated he did not know of a gun in his luggage and had no idea where it would be. I opened the outer pocket on the luggage and noticed the firearm sitting on top of an Apple Ipad inside. I retrieved the weapon from the bag and cleared it of any possible rounds in the chamber. The chamber was empty and the magazine contained twelve rounds of .40 caliber hollow point bullets. Mr. BYRNE was arrested and transported to the station for further investigation. [Emphasis added.]

Afterwards, when interviewed on tape by police, Byrne admitted to packing his own bag, but said that he “may have slipped” the gun into a carry-on bag that was not used for over a year. Byrne's explanation left open the excuse that someone might have planted the gun in a bag he had not used for over a year:

"Yes, I packed my own bag."
When asked if he put the gun in his bag, "I may have slipped it in there."
"I keep the gun next to my bed every night"
"I haven't used that bag in over a year." [Emphasis added.]

Obviously Byrne did not think the Salt Lake police would buy that story. Finally, Byrne claimed in a signed voluntary Miranda Statement claiming only that:

It was an accident. It did not know it was in the outer pocket of my bag.

This time, he omitted reference to a bag which he previously claimed was not used in over a year.

Byrne’s slippery behavior in police custody is less troubling than his admission, freely given to the police, that he sleeps with a loaded gun by his side.

Byrne’s previous indications of paranoia

In the past, it had been commonplace to refer to Patrick Byrne as being “paranoid,” in the colloquial sense of being unduly suspicious. But a person who keeps a loaded Glock by the side of his bed at night is either: (A) In real danger, or (B) Paranoid in the clinical sense. Byrne obviously meets the second criteria.

For example, on August 11, 2005, Patrick Byrne went into a long rambling rant about a vast criminal conspiracy involving an unidentified mastermind named as the “Sith Lord” who was out to destroy his company. It was widely mocked as a paranoid fantasy. [See transcript.]

Joe Nocera reported in the New York Times that:

...it was an hourlong monologue during which Mr. Byrne laid out a vast, overarching conspiracy, made up of dozens of Wall Street players -- including the New York attorney general, Eliot Spitzer! -- all under the thumb of a mysterious puppet master, whom Mr. Byrne labeled the Sith Lord. He titled the conspiracy ''The Miscreants' Ball,'' an obvious reference to Michael Milken's old Predators' Ball.

Furthermore, Nocera reported that:

In addition to his conspiracy-mongering, Mr. Byrne talked about Stinger missiles, Wayne and Garth, a mysterious Spanish phone message, stuttering and cocaine. (''I'm not a coke head,'' he said, unprompted.) [Emphasis added.]

Bethany McLean reported in Fortune Magazine that:

Byrne's behavior has been so over the top that it would be tempting to dismiss it as a paranoid fantasy. Can you imagine the CEO of another company making a conference call like Byrne's without being sent packing by his directors? [Emphasis added.]

In December 2005, Byrne had told Bloomberg that “You'll probably read a headline that I was stopped with drugs or a dead body.”

In April 2008, Patrick Byrne appeared on Fox Business Channel and accused CNBC of taking orders from hedge funds through via a secret fax machine:

I think that there’s been an unhealthy collusion developed between certain short sellers and certain journalists. They center around your competitor, CNBC. I happen to know for a fact that there’s a fax machine in the CNBC offices where every morning hedge machines, I mean hedge funds send instructions and journalists sit around and take instructions. [Emphasis added.]

Fox Business Channel reporter Liz Claman responded:

Well I worked in CNBC and I never saw that fax machine. [Emphasis added.]

In his Market Watch column, Herb Greenberg wondered whether:

...it’s time to start feeling sorry for Patrick Byrne, the Overstock CEO whose comments at times, such as today, appear to be detached from any sense of reality. [Emphasis added.]

Minyanville reporter Justin Rohrlich suggested that Byrne had "gone wild" and lost his mind.

“Accident” excuse doesn’t add up

In addition to the questions that Byrne’s conduct raises concerning his mental state, the statement that he gave to Salt Lake Airport policy simply does not make sense. It’s difficult to believe that Patrick Byrne didn’t know there was a loaded gun in his carry-on bag, for the following reasons:

1. The gun is very special to Byrne. Until it was confiscated by airport police, he slept with it every night.

2. The photograph released by the airport police, which has not been previously published, shows that the gun was in the front pocket of his carry-on bag, on top of his iPad. (See below):

Patrick Byrne's carry-on bag

3. According to the Glock website, the gun is 7.28 inches in length, 4.99 inches in height, and 1.18 inches in width. It weighs 31.06 ounces (almost 2 pounds) fully loaded.

4. Byrne has claimed in the past that he has a photographic memory.

According to Fortune Magazine:

He has a nearly photographic memory, which he is fond of demonstrating with what he calls his memory trick: If he studies a deck of cards for a couple of minutes, he can recite them back, one by one, in either direction. He can even recite the same list again six months later. [Emphasis added.]

Patrick Byrne had appeared on Utah Now and showed off his photographic memory. He asked interviewer Doug Fabrizio, "What is your birthday?" Fabrizio replied, "July 18." Within seconds, Byrne correctly told Fabrizio the exact day of the week he was born on: Saturday. Byrne further bragged, "When I was seven, I could memorize cards." [See transcript.]

Overstock is late to disclose this serious incident involving its CEO

Initially, Overstock.com was hoping no one would find out about Byrne’s arrest on January 16. News of Byrne's arrest was only disclosed on Friday in a TSA announcement a day later. When interviewed by the Salt Lake Tribune, Overstock.com President Jonathan Johnson claimed that it was all a mistake because Patrick Byrne took the wrong bag to the airport:

"He has told me he regrets and apologizes for the incident," Johnson said. Byrne is a longtime concealed carry permit holder and is very careful and skilled with guns, but he was in a rush to get to the airport Wednesday night and mistakenly believed the weapon was safely in his home, not in a bag he hadn’t used in a while, Johnson said. [Emphasis added.]

However, Johnson’s story falls apart when reading the arrest report. Byrne, who claims to have a photographic memory, packed a gun that he slept with the night before in the front pocket of his carry-on bag on top of his iPad. How could he forget where his gun was?

Patrick Byrne was carrying $3,178 in cash

According to the police report, Patrick Byrne was carrying $3,178 in cash. What was he planning to do with all that cash? Maybe self-medicate?

Should Patrick Byrne be carrying a gun?

Given Byrne’s past bizarre behavior and paranoid fantasies, why is Patrick Byrne permitted to carry a gun? Byrne’s temper tantrums and paranoia has been well documented in the press. His paranoia is no longer a figure of speech. He is literally sick. People sleep with guns by the side of their bed when they have genuine fears of someone coming to kill them.

There are two possibilities: Either Byrne’s life is in danger or he is mentally ill. I’m putting my money on No. 2.

Written by,

Sam E. Antar

Recommended reading: Overstock Accounting Fraud

Disclosure

I am a convicted felon and a former CPA. As the criminal CFO of Crazy Eddie, I helped my cousin Eddie Antar and other members of his family mastermind one of the largest securities frauds uncovered during the 1980's. I committed my crimes in cold-blood for fun and profit, and simply because I could. If it weren't for the heroic efforts of the FBI, SEC, Postal Inspector's Office, US Attorney's Office, and class action plaintiff's lawyers who investigated, prosecuted, and sued me, I would still be the criminal CFO of Crazy Eddie today.

There is a saying, "It takes one to know one." Today, I work very closely with the FBI, IRS, SEC, Justice Department, and other federal and state law enforcement agencies in training them to identify and catch white-collar criminals. Often, I refer cases to them as an independent whistleblower. I teach white-collar crime classes for various government entities, professional organizations, businesses, and colleges and universities. More recently, I've helped the AICPA Fraud Task Force develop better methods for detecting fraud. I do not want or seek forgiveness for my vicious crimes from my victims. My past sins are unforgivable.

I do not own any Overstock.com securities long or short.

Patrick Byrne: Armed, Dangerous, and Delusional

2013-01-22T10:10:00.000-05:00

Last Wednesday, Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) CEO Patrick Byrne was arrested after Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers found a loaded pistol concealed in his carry-on bag at an airport security checkpoint. He spent several hours in Salt Lake County jail before being released on bail. The company made no disclosure to investors, and news of Byrne's arrest was only disclosed on Friday in a TSA announcement.

Patrick Byrne Mug Shot

This was only the most recent of a series of bizarre incidents involving Patrick Byrne dating back to 2004, when Byrne blamed an unnamed "Sith Lord" for his company's problems, and when he made obscene and misogynistic comments to a female reporter. Rather than dismissing this as just another instance of Byrne behaving irresponsibly, the press, securities analysts, investors and other interested observers of the company should focus on the implications of this incident.

Did Overstock President Jonathan Johnson tell the truth in press statements issued shortly after the incident, and in light of Byrne's present and past behavior, is it appropriate for him to be allowed to carry a concealed firearm under Utah law? In the wake of the Newtown school massacre last month, more attention has focused on access to guns by mentally unbalanced people.

Excuses don’t add up

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Overstock.com President Jonathan Johnson claimed that it was all a mistake:

"He has told me he regrets and apologizes for the incident," Johnson said. Byrne is a longtime concealed carry permit holder and is very careful and skilled with guns, but he was in a rush to get to the airport Wednesday night and mistakenly believed the weapon was safely in his home, not in a bag he hadn’t used in a while, Johnson said. [Emphasis added.]

Johnson’s excuse does not seem to add up. Back in February 2000, Byrne, who has a Ph. D. from Stanford University, had boasted to Fortune Magazine that he has a photographic memory:

He has a nearly photographic memory, which he is fond of demonstrating with what he calls his memory trick: If he studies a deck of cards for a couple of minutes, he can recite them back, one by one, in either direction. He can even recite the same list again six months later. [Emphasis added.]

On December 12, 2007, Patrick Byrne appeared on Utah Now and showed off his photographic memory. He asked interviewer Doug Fabrizio, "What is your birthday?" Fabrizio replied, "July 18." Within seconds, Byrne correctly told Fabrizio the exact day of the week he was born on: Saturday. Byrne further bragged, "When I was seven, I could memorize cards." [See transcript.]

The gun, a Glock 23 .40-caliber pistol, was loaded with a dozen .40-caliber rounds in the magazine. It was found in the “front pocket” of his carry-on bag. The gun is 7.28 inches in length, 4.99 inches in height, and 1.18 inches in width. It weighs 31.06 ounces (almost 2 pounds) fully loaded. It’s difficult to believe that Patrick Byrne didn’t know there was a loaded gun in the front pocket of his carry-on bag.

TSA Photo: Patrick Byrne's Gun and Ammmo seized at airport

Patrick Byrne’s ties with the right-wing extremists

Patrick Byrne is a decade's long friend of Bo Gritz. The Anti-Defamation League lists Bo Gritz as a far-right extremist with “extensive connections to both white supremacists and anti-government groups and leaders.” In 1988, former Ku Klux Klansman David Duke was the presidential candidate for the Populist Party. Bo Gritz agreed to join the ticket as the Populist Party’s vice presidential candidate, but later dropped out to run for congress.

In April 2012, Patrick Byrne appeared as a guest of Earnest Hancock’s on his Freedom’s Phoenix radio show. Three years earlier, in August 2009, TPM reported that:

Ernest Hancock, the online radio host who staged an interview with an assault rifle-wielding associate at the Obama event in Arizona yesterday — and was himself armed with a 9 millimeter pistol — was a vocal supporter and friend of right-wing anti-government militia members who were convicted of conspiracy and weapons charges in the 90s. [Emphasis added.]

Patrick Byrne's violent tantrums

Before joining Overstock.com, Patrick Byrne's well connected father helped him get as job as the CEO of Fechheimer Brothers. Fortune Magazine reported that "He once challenged union leaders to a fistfight to resolve a labor dispute." The Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE) sought to organize workers at a San Antonio plant. According to UNITE, "Until they began to organize, the company often did not provide toilet paper to its mostly Latina workers."

Patrick Byrne claims “photographic memory”

As I detailed above, in February 2000, Patrick Byrne bragged to Fortune Magazine that he has a “photographic memory.” In December 2007, he showed off his memory skills on Utah Now. On December 11, 2001, Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne appeared on Fox News claimed, “We're profitable.” On March 1, 2002, Business 2.0 Magazine reporter Owen Thomas asked, "Are you profitable? Patrick Byrne responded, "Yes, that's real GAAP profit, not Amazon-bullshit-accounting profit." On March 5, 2002, Overstock.com filed an S-1 report with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with its planned initial public offering. It contradicted Byrne’s claim that his company was anywhere near “profitable.” The company lost money in each and every quarter since its inception.

Did Patrick Byrne lie to Fortune Magazine when he claimed to have a photographic memory? Did Patrick Byrne and his interviewer Doug Fabrizio stage a fake a demonstration of Byrne's memory skills on Utah Now? Or did Patrick Byrne lie to Fox News or Business 2.0 when he claimed that Overstock.com was profitable when it was actually losing money? Maybe Byrne is delusional?

Byrne’s bizarre behavior escalates

Over the next several years, Overstock.com continued to lose money. Patrick Byrne's behavior grew more erratic as he lashed out at critics with vicious verbal assaults and in one case made obscene and misogynistic comments to a female reporter.

In 2004, independent research firm Camelback Research (now known as Gradient Analytics) gave Overstock.com an earnings quality grade of "F" and mentioned that a member of its board of directors served on WorldCom's board while it was embroiled in an accounting scandal. Byrne wrote Donn Vickrey from Camelback:

Donn, you make a living toadying to bully hedge funds. In this role, you insulted Mr. Macklin, a friend, a lifelong mentor and a decent and wonderful man. You deserve to be whipped, f--cked and driven from the land. Little punctilious submissive rejoinders such as your letter cannot change this or recalibrate our relationship on other terms. You drew first blood: own it. [Emphasis added.]

In Fortune Magazine, Bethany McLean reported that:

In the fall of 2004, I wrote a FORTUNE story titled "Is Overstock the Next Amazon?" After the piece came out, Byrne sent me an e-mail saying "Fair. And balanced." Two days later he wrote another e-mail: "I actually thought it was crap.... So, why exactly did you become a reporter? Giving Goldman traders blowjobs didn't work out?" [Emphasis added.]

Byrne’s paranoid fantasies

On August 11, 2005, Patrick Byrne went into a long rambling rant about a vast criminal conspiracy involving a mastermind who he identified as the “Sith Lord” who was out to destroy his company. It was widely mocked as a paranoid fantasy. [See Transcript.]

Joe Nocera reported in the New York Times that:

...it was an hourlong monologue during which Mr. Byrne laid out a vast, overarching conspiracy, made up of dozens of Wall Street players -- including the New York attorney general, Eliot Spitzer! -- all under the thumb of a mysterious puppet master, whom Mr. Byrne labeled the Sith Lord. He titled the conspiracy ''The Miscreants' Ball,'' an obvious reference to Michael Milken's old Predators' Ball.

Although Mr. Byrne told me that his Sith Lord speech ranked among ''the 10 proudest moments of my life,'' most people, including me, thought it was loony beyond belief. Roddy Boyd of The New York Post recalled hearing about it from someone on Wall Street. ''When he described it, I thought he was embellishing,'' Mr. Boyd said. But when he listened to the replay, ''my jaw dropped -- you cannot make up what occurred on that phone call.''

In addition to his conspiracy-mongering, Mr. Byrne talked about Stinger missiles, Wayne and Garth, a mysterious Spanish phone message, stuttering and cocaine. (''I'm not a coke head,'' he said, unprompted.) [Emphasis added.]

NY Post Photo Mocking Byrne

Billionaire Mark Cuban said that "Patrick Byrne has emerged as the star of his own X-Files like drama" and added:

Never before in the history of Wall Street has a single conference call mentioned the following topics:

Miscreants, an unnamed Sith Lord he hopes the feds will bury under a prison, gay bath houses, whether he is gay, does cocaine, both or neither, and an obligatory, not that there is anything wrong with that, phone taps, phone lines misdirected to Mexico, arrested reporters, payoffs, conspiracies, crooks, egomaniacs, fools, paranoia, which newspapers are shills and for who, payoffs, money laundering, his Irish temper, false identities, threats, intimidation, and private investigators. All in 61 minutes.

Hedge fund manager Jeff Matthews told The Register that:

It was the most bizarre hour and change I have ever witnessed on the Street. [Emphasis added.]

In Fortune Magazine, Bethany McLean wrote:

Byrne's behavior has been so over the top that it would be tempting to dismiss it as a paranoid fantasy. Can you imagine the CEO of another company making a conference call like Byrne's without being sent packing by his directors? [Emphasis added.]

On August 29, 2005, Patrick Byrne, himself, did not dismiss concerns raised about his "whacko" behavior on Motley Fool:

I can COMPLETELY understand why some would look at my behavior and think it whacko: it is not as though the possibility never occurs to me before I do something weird.

Patrick Byrne's violent tantrum at the Utah State Legislature

In May 2007, Patrick Byrne went into a raging fit as the Utah legislature sought to repeal a certain law that was passed only a year earlier. Senator Bramble, the original sponsor of the legislation, now supported its repeal. New York Times columnist, Joe Nocera described Byrne's tirade:

Then, he became increasingly agitated, accusing Senator Bramble of betraying him. As his tone became more belligerent, and he began cursing, most of the others in the room, their jaws agape, simply listened to him rant. Several of them later told me they had never heard anything like it.

After the meeting, a confrontation broke out between Mr. Byrne and a securities industry lobbyist.

Chief Deputy Utah Attorney General Kirk Torgensen told me that "I saw him almost get into a fistfight... at the legislature." Byrne was seen cursing and screaming at legislators and lobbyists.

NAACP demands an apology from Byrne

In October 2007, Utah legislature was debating a referendum to provide vouchers for families sending kids to private schools. Apparently, Patrick Byrne believed that minority children who did not graduate from high school should be burned. During a debate, Patrick Byrne said:

Right now 40% of Utah minorities are not graduating high school. You may as well burn those kids. That's the end of their life in any signif... that's the end of their ability to achieve in this society. If they do not get a high school education, you just might as just throw the kids away. [Emphasis added.]

The NAACP demanded an apology, but Byrne refused.

When the state-wide voucher referendum was defeated, the Salt Lake Tribune reported that:

Voucher supporter Overstock.com chief executive Patrick Byrne - who bankrolled the voucher effort - called the referendum a "statewide IQ test" that Utahns failed. [Emphasis added.]

Many people in Utah were offended by Byrne's remarks. Chief Deputy Utah Attorney General Kirk Torgensen said:

He called us all a bunch of morons that didn’t care about kids….

Critics and their family members are stalked and threatened by Byrne’s operatives

Judd Bagley

In August 2006, Patrick Byrne hired Judd Bagley to run an anonymous blog called antisocialmedia.net. It was used a platform to smear critics of Overstock.com. In January 2007, New York Post reporter Roddy Boyd exposed Byrne and Bagley is being behind the anonymous website.

In April 2007, I was doing research on Bagley’s activities and visited his blog multiple times over a couple of days. Bagley used an anonymous alias "panamapump" to post a message on a Yahoo stock chat board detailing every time I visited the blog. He threatened me saying, “On behalf of your family and in the interest of your own employability I ask you to please never visit ASM again. I'll email you new articles when they come out.” Later, as I uncovered accounting irregularities at Overstock.com, Bagley made good on his threat.

In February 2009, I identified certain violations of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) by Overstock.com that allowed it to fabricate a Q4 2008 profit rather than properly report a loss in that quarter. I urged the company to restate its financial reports to correct its improper accounting practices. CEO Patrick Byrne retaliated by personally attacking me on a stock market chat board, during various earnings calls, and in the press in an effort to discredit me. Instead of properly complying with GAAP, Overstock.com continued to overstate income in Q1, Q2, and Q3 2009.

Byrne's hired thug Bagley even injected himself into my divorce proceedings, contacting my former spouse, as well as using illegal pretexting tactics to "friend" my children and relatives on Facebook using a phony account. This was clear retaliation for my pointing out the company's accounting violations.

According to journalist and author Gary Weiss who uncovered the pretexting:

Bagley created "Larry Bergman" and an unknown number of phony Facebook accounts to con people into "friending" him. That way he could circumvent Facebook security, violating their rules and, well, Lord knows how many laws he broke in this pretexting scheme.

Attorney and Big Picture blogger (over 1.5 million monthly readers) Barry Rithholtz called Judd Bagley a "possible pedarast" after learning that he and his family members were pretexted. Eventually, Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) booted Bagley for violating its rules. It deleted both his false "Larry Bergman" profile and his personal profile.

Judd Bagley claimed that Overstock's internet pretexting scheme was designed to unveil connections between hedge funds and the journalists who write about them. However, Bagley targeted only journalists and bloggers (and their friends and family members thereof) who had written about Overstock. Altogether he compiled a database containing personal information on over 7,400 people.

In September 2009, the Securities and Exchange Commission started an investigation of Overstock.com’s accounting practices. In March 2010, Overstock.com finally admitted that it violated GAAP and restated its financial reports to correct its accounting violations, as I had recommended over a year earlier.

It was the third time since 2006 that Overstock.com had to restate its financial reports to correct violations of accounting rules. Every single financial report issued by Overstock.com from 1998 to 2009 was initially wrong and had to be corrected up to three times.

It will be interesting to see whether Patrick Byrne receives equal justice in the Utah courts, or is let off in deference to his wealth and heavy campaign contributions to the Utah Republican Party.

Written by,

Sam E. Antar

Disclosure

I am a convicted felon and a former CPA. As the criminal CFO of Crazy Eddie, I helped my cousin Eddie Antar and other members of his family mastermind one of the largest securities frauds uncovered during the 1980's. I committed my crimes in cold-blood for fun and profit, and simply because I could. If it weren't for the heroic efforts of the FBI, SEC, Postal Inspector's Office, US Attorney's Office, and class action plaintiff's lawyers who investigated, prosecuted, and sued me, I would still be the criminal CFO of Crazy Eddie today.

There is a saying, "It takes one to know one." Today, I work very closely with the FBI, IRS, SEC, Justice Department, and other federal and state law enforcement agencies in training them to identify and catch white-collar criminals. Often, I refer cases to them as an independent whistleblower. I teach white-collar crime classes for various government entities, professional organizations, businesses, and colleges and universities. More recently, I've helped the AICPA Fraud Task Force develop better methods for detecting fraud. I do not want or seek forgiveness for my vicious crimes from my victims. My past sins are unforgivable.

I do not own any Overstock.com securities long or short.

What Indicted SAC Capital Portfolio Manager Mathew Martoma Can Learn from Crazy Eddie

2012-12-28T04:38:00.000-05:00

Back in March 1989, I faced an agonizing decision: Either cooperate with the F.B.I. and S.E.C. investigations of fraud at Crazy Eddie or spend a long time in prison behind bars. Likewise, former SAC Capital Advisors portfolio manager Mathew Martoma faces a similar important decision: Either cooperate with federal investigations of alleged illegal insider trading at SAC Capital or risk a long prison term. At the time I made my decision, I was married with three young children. Martoma is married with three young children too. We both had larger than life bosses who pressured us with unreasonable demands (me: my cousin Eddie Antar, Martoma: Steven A. Cohen).

Mathew Martoma and his wife after indictment

Facing an imminent indictment and a long prison term behind bars, I chose to cooperate with government investigators and turn in my cousin Eddie Antar and other relatives who ran our 18 year old criminal enterprise. Today, Mathew Martoma faces the same pressure I experienced back in 1989.

Apparently, federal investigators believe that Mathew Martoma is guilty of participating in an illegal insider trading scheme and can implicate his former boss, Steven Cohen as the driving force behind the alleged crime. According to the Wall Street Journal:

As federal agents pressed Mathew Martoma late last year to turn against his former boss, hedge-fund billionaire Steven A. Cohen, he fainted in the front yard of his Florida home.

"It was an upsetting experience," Charles Stillman, Mr. Martoma's lawyer, when asked about the incident. [Emphasis added.]

On December 21, 2012, Mathew Martoma was indicted for allegedly using information to illegally help SAC Capital profit from trades in certain publicly traded companies. According to the New York Times:

A federal grand jury in Manhattan indicted the former portfolio manager, Mathew Martoma, a month after the government arrested him on charges that he used inside tips about a clinical drug trial to help SAC earn profits and avoid losses. Prosecutors said the total benefit to SAC was $276 million.

SAC, based in Stamford, Conn., has been touched by several insider trading cases in recent years, but there is heightened attention surrounding the Martoma prosecution. For the first time, the government has tied questionable trades to Steven A. Cohen, the billionaire owner of SAC. [Emphasis added.]

Steven Cohen

My crimes were far worse than those alleged in the indictment against Martoma. I helped mastermind a scheme that defrauded investors and creditors of over $500 million and my crimes left over 3,000 people unemployed.

So far, Mathew Martoma maintains his innocence and has turned down cooperating with federal investigators. Martoma faces arraignment on January 3, 2013. His chances at beating the rap are slim. Over 90% of federal indictments result either in a trial conviction or guilty plea by the Defendant. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has a perfect record tallying over seventy convictions with no acquittals in the massive ongoing federal insider trading probe.

If Mathew Martoma is in fact guilty as the indictment alleges and if he can implicate his former boss Steven Cohen, then time is running out for him to make a decision to cooperate with federal investigators. Potentially, if someone else comes forward and implicates Cohen before Martoma, he risks losing his best chance at avoiding a long prison term, because his value as a key witness would be diminished.

According to Fox Business, Mathew Martoma’s attorneys are charging over $1,000 per hour for legal fees and his former employer is footing the bill. That fact may provide a powerful incentive for Martoma not to cooperate with federal investigators. Likewise, for two years after being ousted from Crazy Eddie, my former boss Eddie Antar funded much of my legal fees as I was battling federal investigators. Finally, in 1989, I hired new attorneys who were not paid by my former employer and decided to cooperate with federal investigators.

My new lawyers, Anthony R. Mautone and Jonathan D. Warner advised me to come clean with the feds. I learned from them that quick timing and valuable information was the key to my future freedom. They told me that my duty to my wife and three children was more important than my loyalty to my cousin Eddie Antar and his immediate family.

Ultimately, the information that I provided federal investigators helped me avoid prison. I pleaded guilty to three felonies which carried a potential fifteen year prison sentence. Despite a much more lenient jail sentence recommended by former United States Attorney Michael Chertoff, Judge Nicholas H. Politan went even further and sentenced me to only six months of house arrest. In addition, Politan sentenced me to 1,200 hours of community service and I paid nominal fines and penalties totaling only $30,000. In my settlement with the victims of my crimes, I avoided all civil liability. I was able to avoid harsh punishment due to my extensive cooperation with federal investigators and lawyers representing victims of my crimes.

If the allegations in the indictment are true, Mathew Martoma’s only value to federal investigators is the potential information he can provide them about suspected illegal activities by his former boss Steven Cohen and others. Mathew Martoma has a lot of thinking to do and he’d better do it fast, because timing is running out. If he's convicted of the crimes alleged in his indictment, he faces up to twenty years in prison and I doubt that the feds will show him any mercy and give him any leniency.

Written by:

Sam E. Antar

Photo credits

NY Post: Mathew Martoma with his wife after indictment

Marketfolly: Steven Cohen

Disclosure

I am a convicted felon and a former CPA. As the criminal CFO of Crazy Eddie, I helped my cousin Eddie Antar and other members of his family mastermind one of the largest securities frauds uncovered during the 1980's. I committed my crimes in cold-blood for fun and profit, and simply because I could. If it weren't for the heroic efforts of the FBI, SEC, Postal Inspector's Office, US Attorney's Office, and class action plaintiff's lawyers who investigated, prosecuted, and sued me, I would still be the criminal CFO of Crazy Eddie today.

There is a saying, "It takes one to know one." Today, I work very closely with the FBI, IRS, SEC, Justice Department, and other federal and state law enforcement agencies in training them to identify and catch white-collar criminals. Often, I refer cases to them as an independent whistleblower. I teach white-collar crime classes for various government entities, professional organizations, businesses, and colleges and universities. More recently, I've helped the AICPA Fraud Task Force develop better methods for detecting fraud. I do not want or seek forgiveness for my vicious crimes from my victims. My past sins are unforgivable.

Judge Orders Overstock.com to Produce Evidence in California Consumer Fraud Lawsuit, While Major Investor Unloads Shares

2012-11-13T11:50:00.000-05:00

A new development recently emerged in the consumer fraud lawsuit that seven California district attorneys have filed against Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) which raises a significant question for Overstock shareholders: What is the company trying to hide?

For the second time in the last two years, Overstock.com has “refused” to turn over crucial information about potential witnesses to the prosecutors, according to recent court filings. Judge Wynne Carvill had to issue a court order compelling Overstock.com to turn over such information, as Judge Robert B. Freeman had done in a previous court ruling.

The District Attorneys are seeking at least $15 million of restitution, fines, penalties, and cost reimbursements from Overstock.com. Evidently Overstock feels that the information it has withheld, which it must now disclose, will help the DAs in achieving that goal.

Judge compels Overstock.com to produce documents

In the lawsuit, filed in November 2010, the California DAs alleged that “Overstock routinely and systematically made untrue and misleading comparative advertising claims about the prices of its products.” On April 1, 2011, the District Attorney of Alameda County filed a motion to compel Overstock.com to turn over contact information for certain former employees with knowledge of alleged fraudulent pricing practices because the company “refused” to turn over such information. On May 17, 2011, Judge Robert B. Freeman issued a court order to compel Overstock.com to turn over the information to the district attorneys.

More recently, on October 19, 2012, the District Attorneys again had to go to court to deal with Overstock's stubborn refusal to share potentially damaging information with the prosecutors. They complained that:

The issue now facing the court is virtually identical to the one it was forced to decide last year. The consumers who complained to Overstock - like Overstock's former employees - are potential witnesses to the deceptiveness of its comparison pricing practices. These individuals likely have first-hand knowledge of specific instances when Overstock's comparison prices were misleading or simply incorrect, as well as the methods used by Overstock to redress these: errors. This information is relevant and material to prove disputed facts of consequence to the determination of this action and, at the very least, is calculated to lead to other admissible evidence. This Court should (again) compel Overstock to supply the requested information.

Patrick Byrne

On November 4, 2012, Judge Wynne Carvill ruled against Overstock. The judge said in his decision that Overstock would have to turn over the information the DAs want:

Defendant shall produce the personal identifying information of those of its customers who complained to Defendant or questioned Defendant or made a statement to Defendant about any of the comparison prices for any of Defendant's products during the applicable time period.

Overstock.com had argued that turning over customer information would violate its privacy policy, but Judge Carvill rejected their claim noting that:

As to Defendant's Privacy Policy, as correctly pointed out by Plaintiff, said policy specifically indicates that disclosure of personal identifiable information may happen to "comply with ... court orders.

Overstock.com had no issue violating the privacy of whistleblowers, journalists, and critics

Judd Bagley

Overstock.com's feigned concern for customer privacy is ironic. The company had no issue violating the privacy of whistleblowers, journalists, bloggers and critics in its pretexting and smear campaign of recent years, which have been amply documented in the media and this blog. Overstock and its surrogates, such as its former public relations spokesman Judd Bagley, have even waged war against their spouses families - their minor children included.

In February 2009, I identified certain violations of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) by Overstock.com that allowed it to fabricate a Q4 2008 profit rather than properly report a loss in that quarter. I urged the company to restate its financial reports to correct its improper accounting practices. CEO Patrick Byrne retaliated by personally attacking me on a stock market chat board, during various earnings calls, and in the press in an effort to discredit me. Instead of properly complying with GAAP, Overstock.com continued to overstate income in Q1, Q2, and Q3 2009.

Byrne's hired thug Bagley even injected himself into my divorce proceedings, contacting my former spouse, as well as using illegal pretexting tactics to "friend" my children and relatives on Facebook using a phony account. This was clear retaliation for my pointing out the company's accounting violations.

According to journalist and author Gary Weiss who uncovered the pretexting:

Bagley created "Larry Bergman" and an unknown number of phony Facebook accounts to con people into "friending" him. That way he could circumvent Facebook security, violating their rules and, well, Lord knows how many laws he broke in this pretexting scheme.

Unfortunately, the S.E.C. took no action against Overstock.com for retaliating against me as a whistleblower and other critics. The same can be said for Facebook. Although Judd Bagley was booted from Facebook, he’s back with new personal profile.

To add insult to injury, Overstock.com and Bagley have developed a new social media app for Facebook and Twitter called “myCurrent Desktop” which will collect personal information on its users. The app's terms of service explicitly states that there is "...no guarantee of confidentiality or privacy...." I have no doubt that some of that personal information could someday be used by Byrne and Bagley to stalk potential critics in the future.

Major Overstock.com shareholder starts dumping stock

S.E.C. filings reveal that right after the California District Attorneys complained about Overstock.com's refusal to turn over crucial information about customer complaints on October 19, 2012, money manager Francis Chou slowly started unloading his huge position in Overstock.com shares. Various funds managed by Chou had accumulated 3,260,738 shares of Overstock.com, about 13.9% of its outstanding shares. Since that date, Chou has sold 74,598 shares of Overstock.com. See the chart below:

In addition, Francis Chou has sold a number of call options. The purchaser(s) of those call options paid Chou a premium (fee) in return for the right to acquire a specified amount of Overstock.com shares at a certain price per share (strike price) on or before the expiration date. Chou makes a profit on those call option contracts if the value of Overstock.com’s shares do not rise above a certain price level (strike price plus premium) by the expiration date. In other words, if Overstock.com's stock price does not rise above the strike price and premium per share paid to Chou, they are worthless to the purchaser of the call options, and Chou makes a tidy profit. See the chart below:

In S.E.C. filings, Francis Chou claimed that he was selling Overstock.com shares for “diversification purposes” while at the same time he also claimed that such shares were “undervalued and represents an attractive investment opportunity.” However, he started selling his shares only after the District Attorneys complained to the Court that Overstock.com was refusing to turn over evidence about customer complaints. Furthermore, if Chou thinks Overstock.com shares are undervalued, why did he sell those call options?

Written by,

Sam E. Antar

Disclosure

I am a convicted felon and a former CPA. As the criminal CFO of Crazy Eddie, I helped my cousin Eddie Antar and other members of his family mastermind one of the largest securities frauds uncovered during the 1980's. I committed my crimes in cold-blood for fun and profit, and simply because I could. If it weren't for the heroic efforts of the FBI, SEC, Postal Inspector's Office, US Attorney's Office, and class action plaintiff's lawyers who investigated, prosecuted, and sued me, I would still be the criminal CFO of Crazy Eddie today.

There is a saying, "It takes one to know one." Today, I work very closely with the FBI, IRS, SEC, Justice Department, and other federal and state law enforcement agencies in training them to identify and catch white-collar criminals. Often, I refer cases to them as an independent whistleblower. I teach white-collar crime classes for various government entities, professional organizations, businesses, and colleges and universities. More recently, I've helped the AICPA Fraud Task Force develop better methods for detecting fraud. I do not want or seek forgiveness for my vicious crimes from my victims. My past sins are unforgivable.

I do not own any Overstock.com securities long or short.