Thursday, May 10, 2007

CEO "forgets" to tell investors that he's been subpoenaed by the SEC...for over a year!


This is one of those Man Bites Dog stories that gets readers' attention. More accurately, it's one of those human interest stories, like the guy who has amnesia for ten years and suddenly snaps out of it. It's a Miracle!

I've only paid tangential attention to the Overstock.com saga because, quite frankly, I cover companies that either sell stuff, produce stuff, or market stuff, and I'm not entirely certain that Overstock.com's business plan focuses on doing anything other than setting large piles of money on fire and generating negative publicity.

However this latest piece of news is so bizarre, and well, sordid, that it must be mentioned. Ever since Sam E Antar broke this story the other day, Gary Weiss, Tracy Coenen and others have been going bananas over it like rottweilers loose in a butcher shop.

White Collar Fraud Blog: Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com, receives SEC subpoena

However, Overstock.com finally disclosed Patrick Byrne's subpoena, about a year later.

...

The Overstock.com 10-q for the quarter ended 03/31/07 contained this new additional disclosure:


“On May 17, 2006, Patrick Byrne also received a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Salt Lake City District Office.”
Questions:


Why did Overstock.com wait to make that additional disclosure until its 10-Q for the 1st quarter of fiscal year 2007.


Why was such a disclosure about you receiving a subpoena from the SEC omitted from Overstock.com’s?


10-K for the fiscal year ended 12/31/06,

10-Q for the quarter ended 09/30/06,

10-Q for the quarter ended 06/30/06,<

10-Q for the quarter ended 03/31/06 (filed on 05/10/06)

Other disclosures


That is indeed a very good question. Will it be answered? You don't have to be a Magic 8-Ball to suggest that All Signs Point To No.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hopefully soon, the big "O" will describe his sphincter after a few days in prison.

-Charles Farley

Lee_D said...

Charles, I love your insights usually, but you've been watching too much "Oz."

Besides, I'm sure that OSTK has cartons and cartons of unsold cigarettes in their inventory that he can trade for favors.