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Ramblings

by Carlo Longino

Fri, Apr 13th 2007 1:08pm





Not Disclosing Your Pump-And-Dump Past Might Make It Harder To Sell Your Company

from the paper-trail dept

Breaking securities laws doesn't mean that you can't keep running businesses -- just ask Vonage Chairman Jeffrey Citron. However, if you don't disclose your past to potential buyers of your company and they come to find out your white-collar crime track record, you shouldn't be too surprised if they see it as a turnoff. Rumors popped up yesterday that Yahoo was in talks to buy the Rivals.com network of sports sites for $100 million, with the deal described as "overpriced". However, two previous deals to buy the company are rumored to have fallen apart when suitors discovered Rivals.com's CEO's alleged criminal past as part of a pump-and-dump scam -- something he evidently failed to disclose to them. Hopefully the guy's figured out by now that it really isn't too hard to run de facto background checks on people using the web -- particularly considering it's a search company that's supposed to be the buyer this time around. Update: Apparently the CEO in question disputes these claims and is threatening to sue TechCrunch over the initial posting.

6 Comments | Leave a Comment

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  1.  
    identicon
    Witty Nickname, Apr 13th, 2007 @ 1:30pm

    Pump and Dump

    I wish I knew Pump-and-dump was a crime. Who knew that I could have been arrested every week for the last 3 years at my local Exxon!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
    identicon
    RandomThoughts, Apr 13th, 2007 @ 2:02pm

    Its funny, Shannon Terry was a journalist who was involved in the pump and dump. Terry received stock worth $850K, the SEC fined her $850K. Some of the people involved paid less in fines than they made. Something seems wrong there.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    identicon
    anonymous coward, Apr 13th, 2007 @ 2:12pm

    Officer! I was speeding, please ticket me!

    Whatever. It's not his responsibility to confess every sin. What CEO doesn't have something shady in his/her past? Even the CEO of the Catholics (aka the Pope) has a little dirt on the hem of his vestments...

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  
    identicon
    NWP, Apr 13th, 2007 @ 5:34pm

    MR. Shannon Terry

    Well it seems that this CEO is Mr. Terry and he has sicked his lawyers on www.techcrunch.com for libel for reporting his past SEC investigation and alleged crimes. He turned snitch and then is trying to walk away totally clean. www.techcrunch.com is a good site and their right to freedom of speech needs to be protected. When a company is being sold, just like a house full disclosure should apply. What is Mr.. Terry afraid of?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  
    icon
    Nick D (profile), Apr 13th, 2007 @ 5:35pm

    ouch!

    Arrington just got hit with a defamation claim by Terry's lawyers.
    http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/04/13/shannon-terry-is-pissed-off-threatens-lawsuit-against -techcrunch/

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  
    identicon
    Adam, Apr 16th, 2007 @ 9:50am

    Re: MR. Shannon Terry

    dude can't you spell?

    it's not "sicked", it's "sicced"

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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