Affebzirkus geht in die nächste Runde, Sino hat fast ein Jahr gebraucht um diesen Penner zu verklagen. traurig. Artikel:
April 02 (St. Joseph News-Press) -- NEW YORK (CNNMoney) --
Chinese timber firm Sino-Forest filed a $4 billion defamation
lawsuit against Muddy Waters, the research firm that sent its
stock into free fall last year after releasing a bombshell
report accusing it of fraud.
At the same time, Sino-Forest also announced that it had
filed for bankruptcy protection, saying in a statement Friday
that it needed time to "normalize operations" following the
allegations made in the Muddy Waters report.
"[T]he report was not designed to inform the investing
public, but rather, to scare them into believing that
Sino-Forest was a criminal and fraudulent enterprise," said
Sino-Forest in the suit, which was filed in Canada's Ontario
Superior Court. It accuses Muddy Waters of misrepresenting
facts to benefit its short position in Sino-Forest shares.
Muddy Waters founder Carson Block told CNNMoney's Hibah
Yousuf Monday that the lawsuit is "entirely without merit."
"There's a large amount of irony in that the day that they
file for bankruptcy is also the day they sue us for
defamation," Block said, adding that Muddy Waters is also
considering a counter-suit.
Muddy Waters is part of a small group of research firms
that accumulate short positions in Chinese companies before
publicly releasing reports detailing fraud allegations. A short
positions is essentially betting on a stock to decline.
Following the publication of Muddy Waters' 23-page report
last June, shares of Toronto-listed Sino-Forest lost more than
two- thirds of their value before being suspended.
The company has since faced investigations by financial
regulators in Canada and Hong Kong and by the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police.
Muddy Waters described Sino-Forest last year as "a
multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme ... accompanied by
substantial theft." Among other things, Muddy Waters accused
the company of faulty accounting and overstating the value of
its timber holdings.
Sino-Forest is seeking $4 billion in damages from Block,
Muddy Waters and 100 other firms it claims traded on the report
after receiving advance notice of it.
Sino-Forest went public in Canada via a "reverse merger," a
quick and popular way for Chinese companies to trade publicly
on U.S. and other international exchanges.
In a reverse merger, a privately held Chinese company
typically merges with a publicly traded U.S. company, but gains
the voting and operational control. With this move, Chinese
companies have largely been able to avoid some of the
regulatory hurdles that come with a traditional initial public
offering.
Reverse-merger companies have come under increased scrutiny
in recent years, with a number accused of fraud by
short-sellers like Muddy Waters.
-- CNNMoney reporter Hibah Yousuf contributed
(Copyright 2012 St. Joseph News-Press; NPG Newspapers, Inc.)