Universal Express Calls Out SEC, Claims $200M in Sales; No Sign SEC is Taking Bait
THURSDAY , MARCH 25, 2004 01:55 AM
Mar 25, 2004 (financialwire.net via COMTEX) -- (FinancialWire) Universal Express (OTCBB: USXP) is asking the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a hearing before a Florida judge. The company had filed suit against the SEC, claiming harassment due to the agency's repeated requests for documents.
CEO Richard Altomare said he welcomed the "hearing," but there was no indication that the SEC had actually agreed to a hearing, or that a judge had ordered one. The spat between USXP and the SEC comes only five market days before the April 1 deadline when brokers and market makers such as Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:AMTD), Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB), and ETrade Group, Inc. (NYSE: ET) must settle their books to provide for real affirmative determination, closing a giant loophole that the NASD had sought for since November, 2001, but which the SEC only recently authorized.
In the Universal Express announcement, Altomare noted that its $590 million judgments against naked short sellers had "demonstrated inefficiency on the part of the SEC," and that as a result the SEC has "retaliated against our company, which has grown to over $200,000,000 in sales from no revenues and $54,000,000 in debt paid off."
The company's latest 10Q at biz.yahoo.com/e/040218/usxp.ob10qsb.html, however, shows six months revenues of $14,879,581, an increase from $1,721,886 the previous year, primarily due to the acquisition of SubContracting Concepts, Inc. (SCI), a third party contract management company that provides courier company clients with risk management and administrative services. SCI's revenues were shown as $13,758,434 against cost of revenues of $13,596,710. The aggregate cost of revenues were $14,802.564.
It was not immediately clear how projected full-year revenues of approximately $30 million equates to the $200 million stated in the company's press release.
"At a time when America is prioritizing jobs, this fine Company has grown to over 6,500 employees from only 3 -- and that's the Company our appointed regulators have decided to question. This one they will lose. They owe the stockholders of USXP $590,000,000 -- they know it, and a jury trial will prove it," said Altomare.
"There has been nothing but integrity and hard-working American efforts with complete compliance on the part of this Company during our 14 years of development, with never a question from the SEC for 14 years.
"As Al Capone infiltrated the Chicago Police Department, I contend that the organized crime efforts of naked short sellers are not above influencing SEC lower-paid employees. Should Universal Express experience any financial damages from bureaucrats gone awry, our proactive lawsuit, which we filed on March 2, will seek additional damages.
"If the SEC wishes to intimidate, eliminate or frighten companies that are the core of America's future capitalist system, they picked the wrong company, wrong CEO and wrong issue to think we'll blink.
"Let's stay focused on the message of our President and the Democratic nominee, jobs, corporate governance and integrity. This lawsuit is designed to shed light on the integrity of the foxes that have been empowered to guard the hen house. Not the hens being bullied by the foxes!
"When someone or some company is sued by the Security Exchange Commission, there is always a concern, I understand that. I grew up in the same America that believes in the integrity of our institutions. After years of SEC governmental abuse, we called for the judicial branch of our government to protect our 38,000 shareholders, our employees, investors and all other small public businesses from the naked short-selling scandal that remains the issue -- not some press releases and fundings that are perfectly accurate," concluded Altomare.
The event that is believed to have precipitated the conflict between USXP and the SEC was a request by the Denver office for the company to "prove" that naked short selling was at the root of a decline in the price of the company's stock, as the company had stated in a press release.
The company interpreted this request as meaning the SEC was questioning the existence of "naked short selling;" however, some observers simply interpreted the request as asking for documentation that naked short selling was the precise cause of the drop in the stock price at a time when the company itself had disclosed that it was selling its stock to maintain corporate liquidity. The SEC was believed by the observers to be trying to assess whether the company was deflecting attention from its own possible stock sales by claiming naked short sellers were involved at that specific juncture.
Shortly afterwards, the company's executives visited various Congressional offices to complain about the SEC's request, mounting a campaign against naked short selling.
Meantime, the longtime national scandal known as "StockGate" continues unabated.
Recently, renowned columnist, Jack Anderson, who writes the "Washington Merry-Go-Round," alleged that much of the naked short selling in small cap stocks drains small U.S. companies of their market caps and their small investors of their nest-eggs specifically to funnel money into terrorist hands, a sort of double-whammy against the American capitalist system.
According to the Wall Street Journal, J.P. Morgan Chase, which declined to comment on any possible rule violations, said it has been working with regulators to tighten its standards. "We agree with regulators that financial institutions should continually raise standards on know-your-customer policies, and have worked with them to ensure that we tighten ours and strive to exceed the law," WSJ quoted a bank spokeswoman.
"The USA Patriot Act, adopted in October 2001, expanded the scope of U.S. money-laundering rules in order to make it harder for terrorists to move money without attracting attention. It includes beefed-up know-your-customer requirements for some financial institutions, according to some legal experts" said the U.S. financial newspaper.
Recently, leading market makers and brokers named in various lawsuits and other actions, including FleetBoston (NYSE: FBF), Goldman, Sachs & Co. (NYSE: GS), H. Myerson & Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:MHMY), Olde / H&R Block (NYSE: HRB), Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCH), Toronto-Dominion's (NYSE: TD), TD Waterhouse Group and vFinance, Inc. (OTCBB: VFIN). A.G. Edwards, Inc. (NYSE: AGE), Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:AMTD), Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB), and ETrade Group, Inc. (NYSE: ET), were given a "reprieve" until April 1 to comply with new short-selling market regulations imposed by the NASD after the SEC had "sat on" the NASD request to plug material loopholes for almost 2-1/2 years.
For some in the industry, the fact that the new date coincides with "April Fool" was not lost.
The NASD noticed its members that it is "delaying the effective date of amendments to Rule 3370 (Prompt
Receipt and Delivery of Securities-the "Affirmative Determination" Rule) approved by the SEC in November 2003, until April 1, 2004.
"The amendments expand the scope of the affirmative determination requirements to include orders received from broker/dealers that are not members of NASD ("non-member broker/dealers"). The effective date of the amendments originally was March 25, 2004," said the notice.
The proposed and now delayed rule is on the web at www.nasdr.com/2610_2004.asp#04-03
The rule itself, while welcomed by small companies and their shareholders in the U.S., nevertheless raised an outcry because the NASD's request to put it into effect had set on a shelf at the SEC since 2001.
Recent wrist slaps have involved Falcon Research, Inc., fined $10,000, SG Cowen Securities Corporation, fined $230,000, and Sterne, Agee & Leach, Inc., fined $35,000.
Meanwhile, CBS Marketwatch, a venture between Marketwatch (NASDAQ: MKTW) and Viacom's (NYSE: V) CBS unit, has suggested that victims of securities fraud may be able to file for theft claims on tax returns instead of capital losses.
The scandal has embroiled hundreds of companies and dozens of brokers and marketmakers, in a web of internaitional intrigue, manipulative short-selling and cross-border accusations and denials.
THURSDAY , MARCH 25, 2004 01:55 AM
Mar 25, 2004 (financialwire.net via COMTEX) -- (FinancialWire) Universal Express (OTCBB: USXP) is asking the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a hearing before a Florida judge. The company had filed suit against the SEC, claiming harassment due to the agency's repeated requests for documents.
CEO Richard Altomare said he welcomed the "hearing," but there was no indication that the SEC had actually agreed to a hearing, or that a judge had ordered one. The spat between USXP and the SEC comes only five market days before the April 1 deadline when brokers and market makers such as Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:AMTD), Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB), and ETrade Group, Inc. (NYSE: ET) must settle their books to provide for real affirmative determination, closing a giant loophole that the NASD had sought for since November, 2001, but which the SEC only recently authorized.
In the Universal Express announcement, Altomare noted that its $590 million judgments against naked short sellers had "demonstrated inefficiency on the part of the SEC," and that as a result the SEC has "retaliated against our company, which has grown to over $200,000,000 in sales from no revenues and $54,000,000 in debt paid off."
The company's latest 10Q at biz.yahoo.com/e/040218/usxp.ob10qsb.html, however, shows six months revenues of $14,879,581, an increase from $1,721,886 the previous year, primarily due to the acquisition of SubContracting Concepts, Inc. (SCI), a third party contract management company that provides courier company clients with risk management and administrative services. SCI's revenues were shown as $13,758,434 against cost of revenues of $13,596,710. The aggregate cost of revenues were $14,802.564.
It was not immediately clear how projected full-year revenues of approximately $30 million equates to the $200 million stated in the company's press release.
"At a time when America is prioritizing jobs, this fine Company has grown to over 6,500 employees from only 3 -- and that's the Company our appointed regulators have decided to question. This one they will lose. They owe the stockholders of USXP $590,000,000 -- they know it, and a jury trial will prove it," said Altomare.
"There has been nothing but integrity and hard-working American efforts with complete compliance on the part of this Company during our 14 years of development, with never a question from the SEC for 14 years.
"As Al Capone infiltrated the Chicago Police Department, I contend that the organized crime efforts of naked short sellers are not above influencing SEC lower-paid employees. Should Universal Express experience any financial damages from bureaucrats gone awry, our proactive lawsuit, which we filed on March 2, will seek additional damages.
"If the SEC wishes to intimidate, eliminate or frighten companies that are the core of America's future capitalist system, they picked the wrong company, wrong CEO and wrong issue to think we'll blink.
"Let's stay focused on the message of our President and the Democratic nominee, jobs, corporate governance and integrity. This lawsuit is designed to shed light on the integrity of the foxes that have been empowered to guard the hen house. Not the hens being bullied by the foxes!
"When someone or some company is sued by the Security Exchange Commission, there is always a concern, I understand that. I grew up in the same America that believes in the integrity of our institutions. After years of SEC governmental abuse, we called for the judicial branch of our government to protect our 38,000 shareholders, our employees, investors and all other small public businesses from the naked short-selling scandal that remains the issue -- not some press releases and fundings that are perfectly accurate," concluded Altomare.
The event that is believed to have precipitated the conflict between USXP and the SEC was a request by the Denver office for the company to "prove" that naked short selling was at the root of a decline in the price of the company's stock, as the company had stated in a press release.
The company interpreted this request as meaning the SEC was questioning the existence of "naked short selling;" however, some observers simply interpreted the request as asking for documentation that naked short selling was the precise cause of the drop in the stock price at a time when the company itself had disclosed that it was selling its stock to maintain corporate liquidity. The SEC was believed by the observers to be trying to assess whether the company was deflecting attention from its own possible stock sales by claiming naked short sellers were involved at that specific juncture.
Shortly afterwards, the company's executives visited various Congressional offices to complain about the SEC's request, mounting a campaign against naked short selling.
Meantime, the longtime national scandal known as "StockGate" continues unabated.
Recently, renowned columnist, Jack Anderson, who writes the "Washington Merry-Go-Round," alleged that much of the naked short selling in small cap stocks drains small U.S. companies of their market caps and their small investors of their nest-eggs specifically to funnel money into terrorist hands, a sort of double-whammy against the American capitalist system.
According to the Wall Street Journal, J.P. Morgan Chase, which declined to comment on any possible rule violations, said it has been working with regulators to tighten its standards. "We agree with regulators that financial institutions should continually raise standards on know-your-customer policies, and have worked with them to ensure that we tighten ours and strive to exceed the law," WSJ quoted a bank spokeswoman.
"The USA Patriot Act, adopted in October 2001, expanded the scope of U.S. money-laundering rules in order to make it harder for terrorists to move money without attracting attention. It includes beefed-up know-your-customer requirements for some financial institutions, according to some legal experts" said the U.S. financial newspaper.
Recently, leading market makers and brokers named in various lawsuits and other actions, including FleetBoston (NYSE: FBF), Goldman, Sachs & Co. (NYSE: GS), H. Myerson & Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:MHMY), Olde / H&R Block (NYSE: HRB), Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCH), Toronto-Dominion's (NYSE: TD), TD Waterhouse Group and vFinance, Inc. (OTCBB: VFIN). A.G. Edwards, Inc. (NYSE: AGE), Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:AMTD), Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB), and ETrade Group, Inc. (NYSE: ET), were given a "reprieve" until April 1 to comply with new short-selling market regulations imposed by the NASD after the SEC had "sat on" the NASD request to plug material loopholes for almost 2-1/2 years.
For some in the industry, the fact that the new date coincides with "April Fool" was not lost.
The NASD noticed its members that it is "delaying the effective date of amendments to Rule 3370 (Prompt
Receipt and Delivery of Securities-the "Affirmative Determination" Rule) approved by the SEC in November 2003, until April 1, 2004.
"The amendments expand the scope of the affirmative determination requirements to include orders received from broker/dealers that are not members of NASD ("non-member broker/dealers"). The effective date of the amendments originally was March 25, 2004," said the notice.
The proposed and now delayed rule is on the web at www.nasdr.com/2610_2004.asp#04-03
The rule itself, while welcomed by small companies and their shareholders in the U.S., nevertheless raised an outcry because the NASD's request to put it into effect had set on a shelf at the SEC since 2001.
Recent wrist slaps have involved Falcon Research, Inc., fined $10,000, SG Cowen Securities Corporation, fined $230,000, and Sterne, Agee & Leach, Inc., fined $35,000.
Meanwhile, CBS Marketwatch, a venture between Marketwatch (NASDAQ: MKTW) and Viacom's (NYSE: V) CBS unit, has suggested that victims of securities fraud may be able to file for theft claims on tax returns instead of capital losses.
The scandal has embroiled hundreds of companies and dozens of brokers and marketmakers, in a web of internaitional intrigue, manipulative short-selling and cross-border accusations and denials.
