Sunday, August 21, 2011

The SEC should do a secondary suspension of Longtop Financial Technology

Puda Coal is a Chinese company already suspended by the Nasdaq and then relegated to the Pink Sheets. Whilst on the Pink Sheets unsupportable and probably false promotion material was circulated about them.

The SEC suspended them again - a secondary suspension from the gray market.

The SEC should do the same with Longtop Financial Technology. The company can't make payroll. The independent directors have all resigned as has the auditor. There are no independent directors and no auditor.

The company raised well over $100 million in cash. The auditor could not find it.

But we still have Weizhou Lian (the man who probably knows the location of that $100 million) running around telling everyone he has something to sell.

This is - at best - a breach of regulations on fair disclosure.

The information is either true - in which case it should be made public more generally - or it is false. In both cases the stock should be suspended - preferably before trading on Monday morning.




John

PS. I meant it when I said I no longer have a financial interest in this.

I have no position left in the stock. I write this as a public service.

17 comments:

Out in Left Field said...

In addition to that, the SEC should find out why Andrew Left is a dump and pump man. Perhaps he has another dry cleaning bill to pay off.

Yes, the newly minted Puda Coal bagholders aren't too happy this weekend but I can't say I can muster up any sympathy for them.

longshorttrader said...

Seeing 2 successful China reverse merger critics, somewhat go head to head, amuses me.

hedge_fun said...

Why did you say in May the company had VALUE?

Are you back tracking?

Is this blog considered to have more weight than the May blog?

Perhaps asking management to resign is more appropiate than asking the SEC to help screw over shareholders.....right?

Anonymous said...

john,

what is really sad, is that apparently all you are looking for is the 'win'.......you really dont care about shareholders. You could care less

thats the problem with you 'suits'.....its all about the 'ego', the 'win'.......and not being able to have a 'miss'......so you do what most 'suits' do.........stay the course, regardless of who you harm......at all costs. You are no different than all the 'cheap suit talking heads' on tv........

this is probably going to affect your credibility........as the other guy stated.......you should have just s.t.h.u. and defer to the wisdom you mentioned in your
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 "
PS. I have been sitting on this post for a while - thinking what else I might put in it. Someone else has published - which in blogger terms is to be trumped. That someone is Citron who are more strident than I would ever be."

not only more strident, john, but a helluva lot more class, bud

citron beat you like a rented mule, my friend!

g'day mate

Anonymous said...

LOL so short. I hope they PR Monday and you lose your shirt.

John Hempton said...

Anon. The last one - I should remind you I have no position at all in the stock.

None, Nada, Nothing.

I just hope that Andrew Left loses his shirt for what I think is one of the more unethical pump-and-dumps of recent time.

Come to think of it I hope the SEC investigates him and shuts him down.

I think he is slimey.

But I have no position in the stock.

Nothing.

Nada.

Just a community service.

John

Anonymous said...

John, I am with you. I worked for a large mutual fund firm at the time, and was approached by GS during the IPO. There were many things that did not add up then. However, I can assure you that most large institutional investors did not even scratch the surface of due diligence that your blog has done. The reality is, there are too many unanswered questions and too much opacity. Some "investors" / "traders" might relish that disconnect and would be happy to play the bounce. Others, like myself, would rather avoid playing at all. Anyway, my point simply is that, as your blog has sought to demonstrate, there are too many companies like this which have listed under less-than-admirable auspices of auditors, investment bankers, promoters and more often than not, real fraud in some instances. And the "dumb money" retains its herd-like instinct.
- KC

Anonymous said...

John, if you truly wanted to do a public service you'd keep quiet because...

...there are tons of poor investors who bought above 20.00.

You already had your fun apparently shorting it down and making tons of money while the investors have lost tons of money.

LGFTY sure can trade in the 5.00-6.00 range

jimmy james said...

I don't agree with you on this one, actually. Well, I agree that Longtop is a turd, but I don't think the SEC should care. Let the penny stock boys play their games.

To paraphrase a classic movie, "forget it, Jake, it's the pink sheets."

Out In Left Field said...

IF Mr. Left considered Longtop as having "some" value why did he call it a fraud when he was short? Why not just say it was grossly overvalued if he believed it had some "value?"

Mr. Left's "change of heart" has nothing to do with valuations of Longtop. It has to do with Mr. Left's current "position" and his greed. He wants his loyal lemmings to pump it up for him since he didn't make as much money as he wanted to on the short side.

He's a DUMP and PUMP man, loyal lemmings. Why he waited until near Friday's close to tell you to load up. That's called front running. You buy while he sells into your pump.

Stop being so stupid and start thinking for yourselves.

Anonymous said...

Let's say that shareholders are required to do their due diligence and assume certain risks when they invest in a stock. Let's also, for the sake of argument, say that a stock or a company is a fraud and someone points it out. Why is the whistleblower or the person short the stock always more hated that the perpetrators of the fraud? Can someone, anyone, tell me the answer?!

Anonymous said...

John,

I'm confused about the Andrew Left story--the last thing that I see posted on his site is about HRBN. The last time he mentions Longtop appears to be on June 16th.

What am I missing?

Also, I am a little curious--what kinds of waking/sleeping hours do Aussie investors typically keep while investing in the American markets given the 14hr time zone difference?

Anonymous said...

john,

so its come down to name calling?.....from 'strident' to 'slimey' in just a short time?

it 'appears' that you have gone above and beyond with Longtop......anger transcends normal due diligence everytime..... we see it daily on messageboards........you words suggest anger, john

at this point, i should probably mention that many of the blogs and messageboards are beginning to light up with this thought: Just how 'short' was bronte? it 'appears' that it was minimal..... and you are po'd because of just that: you made the proper call, but the 'trigger' you pulled,when you were 'short' , was from a water pistol, or perhaps a 'pop' gun.......
i know that in my trading life, I too, have suffered from 'traders block' where i simply didnt have the fortitude to make the 'trade'....oh yeah, i could make the 'call'.... any two bit talking head can make a call..... but did you really make the 'trade'? This usually separates the 'men' from the 'boys'

also.....re: " my clients have covered"........respectfully, i dont see many of your clients on this very blog, jumping up and down and doing the 'high five' dance, .....

your words, John:
"And we risked less than 2 percent of your money.
There is a word for that: dumb."

so what say you John Hempton? can you ADMIT that you misplayed the 'trade'? minimal exposure with a $3.79 cover........you 'appear' to have left a lot of money on the table, and you are ANGRY!........as the saying goes: 'you can never go broke taking profit', eh?



btw, you do get high marks for allowing negative comments on your blog. very high marks~

Anonymous said...

looks like a lot of people posting had/have a position and are none too happy about you stating your opinion John.

As an aside, found your blog a few weeks ago and have been following it/reading all the old posts since. Appreciate the work you put into this.

Anonymous said...

On what basis? It's pink sheet trading. Until unless the company is issuing some bogus PRs to pump and sell shares, no one is there to do a secondary 'HALT' on this. Yes no one! There are several companies that trades on pink that too without any reporting. Nobody cares! It's pink.

John Hempton said...

Puda was pink-sheet trading. It got halted.

Nothing like a good precedent to get me started.

John

Anonymous said...

wow...SEC probably halted 'PUDA' again because they released the same bogus PR "Puda Coal Provides Updates on Listing Status, Buyout Proposal" on Aug. 18. even after delisting and suspension.
Here the story is significantly different than others like PUDA.
BTW nice public service of 'SHORTING'. Looks like another SN*FF run in the making.

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