UBS Research and Other Dendreon Critics Revisited -07/27/09 at 2:13 PM CDTby Mark Mitchell

Adam Kidan was named as a suspect in the murder of Gus Boulis and was questioned, but never charged. Instead, he went to jail for his dealings with Jack Abramoff, the disgraced Washington lobbyist. Moscatiello, the alleged Mafia bookkeeper, was arrested and charged with the murder. When he was released on parole, he disappeared. Lately, he has been featur...

The Dendreon Fraud: Joel Sendek of Lazard Research and ProQuest Inves... -07/24/09 at 12:10 PM CDTby Mark Mitchell

It is easy for executives of public companies to know that they are “battleground” targets of the Milken network because the members of this network have quite distinctive characteristics. Whether they be journalists tied to Cramer, financial analysts, or hedge fund managers, they are unusual among financial professionals in that they take ove...

Jim Chanos, Jonathan Aschoff and More on the Dendreon Saga -07/22/09 at 5:46 PM CDTby Mark Mitchell

When the FDA’s advisory panel voted in favor of Provenge, most Wall Street research analysts were predicting a bright future for Dendreon. But as naked short sellers piled on with ever increasing gusto, hedge fund managers continued to whisper in reporters’ ears. And two Wall Street analysts did more than whisper – they shouted, day afte...

Profiting From Demise: Steve Cohen, Millennium Management, and Dendreon -07/09/09 at 11:55 AM CDTby Mark Mitchell

D.H. Blair, the Mafia-affiliated brokerage founded by Lindsay Rosenwald’s father-in-law (the so-called “king of stock fraud”) and managed for some time by Rosenwald and Michael Milken’s former national sales manager, received much of its finance from the family of a man named Zev Wolfson. Mr. Wolfson was also closely involved with...

Bernie Madoff, D.H. Blair, Michael Milken, and the Story of Dendreon ... -07/06/09 at 7:36 PM CDTby Mark Mitchell

The first of the seven “colorful” hedge funds that held Dendreon put options (right when Provenge was on the fast track to FDA approval) was Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, managed by the Mafia-connected criminal who orchestrated a $50 billion Ponzi scheme while helping the SEC write a naked short selling loophole that came to be know...

The Madoff Exemption and the Story of Dendreon (Chapter 2) -06/30/09 at 5:32 PM CDTby Mark Mitchell

In January 2007, some 15 months after CNBC’s Jim Cramer announced that the FDA had rejected Provenge (even though the agency had not yet reviewed Provenge), the FDA assigned “priority review status” to Dendreon’s application to have the drug approved. Such status is typically granted to drugs whose trials suggest that they can sign...

Michael Milken, 60,000 Deaths, and the Story of Dendreon, Chapter 1 -06/24/09 at 1:38 PM CDTby Mark Mitchell

This story, like too many others, begins with Jim Cramer, the CNBC personality, making “a mistake.” On September 26, 2005, Cramer announced to his television audience the sad news (punctuated by funny sound effects – a clown horn, a crashing airplane) that Provenge, an experimental treatment for prostate cancer, had flopped. Thousan...

With Media Absent, a Senator Speaks Out About Naked Short Selling -05/05/09 at 7:53 PM CDTby Mark Mitchell

Last night, CNBC’s Jim Cramer interviewed Senator Ted Kaufman about the problem of abusive short selling. The Senator said: “We gotta have people feel that they’re getting a fair share and the market’s on the level…Clearly, every indication is that things went on in terms of short selling – both in Bear Stearns and Leh...

Short Selling Activist Asensio Says Naked Short Selling Should Be Legal -04/07/09 at 5:25 PM CDTby Reggie Abaca

In a response to former SEC Commissioner Roel Campos stating that there ought to be a certain level of short selling regulation, New York hedge fund manager and activist short seller Manuel Asensio responded on Bloomberg-TV: "There should be no reason to borrow stock," referring to the requirement that one should borrow stock that they sell short.  H...

Our Watchdogs and the Financial Scandal of the Century -04/04/09 at 1:26 PM CDTby Mark Mitchell

“Accountability – Integrity – Reliability” That’s the motto of the Government Accountability Office, and it almost makes you believe that there really is a functioning watchdog – somebody, aside from us Internet loons, to investigate and report on the incompetence and malfeasance that pervade our public institutions. Ce...

Jim Cramer, The Weasel Who Is Now An Investor Advocate -03/21/09 at 1:10 PM CDTby Reggie Abaca

"I'm trying," he told Jon Stewart, on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show." But he didn't say what he was really trying to do. He didn't say that he was "trying" to distance himself from those same manipulators of markets who were once his closest friends.  He didn't say he was "trying" to pretend he did not receive a Securities and Excha...