Short Term Trading Weekend Lounge: 2 - 4th Mar, page-50

Two things to consider, both involving deceptive actions by greedy profiteers. One lesser, one larger:

1) A certain investment house that recently touted a supply glut in a certain sector has been shown to have purchased a semi-decent stake in a near-term producer in said supply-glut affected sector. Ridiculous and deceitful and they should be ashamed.

2) A certain ASX tech listed company that recently went into suspension because of a revelation about dubious accounting practices has now come completely undone. The latest round of articles from a leading financial publication are both conclusive and quite damning indeed. The story has everything: Made up customer numbers, made up financials, rigged YouTube views, dubious connections to various dubious people, a reunited father/son relationship that was transforming the internet as we know it but turned out to be a lie, widespread corruption amongst insiders and investors, blind-eye dealings by high-level executives of reputable institutions fueled by greed and hubris... and a LOT of sorry (hurting, deceived and angry) shareholders who were duplicitously caught up in something that has now been revealed as a well-orchestrated scam.

It is a sad day, and has been a sad month as a number of these revelations have come to light across the tech sector in particular.

The second exampled cited, is just crazy: How certain people can coordinate the blatant extortion of this many people in this manner is a sad, as well as anger-inducing thing: for those in positions of oversight, for the companies and individuals directly responsible. So many questions about how this is even possible. Gah. The fallout from this will echo through the ASX for some time (and maybe that’s necessary and will lead to meaningful change).

But spare a thought for the victims. My goodness. Please exercise compassion if you interact with any of those affected by that second company mentioned; there’s a few sorry stories starting to emerge already.

Take care folks. Of yourselves and each other.