Fraud Reported on StockhouseThis is your cub reporter, JLGemini, reporting live from his laptop regarding fraud on the Stockhouse discussion board for Oncolytics. While conspiracy theories have been rumoured by others, the evidence of the Stockhouse Board being used by the buy side manipulation is mounting. The credit goes to OrdinaryAverageGuy1. OrdinaryAverageGuy1 is a long moniker to type so let’s abbreviate it to A-O. You be the judge whether A-O is an institutional investor wanting to deceive retail investors based on his Stockhouse track record.
The first question for you to consider is why did A-O start to post now. In his first post, he says that he has been an investor since 2003. A-O became a member 4 days ago on Thursday, February 24th. I will quote portions from some of his 12 posts to demonstrate a pattern of deceit. Like a mystery, I will save revealing why A-O is a pro until the end
His first post on 24 Feb asks simple question. “I've held ONC since 2003. All the phase I & II trials are great, but does anybody know why none have gone ahead to phase III?” Ask yourself with the benefit of all the evidence, if this is a reasonable question for someone who bought shares away back in 2003 and has not bought any shares since 2003. By 2008, he had seen his initial investment decline in value by at least 50%. Why ask the question now when everyone is anxiously waiting to hear that the 80th patient has been enrolled in the pivotal head and neck study signally the end of phase 1 of the trial?
Without the benefit of hindsight, I responded to the question saying that it has been a long road to get FDA approval for a viral therapy. For my efforts, A-O posted the following reply: “I get all that, but with the number of phase II trials ONC has completed over the years one would expect a phase III to follow instead of more phase II trials in different clinical applications...if the phase II trials were successful. The clock is ticking on ONC's patents. I have nothing for or against the CEO. As a shareholder and a person who wants to see effective new cancer treatments brought to market, I'm beginning to wonder why the company isn't advancing this product to the final stage of clinical trials.” My reaction was A-O was not a retail investor with a question but one of the manipulators trying to sow seeds of doubt. Note the authoritarian tone, the assumed expertise in the trial process, and knowledge of Oncolytics. I saw his post as saying ONC was not a good investment because their patents were dying on the vine and countered this deception. Rjc2827 had a similar concern with his reply to A-O: ““… none have gone ahead to phase III?” The Phase II H&N Trial (REO-011) has gone ahead to become a Phase III H&N Trial under an SPA agreement from the FDA.”
I am going to skip over A-O’s transformation into a Brad whiner, after taking the time to post that he had “nothing for or against the CEO”, and heaping scorn on your cub reporter. They are in the archives for your reading pleasure.
Let’s focus on A-O’s twelfth post that was posted last night. “Reader beware: JLGemini has bought ONC on margin. His/her margin call is coming due, and he/she probably can't cover it. He/she is now trying to pump ONC in the short term in an attempt to cover his position. It is very likely that should the price spike to his sell price, he will then short ONC and trash it repeatedly and ruthlessly. In the short- and long-terms, this leads to volatility in stocks such as ONC and usually lower value for long-term shareholders.” What nonsense! It is no secret that I have margined my position in ONC to maximize my return. In a separate post, I will explain why retail investors should consider buying on margin. Margin calls do not “come due.” All knowledgeable investors know that a margin call happens when the stock price falls below a level that calculation of available margin is less than the cost of the stocks purchased on margin with interest. You either come up with the cash to cover the position or sell some stocks to get back onside. Since the margin level on ONC is between 50-70% on the accounts that I use and my overall margin level is significantly less than 50%, the risk of a margin call is not keeping me up at night. A-O flatters me by saying that I can distort the market “repeatedly and ruthlessly” leading “to volatility in stocks such as ONC and usually lower value for long-term shareholders.” Get a grip A-O.
If you look at the archive of A-O’s posts, you will see that there is a rating on each and every post. The ratings are 2s and 3s except for his second post where he was fear mongering on the dwindling life span of patents and inferring no pivotal trials. That post was ranked a 4. There are some of you who take the time to vote on a post but you are the smallest of minorities. The questions to ask is who is supporting A-O by voting and why.
Saving the best piece of circumstantial evidence to last, here is A-O’s Stockhouse page. You find it by clicking on his name. The reputation rating of 2 strongly suggests that A-O is an institutional investor. A-O started with a reputation rating of 1 as noted in my Feb 25th post, Reply to Cardu With Apologizes to the Bard.
OrdinaryAverageGuy1 2
member since 2/24/2011
quality 2 0 0 0 12
performance 1 friends people blog posts bullboard posts
tracking overall value 0 overall value 2
participation 1 0 2 0 1582
reputation 2 groups people blog reads bullboard reads
ignoring
How did A-O merit any reputation rating so quickly? It was a puzzle to your cub reporter. Reputation ratings are assigned by the Stockhouse system. They should be outside the control and influence of a participating member.
My initial thought was that A-O is one of several names used by the poster. The Stockhouse system recognizes a poster using their usual computer through cookies. It seems reasonable to assume that the reputation rating was adopted from the previous identity. I discarded this idea. I could not figure out how to create a new identity on my computer. The Stockhouse system does not allow a second identity.
I think that I have answer but do not have the means to confirm it. You supply your email address when you establish your identity on Stockhouse. The Stockhouse system can have a list of institutional email idents and can recognize a pro by his email tag. The system acknowledges their expertise by starting them off with a reputaion rating of 1. I suggest that A-O used his work email address to set up his account. The active voting caused the increase to 2.
A-O is confident that no one can track anything back to him. News flash to A-O, if my allegations are true, there are legal and professional implications if your identity is discovered. The legal liability reaches into your firm. Collusion is a bigger story for a cub reporter than a simple buy side manipulation. It could catch the attention of a regulator.