
Jonathan Lebed: Stock Manipulator, S.E.C. Nemesis, and 15 (2001) - Sujan
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/25/magazine/25STOCK-TRADER.html?pagewanted=all
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Aqueous
It's very gobsmacking that the SEC finds the time and energy to make an
example out of a 15 year old but can't muster the backbone to prosecute actual
players in the investment banking industry, who regularly engage in pump and
dump schemes exactly like the one this kid was doing!

it's almost as gobsmacking that the kid's Yahoo Finance stock pitches are
_completely indistiguishable_ from the blather on CNBC that occurs every
single day of the year. WHO THE FUCK IS TRADING ON STOCK TIPS FROM YAHOO
FINANCE MESSAGE BOARDS?

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jcheng
> WHO THE FUCK IS TRADING ON STOCK TIPS FROM YAHOO FINANCE MESSAGE BOARDS?

Not "is"; "was". This was during the dotcom bubble. A lot of people were
paying attention to Yahoo finance boards, most of them pretty unsophisticated
investors (obviously). Everybody knew someone who had made $10,000s to $MMs on
the stock market and nobody wanted to be the only sucker to miss out--like the
teachers in this story, taking stock picks from their students. Pretty crazy
times.

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tomf99
He's stopped tweeting a year ago and his website is gone, but he grew up to be
a professional stock manipulator:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFcgwZ3xjJg](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFcgwZ3xjJg)
Fox Business host confronts him (2010)

[https://twitter.com/LebedBiz](https://twitter.com/LebedBiz)

[http://www.northjersey.com/news/97250879_Still_touting_stock...](http://www.northjersey.com/news/97250879_Still_touting_stocks.html)

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Vaskerville
He's right here...site is still being updated...still making suggestions...

[http://inflation.us/](http://inflation.us/)

[https://www.youtube.com/user/InflationUS](https://www.youtube.com/user/InflationUS)

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lutusp
The linked article is a terrific inside look at the S.E.C.'s efforts to define
illegal market manipulation -- and failing.

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yetanotherphd
The main point of the article: that all stock prices are artificial, and so
there is no such thing as market manipulation, is wrong.

Stock prices reflect the expected future dividends of a stock given current
information. If a person intentionally gives wrong or misleading information
to the public, and this results in shift in the stock price, then this could
be market manipulation.

The author _is_ correct in stating that it is hard to distinguish a person
giving their honest opinion about a stock they own, and market manipulation.
However, that doesn't mean that the concept of market manipulation is ill-
defined.

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PhantomGremlin
I'll chime in: Me too! Me too! Me too! I also think it's a great story, well
told by Michael Lewis.

This teenager figured out exactly what was happening in the stock market in
the late '90s up to the 1st dotcom crash (IMO the 2nd crash of Internet
momentum stocks is coming soon). The kid was very wise for his years. The SEC,
on the other hand, appeared to be clueless clowns.

I was, however, disappointed to see the links here to the kid's recent
activity. It looks like he's simply continued his promotion of penny stocks. I
hate to sound cliched, but "meh". I see a lot of wasted potential.

Why? Because this isn't 1999. His activities can't be nearly as profitable.
There's too much noise on the Internet, he's now a little fish in a very big
pond.

But what do I know? Not much. In 1999 I was an American "salaryman", watching
incredulously while stocks levitated almost to the moon, and yet I wasn't
smart enough to make a few bucks speculating before the whole thing imploded.

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diydsp
Well-written article! Wryly amusing in a laugh-out-loud. Thanks for this!

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pmorici
This story would make a tremendous satirical comedy.

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defen
William Gaddis already did it, back in 1975:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J_R](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J_R)

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mentos
Really good read, scrolled up to see the author, 'Michael Lewis', the author
of Liar's Poker, Moneyball, et al

