Comments on: Patrick Byrne, the omniscient

By: Jeff Mitchell

Jeff Mitchell — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 07:00:27 +0000

The original poster child for Byrne’s crusade against naked shorting was subprime lender Novastar. While the financial media was busy trying to call attention to Novastar’s flawed business, the Byrne-funded NCANS (National Coalition Against Naked Shorting) was busy trying to discredit the financial media. Therefore, not only did Byrne not predict the lending meltdown, he was busy portraying a subprime lender as a victim. I heartily support any effort to prevent Byrne from trying to cash in on the current financial crisis. Shame on him.

By: Tracy Coenen

Tracy Coenen — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:07:48 +0000

Come now, Peter. Let’s try for a little bit of truth here. NSS is not a “globally recognized problem.” Yes, the SEC took punitive action against short sellers, but not because there was any substantial proof of wrongdoing. The SEC did not give “a clean bill of health.” They chose to close their investigation, but that’s a far cry from a clean bill of health. Gradient has not given a clean bill of health either. I suggest you take a closer look at the press release. They’ve not endorsed anything at Overstock.

It’s interesting that you chastise me for writing about Byrne, when he’s lying to everyone about the global financial crisis. He’s trying to take credit for predicting it, when he did nothing of the sort. This post is merely an attempt to clarify what really happened. If Patrick wasn’t lying about what happened, there’d be no need for a post like this.

I’m sorry if you consider the FACTS to be vindictive – that Overstock can’t turn a profit, that Byrne can’t run the company, that Byrne is lying about his little jihad. If exposing those facts is vindictive, then I’ll gladly accept your little label.

By: Peter Landis

Peter Landis — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:58:16 +0000

Your obsessions against Byrne are nausiating. You have lost total objectivity and that makes your posts totally irresponsible. Your posts seem to impress the likes of Gary Weiss and Sam Antar but beyond that the level of respect for you is greatly diminished.

We are in a Global Financial crisis and the best you have to offer is a vindictive rant against a CEO who has been at the forefront of exposing a globally recognized problem. Recall, it was not the SEC that first addressed short selling concerns during this crisis, it was from the lands far away. And with your specialty being accounting I find it interesting that you continue to berate a company who has received a clean bill of health from the SEC and now Gradient Analytics.