Ex-newsletter editor fined $540,000 for pumping up penny stock prices in The Calandra Report.Thom Calandra Thom Calandra was the founding editor and chief columnist for CBS MarketWatch.com until his resignation in 2004. He subsequently settled civil fraud charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission. , a founder and former columnist for CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. MarketWatch.com and editor of The Calandra Report, an internet investment newsletter, was ordered to pay more than $540,000 to settle federal regulators' charges that he used the newsletter to pump up the price of penny stocks Inexpensive issues of stock, typically selling at less than $1 a share, in companies that often are newly formed or involved in highly speculative ventures. Penny stocks are usually available for sale over-the-counter, that is, among brokers and customers themselves, as he owned before selling them. In a complaint filed January 10, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Calandra of using his newsletter to promote, in the words of The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times, "the thinly traded Thinly traded Infrequently traded. stocks of 23 companies, without disclosing that he owned them, and then went on to sell them for a gain of more than $405,000." He also failed to inform his readers that he received heavily discounted shares in two mining companies that he recommended in the newsletter before selling them for a large profit, the complaint said. Regulators said their investigation found more than 100 transactions in 23 different securities that were discussed in the newsletter. Calandra, without admitting or denying any wrongdoing wrong·do·er n. One who does wrong, especially morally or ethically. wrong  do , agreed to return more than $416,000 in trading profits and interest and to pay a civil penalty of $125,000. He helped found CBS Market-Watch in 1997 after covering the financial markets for more than 20. He resigned as its chief commentator a year ago after the S.E.C. notified him of an informal inquiry into his trading practices. CBS MarketWatch said it's cooperating fully with the S.E.C.'s investigation of Calandra. (Dow Jones is in the process of buying MarketWatch Inc. for $519 million in cash, NL/NL 11/30/04.) Michael S. Dicke, a deputy assistant district administrator in the S.E.C.'s enforcement division, said, "It's not everyday that you find a respected financial journalist, who has a large readership, and then find them selling stocks. It was a serious betrayal of Mr. Calandra's readership." Attempts to reach Thom Calandra and access his website were unsuccessful. |
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