Deepcapture's Final Chapters On Dendreon

[Parsad]

For those that have not read the Deepcapture's expose "The Story of Dendreon", there really are some dirty bits about some well known characters in the financial industry.  Some of the connections between various firms is actually quite mind-boggling.  

 

In Chapter 12, we find out about various connections including convicted felon Sam Antar, Herb Greenberg and Roddy Boyd.  Anyone who has been on this board or its predecessor are quite familiar with Greenberg and Boyd.  Their names are up there with Peter Eavis, Fabrice Taylor, John Gwynn and Jim Chanos.  Boyd's father actually runs a large hedge fund with close connections to Milken.

 

http://www.deepcapture.com/michael-milken-60000-deaths-and-the-story-of-dendreon-chapter-12-of-15/

 

In Chapter 13, we find out that Renaissance Technologies current CFO was formerly the CFO for Steve Cohen's SAC Capital.  Many on here know that my thoughts on Renaissance's results from their proprietary trading suffer from a case of severe disbelief.  I had no idea that James Rowen had any relationship with SAC Capital.

 

http://www.deepcapture.com/michael-milken-60000-deaths-and-the-story-of-dendreon-chapter-13-of-15/

 

Chapters 14 & 15 finish up the story and the final outcome of what happened.  Cheers!

 

http://www.deepcapture.com/michael-milken-60000-deaths-and-the-story-of-dendreon-chapter-14-of-15/

 

http://www.deepcapture.com/michael-milken-60000-deaths-and-the-story-of-dendreon-chapter-15-of-15/

[watsa_is_a_randian_hero]

"Many on here know that my thoughts on Renaissance's results from their proprietary trading suffer from a case of severe disbelief."

 

Can you expand on this statement?

[smw397]

I'm glad to see this finally hit the board here.  I've been following Deep Capture closely for probably over a year now.  While I find it for the most part easy to swallow while I'm reading it - save for perhaps a bit of over-stridency in the prose from time to time - frankly I don't know to what extent it's actually credible.  Certainly those who are vilified in its pages are quick to rebut the accusations against them, but it seems mostly with ad hominem attacks against Byrne and Bagley, and maybe to a lesser extent Mitchell as well. 

 

I guess what leaves me wondering just a little bit is the fact that for so long there's no fallout for the alleged miscreants.  Lately a case here or there is finally being taken on by the SEC but for the most part the names mentioned by Deep Capture would appear to operate with impunity, even if they're not raking it in like they may have been any more.  I don't see it talked about anywhere much other than the Yahoo boards and we all know what they're worth. 

 

It's no secret that I'm relatively new to investing.  I'm very lucky to have stumbled across FFH and this board, but I've made some pretty significant mistakes along the way.  I stuck more than a little money into some companies whose technologies I really believe in but I didn't understand the uphill battles they faced or the forces that would be aligned against their succeeding.  A couple of them took on PIPE financing; one of those ceased operations but has yet to formally file for bankruptcy.  The other continues to limp along and just may recover from what was in my mind no doubt an aggressive naked shorting campaign.  At least a couple others have been hit by bear raids where I believe naked shorting was a big part of the picture.  Again, if we're to believe Deep Capture, the Reg SHO list doesn't exactly reflect the truth about it since these guys can keep rolling their positions over and grow the number of phantom shares indefinitely without the public ever knowing. 

 

If, and that's a big IF, the SEC is going to get serious about this, will all those alleged phantom shares have to be covered?  If so, there should be one helluva squeeze coming.  Then again, there are stories lately that some of the firms suspected of being the biggest violators, the ones who made the most money as things were going to hell last year, are getting hammered now even as the market comes back because they're no longer able to get away with the naked shorting that is their life blood, at least not in the volumes that they were pulling it off before.  If they go under and never cover, how does that affect the equities they've artificially diluted so badly?

 

I'd be very interested in what the community here thinks about the entire Deep Capture thesis, as well as the individual elements of the various threads they've covered over the last several months.

[Parsad]

Can you expand on this statement?

 

No need to expand.  The feeling is the same I had when I saw Usain Bolt run a 9.58 today and pull up near the finish.  Cheers!

[watsa_is_a_randian_hero]

Can you expand on this statement?

 

No need to expand.  The feeling is the same I had when I saw Usain Bolt run a 9.58 today and pull up near the finish.  Cheers!

 

I didn't know if you were implying you felt that it was a fraud and the 30% annual gains were not actually there.

[ERICOPOLY]

Can you expand on this statement?

 

No need to expand.  The feeling is the same I had when I saw Usain Bolt run a 9.58 today and pull up near the finish.  Cheers!

 

I didn't know if you were implying you felt that it was a fraud and the 30% annual gains were not actually there.

 

I didn't get that idea from his post.  Rather, I understood the meaning to be that it took more than just "proprietary trading" to post those numbers -- like he is getting an edge from somewhere else.

[Parsad]

Yes, Eric is correct.  I'm not saying that Simons is a fraud.  Just that those numbers are juiced from something.  It's just not on proprietary trading snatching a penny here or a penny there by finding mispriced trades.  Like Bolt...who ran a 9.58...I really have a hard time believing he's doing that completely unenhanced.  When five Jamaican runners all test positive, it becomes more and more difficult to believe that this guy is doing it all on his God-given gifts. 

 

Simons is notorious for keeping a lid on exactly how they make money.  He sued two former employees who left the firm because they breached their non-compete clause.  Leverage, derivatives, I don't know...but the risk/reward ratio there is skewed and I'm cautious in touting his results.  There are lies, damn lies and then there's statistics.  Numbers don't always tell the whole story.  Cheers!