Nova Law

Gold Reserve, Crystallex Jump on Government Permits

I'm going to do something that Cara never does, which is admit a mistake. In my previous post I erroneously ascribed the "dead to me" quote to Bill Cara. It was actually made by a poster using the handle "Big Bill." My mistake.

But Cara's real quote was almost the same thing - on March 13 Cara said "I have written my last blog on Crystallex because I am not going to join the circus."

But the circus is back in town, and the carny named Cara is back at work.

www.billcara.com/archi...

Gold Reserve, Crystallex Jump on Government Permits

Holding this stock is no better than going to the casino and putting down your money on "Red" or "Black." In fact, there is much more transparency in a casino than in this stock, which has fired its senior management and had its auditors quit in the past month, all of which are terrible signs that some kind of malfeasance is at work.

The fact that KRY bounces around on speculation and rumor shows the lack of any true value. Next week Chavez can give a speech about nationalizations, and the stock will drop by a third. This is not investing, it is gambling, pure and simple.

On March 13, Cara announced that he would have nothing further to say about this stock: "all I am saying is this company is dead to me." When it blips up on rumor and speculation, as it did yesterday, he's back to his old trick of pumping it and trying to take credit. A typical dishonest Cara move. I believe that he's doing this in order to give himself a "track record" to attract business to his newly-announced Bahamas-based investment advisory service. If you're sucker enough to entrust this man with your money, then be prepared to lose it all. Give it a nice party before you ship it across the Florida Straits, where it can finance a retirement lifestyle for a blogger with a history of bad financial and market calls.

The "dead to me" quote:

www.billcara.com/archi...

Crystallex on the Regulator’s Radar

What I find amusing in Cara's original posting is his present claim that the "one reason, and one reason only" that he began to tout KRY was because of now-fired CEO Todd Bruce. Cara ascribes truthfulness and purity of intent to his friend, which excoriating present KRY management for the "tricks of leading people on with respect to the timing of the environmental permit."

Todd Bruce was one of the worst offenders in making empty claims about that ever-elusive environmental permit. Here is an interview Bruce gave in June 2006 where he promised the KRY is "in the final administrative stages of being issued the final environmental permit."

www.twst.com/ceos/AEF6...

Yet Cara dishonestly gives his friend a pass, while implying that the lying over the environmental permit is a fault only of current management.

New news today - KRY's Chief Financial Officer quit or was fired. Yet Cara still refuses to rescind his "buy" recommendation. Which leads to the question: What kind of malfeasance on the part of KRY would cause Cara to change his buy recommendation?

Crystallex on the Regulator’s Radar

Cara continues to tout KRY. How far lower does it have to drop before he admits his error?

Crystallex on the Regulator’s Radar

The post is a showcase of Cara's dishonest posting style.

Cara claims that there was only "one reason" he recommended KRY as a buy, namely, ex-CEO Todd Bruce.

Go back to Cara's January 3 post wherein he anointed KRY as his "2007 Stock of the Year":

gold.seekingalpha.com/...

Notice anything? What I noticed was that there was ABSOLUTELY NO MENTION by Cara of CEO Todd Bruce. Certainly nothing to support his claim that Todd Bruce was the only reason why the company is worth buying.

Jump forward a bit to when Todd Bruce was fired by KRY's board. Did Cara tell you to drop the stock, since his "only reason" to own the company was now unemployed? No - just the opposite. He took Bruce's firing as a reason to again tout the stock as being "in play" as a takeover candidate. Here's the proof:

On February 1, Cara opined: "A big piece of news for this Board is that Crystallex has replaced Todd Bruce with Gord Thompson as CEO, and the company says they are close to getting the environmental permit. If the latter is the case, then my friend Todd is leaving for one reason; this company is going to be in play as majors Gold Fields, Barrick, Goldcorp and IAMGOLD will be throwing their acquisitor's hat into the ring. Stay tuned with KRY."

www.billcara.com/archi...

Cara's final dishonesty in this post comes from the fact that he castigates KRY's current management in this post for being up to "old tricks" for "misleading people" as to the status of their long-sought-after environmental permit. Yet he totally ignores the fact that his friend Todd Bruce has a long history of making exactly the same kinds of misleading claims about the permit. Here are at least three different times when Todd Bruce claimed the granting of the permit was imminent:

www.twst.com/ceos/AEF6...
gold.seekingalpha.com/...
www.prnewswire.com/cgi...;STORY=/www/story/07-2...

Cara is legendary in making excuses and bogus claims, such as these discussed here. He should apologize for misleading people into buying KRY and losing them a quarter of their money since January 3.

Nothing New in Crystallex Presentation

Here's something new - Crystallex's auditors have resigned. Such resignations are very often a sign of malfeasance on the part of the company. Not surprisingly, Cara gives no good reason why Deloitte & Touche refused to audit this company's books anymore. None of the possible answers are positive for the company, but Cara nevertheless reiterates his buy recommendation. KRY's shares are now down to 2.75, for a total loss of over 25% since Cara anointed KRY his "Stock of the Year 2007."

With a "Stock of the Year" like KRY, I wonder what the "Bill Cara Stock of the Year 2001" was, Enron? Worldcom?

www.billcara.com/archi...

For all you people wanting to go long on KRY, don't buy yet - you will get a chance to buy at lower prices before KRY ultimately goes to its real value, which is probably zero.

Nothing New in Crystallex Presentation

Hello solo,

On January 3, 2007, Cara strongly recommended shares in Crystallex, which trades on the AMEX as KRY, opining that it was going to US$10:

gold.seekingalpha.com/...

According to the chart on quote.yahoo.com, KRY closed January 3 at US$3.68. As of my last comment, on March 1, it closed at US$2.99. As of 2:45ET on this date, it's trading at 2.85. So the loss on Cara's recommendation right now is over 22%.

While you may know "that KRY is a highly speculative buy and can fluctuate wildly on any given day," I submit to you that most people don't, and that most people can't tolerate losing nearly a quarter of their investment in two months.

Nothing New in Crystallex Presentation

Actually, the only thing new is that if you followed Cara's advice and bought KRY on January 3 when he recommended loading up on it, is that you would have lost 18% of your money (based on the current price of 3.00 per share). This was yet another terrible recommendation from Cara - and reading his comments today, one gets the impression that he's running away from his "Stock of the Year 2007." And as usual, no disclosure of whether or not he has a position.

Cara's buy recommendation at 3.68 can be found here:

gold.seekingalpha.com/...

Crystallex Affair Requires SEC Investigation

Speaking of SEC investigations - BillCara.com was involved today in circulatiing a bogus story attributed to Dow Jones wherein the five-years' delayed KRY mining permit was supposedly "approved." Immediately the stock rose from 2.80 to 3.10 before falling back.

Details were here as of 4:30pm EST, not sure if they will disappear through editing of his website, so I have taken a screenshot to preserve the possible evidence.

www.billcara.com/archi...

Circulating false and bogus stories is illegal in every jurisdiction in North America. The perpetrator(s) ought to receive scrutiny from the SEC, RCMP, FBI, or other law enforcement agency. This looks very, very bad for Mr. Cara's already-tattered credibility.

Crystallex Affair Requires SEC Investigation

As I have observed here on Seeking Alpha, Bill Cara specializes in conspiracy theories, blaming everybody else except himself for his poor investing choices.

George Bush is a regular cause of his woes. Also Goldman Sachs. And recently, the reporters at Dow Jones and Bloomberg have been accused of being crooked by Cara.

The best place for him to look for the cause of his investing woes is in the mirror. KRY is a company with no earnings, revenues which have fallen by 50% over the last couple years, very little cash left, and the only asset is the dwindling hope that the self-proclaimed socialist dictator Hugo Chavez allows them to do some mining in Venezuela. In short, it is a disaster masquerading as a publicly-traded company.

Cara should be ashamed of himself for causing innocent people to lose money by pumping up KRY. Perhaps someone will be angry enough to file a civil action against him. Given his consistent lack of disclosure and dubious reliability, such a case would be an interesting landmark.

Crystallex Going Up with a Bullet

Brendan, Cara is fixated on this stock. There's no good reason for it unless there is a financial motive at work for him.

While he claims to have no "current" position in the stock, I am not sure I believe it. Indeed, in his blog he has hinted at having positions in KRY. So there is definitely a "pump and dump" danger when reading this blog.

While Cara was quick to tout this stock on January 11 when it gapped up from 3.25 to 3.54, yet is silent when it immediately tanks back down to today's level of 3.18 (11:30am EST). The trading tape shows that political risk isn't the only thing at work here: there is a great danger in the manipulations and touting of this stock and the "traders" bouncing in and out.

A trader with a public audience could tout a gap up in KRY yesterday at 3.54 and then initiate a short position when the underlying story (exprorpriation, no earnings, no mining permit, declining margins) remains the same. "Humungous Bank and Broker" is not the only entity capable of reaching into our pockets and removing money with a quick scalp, especially not with a near-penny stock the likes of KRY.

No Reason To Panic On Crystallex

KRY down another .05 today, on three times the normal volume.

No Reason To Panic On Crystallex

Richard, that interesting tidbit was added by Cara late yesterday. The original touts of KRY as well as this "What? Me worry?" posting were bereft of disclosure. Typically Cara touts or slams stocks without disclosing any of his positions, which in my opinion makes his commentary rather suspect.

No Reason To Panic On Crystallex

1/3/07: Cara's tout of KRY as "Stock of the Year" - Price 3.68

1/9/07: Cara says no reason to panic - Price 3.13

Cara's total loss in six days - 15%

No Reason To Panic On Crystallex

Brendan, what you need to keep in mind is that Cara is a big Chavez supporter. When Hugo came to the United Nations and accused President Bush of being Satan, (causing Republicans, Democrats, and everybody with a thinking mind to condemn him), Cara's reaction was to post "Enough With the Venezuela Bashing!"

www.billcara.com/archi...