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Cowpland Reacts to Insider Trader Charges
adraken writes "Wired is reporting on the recent charges filed against Corel CEO, Michael Cowpland. Cowpland replied to the charges, "Obviously it's upsetting. And that's why I've been putting a lot of energy into proving my side is right in this situation. But, nevertheless, it's not distracting because I'm convinced there's nothing been done that's wrong -- and that will show up." The article goes into an indepth look at Cowpland and his life. "
Yummy!
Since this is a big ol' Canadian brouhaha, try the CBC for more details:
http://www.cbcnews.cbcHere's some quotes that provide a much better factual detail of what he did:
After Corel's results were released in September 1997, the average closing price of Corel stock over the next month was $5.57 - almost $3 below the $8.47 average price Cowpland had received when he sold in August.
This suggests Cowpland made $7 million more than he would have by selling when he did, rather than after the results were released.
The stock sale represented almost one-third of Cowpland's 7.9 million shares he owned in the company.
Slashdot is entertaining like pro wrestling is entertaining
YOU lose, I got lost post!!
"there's nothing done that's wrong" said he, which is an interesting way of phrasing it. Not "I didn't do it" but "it wasn't wrong." so this is probably going to be a letter-of-the-law defense.
Whether that's good or bad is for people more qualified than I to say.
Oh, yeah: one thing. This wife is "[k]nown for her dyed blonde locks and revealing outfits". How many people out there are/know a female who's known for her hair colour?
> If guilty, he faces up to two years in jail, a
> fine of up to C$1 million (US$1.48 million),
> and also possible payment of three times any
> profit made.
I'd like to point out that C$1 million is more like US$681 thousand (US$ > C$).
As soon as you're born you start dying
He is being careful with what he says alright. But he probably has nothing to worry about. The securities laws in Canada are a sick joke and the regulatory agencies are lapdogs to the securities industry. Unless the regulators execute a search warrant and find a to-do list in your hand writing that has "3) do insider trading today" checked off you are probably ok. :-O
In a famous incident, a mining company exec "A" was buddy of a former premier of British Columbia we will refer to "B". A deal for an American company to acquire this mining concern falls through and A places a phone call to B. B hangs up the phone, calls his broker and dumps all his holdings in A's company. Within hours the failed acquisition becomes public and the value of A's company's stock falls precipitously. "B" manages to avoid losses on the order of a million bucks. Both the regulatory agencies in BC and Ontario were unable to convict either A or B on insider trading! B claims that the phone call from A was just to discuss weather, sports etc. I think there was an just recently an out of court settlement to end the investigation.
It may sound weird to an American who is used to being careful with securities regulations, but I actually envy you with your SEC. They might sometimes act like Nazis but at least a**holes like Mike Cowpland would have to be a lot less brazen when they hose (or appear to hose) their investors.
1. The prosecutors allege he made a profit of CAN$7 million. Why is the fine only CAN$1 million?
2. The CBC story says that it will not affect his position in the company, which strikes me as odd if he could spend up to two years in jail...
3. An AC made a remark to the effect that Cowpland still expected to make his sales figures at the time of the stock sale, which suggests that he did not sell his stock to avoid an anticipated capital loss.
If the third remark is true, then the only serious allegation is that he lied to the investigators. I couldn't figure out what misrepresentation he was expected to have made from the allegations. Any enlightenment?
This whole thing is reeks of lawyers. Everything Cowpland has said is obviously been carefully planned. And that makes sense - even innocent people should be careful when they're under fire. I think this man is guilty as sin though. He got his hand caught in the cookie jar and I'll bet he's scared as hell right now.
1. His alleged crime was to sell stock before announcing worse than expected profits, a case of insider dealing.
2. No-one was sure whether or not he announced his sale, and what period of notice was given.
3. The stock has risen 25% since the disputed sale.
Does anyone have any new information to add to the above? The above doesn't look exactly damning...
Gee first post on an article that nobody cares about
Ya like i'd believe me if I was you!
Even though I like corel, I hope the truth comes out here - if Bob Young (or anyone else) was accurately accused of insider trading, I would not stand behind them, because I have no respect for people who do that kind of thing. However, if he just had a "premonition" and sold some stock, I'm ok with that - why take a loss if you can avoid it? As long as it's legal, go ahead.
Visit
Freedom's just another word for nothing left Zulus
Last time I read about this, Cowpland was stating that the problem stems two years back. Why is this recent?
Lowmag.net
bl0w it out yer ass retard
...but WHERE DO I GET JPGs and GIFs of his wife?!! She's f!@#ing hott!! Vavoom! ;P
1. The prosecutors allege he made a profit of CAN$7 million. Why is the fine only CAN$1 million?
2. The CBC story says that it will not affect his position in the company, which strikes me as odd if he could spend up to two years in jail...
3. An AC made a remark to the effect that Cowpland still expected to make his sales figures at the time of the stock sale, which suggests that he did not sell his stock to avoid an anticipated capital loss.
If the third remark is true, then the only serious allegation is that he lied to the investigators. I couldn't figure out what misrepresentation he was expected to have made from the allegations. Any enlightenment?
It seems to be working now (12:46PMEDT, Oct.18, 1999).
Has anyone noticed that Anonymous Coward posts are not getting moderated? They start at level0, as stated in the FAQ, but they just stay there. This has been happening a lot lately. Some really insightful and interesting AC posts are just being left at level zero. What's up?
Back to the topic...
I heard on Ottawa radio this morning that a lot of possible insider trading has been going unchecked in Ontario. They mentioned that often, just before a friendly merger, the two merging companies' stock prices go up before the merger is publicly announced. The Ontario Securities Commission has, naturally, decided to start cracking down more forcefully.
As for Mr. Cowpland, I'm not sure what his motives really were in selling that stock just before the loss announcement, but his wording casts a bit of suspicion -- even possibly hubris ("I'm convinced there's nothing been done that's wrong"). The Ottawa Citizen (a local newspaper) has probably made up its mind. The stories they've printed that I've seen have shown pictures of Cowpland "driving away in his Porsche911," and generally play up his richness. Ask yourself why someone as rich as him would need to do insider trading to "pay off his debts."
On the other hand, perhaps he did need to pay off his debts-- for his car, his mansion, his wifes' sexy dresses (and dog hair dye) and any other friviolous things he bought.
For any of you that find Marlen Cowpland (Dr. Cowpland's wife) "interesting," there's a picture somewhere of her at a party in one of those dresses with Dr. Cowpland grabbing her butt. I'm not kidding! This is true! The picture is not obscene, just funny.
1. The prosecutors allege he made a profit of CAN$7 million. Why is the fine only CAN$1 million?
2. The CBC story says that it will not affect his position in the company, which strikes me as odd if he could spend up to two years in jail...
3. An AC made a remark to the effect that Cowpland still expected to make his sales figures at the time of the stock sale, which suggests that he did not sell his stock to avoid an anticipated capital loss.
If the third remark is true, then the only serious allegation is that he lied to the investigators. I couldn't figure out what misrepresentation he was expected to have made from the allegations. Any enlightenment?
Yeah, his wife likes to show her goods! Pure Gatineau trash! Here you can see her $1million outfit, with the diamond on the nipple and all. Check her out in these pictures from various papers, etc: http://www.marlencowpland.com/
Wow. This was a boring article. Nearly half of it was about Marlen.
-russ
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
It's $1M CDN, plus up to 3 times the profit. Plus 2 yrs in jail.
-- Ever notice that fast-burning fuse looks exactly the same as slow-burning fuse? I didn't... (Edgar Montrose)