In case you missed it, Timothy Sykes promoted IRYS this morning in an email to those who signed up to his free promotional email list for the re-launch of his longer-term penny stock trading newsletter. See the email online here. The disclaimer from his email is as follows (bold added by me):
DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is a paid advertisement and is neither an offer nor recommendation to buy or sell any security. We hold no investment licenses and are thus neither licensed nor qualified to provide investment advice. The content in this report or email is not provided to any individual with a view toward their individual circumstances. Millionaire Media, LLC and Market Authority, LLC, have been compensated one hundred thousand dollars for the distribution of this particular email. Any future email regarding a specific company will be the result of an advertising and promotional campaign for which Millionaire Media, LLC and Market Authority receives compensation. This compensation constitutes a conflict of interest, as to our ability to remain objective in our communication regarding the profiled company. Because of this conflict, individuals are strongly encouraged to not use this newsletter as the basis for any investment decision. Millionaire Media and Market Authority do not hold positions in the covered company.
While all information is believed to be reliable, it is not guaranteed by us to be accurate. Individuals should assume that all information contained in our newsletter is not trustworthy unless verified by their own independent research. Also, because events and circumstances frequently do not occur as expected, there will likely be differences between the any predictions and actual results. Always consult a real licensed investment professional before making any investment decision. Be extremely careful, investing in securities carries a high degree of risk; you may likely lose some or all of the investment.Market Authority is also not a registered investment adviser. We do not and will not provide personalized investment advice. Market Authority publishes opinionated information about finance and trading that we believe our subscribers may be interested in. Click here to view our entire dilsclaimer.
Past performance is not indicative of future results.
[Update 3/5/2011 – See Tim’s blog post about this]
I have to acknowledge my failure in this situation. Tim asked my opinion on him doing an ‘ethical’ stock promotion some time ago. I was vehemently against the idea of him doing that — I felt that he would take a huge hit to his reputation even in a best-case scenario. If the pump were to bomb and his subscribers lost money the hit to his reputation would be huge, I thought. I feel now that I failed and I should have been more against it — I should have said that I would cease working with/for Tim if he did ever get paid to promote a stock.
The fact of the matter is that it is hard if not impossible to have a successful stock promotion without blatantly lying. The whole point of stock promotion is to get suckers to invest in worthless companies so that insiders or other large shareholders can sell their shares. If mostly day-traders buy a promoted stock, then they will buy from the promoters at first but then their sells later in the day will crowd out the sells of the promoters. Longer-term investors will buy and hold for days or weeks or months or years and thus not compete with the promoters to sell stock.
By promoting a stock while not actually hyping it up, the promoter will get fewer buyers (mostly day-traders) and the promotion will do poorly. I believe we are already seeing this in IRYS, where there was a bunch of buying in the first 15 minutes after the open, sending it up from its .755 open to a brief high of .83, before it started fading. The current price action does not bode well for the stock.
If you look at Tim’s email you will see that he didn’t put absurd price targets in it nor did he hype up the company. That makes his stock promotion less unethical than others. It still leaves a sour taste in my mouth and I know more than a few of his subscribers are unhappy with Tim for engaging in any stock promotion.
As to what I did with IRYS, I bought 21,000 shares at the open and sold almost all those shares in the first 15 minutes (I sold my last shares at $0.801 at 10:54 AM EST) . I have no position remaining and I netted just over $870 in profits. I did not mention my buys in Tim’s chat but said I would not discuss my trading of the stock; as with all pumps, I urged everyone to be careful and not to chase the stock. I did alert when I had sold most of my shares and when I sold the last of my shares so that people in chat would think twice before buying it at the elevated prices it was at (over 80 cents). I no longer have a position in IRYS and I will not buy it again (I may short it in the future). I always strive to maintain the highest levels of ethical behavior and I believe that I acted in such a way as to minimize not just any conflict of interest but even the appearance thereof. That being said, I am a trader first and a blogger and chat moderator second — I was not going to avoid trading IRYS just because Tim Sykes was the one pumping it.
Disclaimer: No positions in any stocks mentioned. I have multiple business relationships with Timothy Sykes — please see my terms of use for details. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.
I think it’s fair to say that Timothy Sykes is a stock promoter and his reputation can be thrown outside the window right now. Often he says that stock promoters are scum but it seems that Tim isn’t much better than the promoters he’s criticizing.
Actually I just posted on my blog, I don’t think small companies wanting exposure is that bad…its called advertising and its America…the problem is the way its been done in the past and I aim to change that…you’re welcome in advance for my efforts, ingrates like you don’t deserve it…but the good news is “my reputation” comes down to picking good plays long and short, which I’ll continue to do as you know my strategy works 70%+ of the time, better than anyone else it seems
Tim
IRYS crashed today, The SEC needs to look into Timmy pump and dump
How many people got crushed on this one.
Timmy is a hypocrite, I guess $100,000 is to much to turn away.
I still thinks its a early april fools joke….. im shocked….if its true… dont know what to think.
Nope. I’m the only one who pulls crazy April Fool’s Day jokes a month in advance.
No chuck Norris is 🙂
So i read his Sunday post… he Makes a good Defense…Lets see what the Future holds… i Especially like his quote at the end… Tim…. “To those who believe in me, thank you, Im about to prove you Right, in some Big and Interesting ways…. in the coming years. #pennystockevolution” ) “Viva la Evolution!” =)
Geez! I guess greed is getting the better of him. Not good for his biz. He finally crossed the line in the sand that he shouldn’t of, unless he see’s more $ in the future being a promoter.
My guess is, he see’s the $ Lebed and others are making and can’t help himself.
You were right on Michael telling him it wasn’t a good idea. This isn’t going to go over well with his followers and future followers.
Thanks for the news
I suppose his action’s will give you and any ethical person working with him some pause.
Very murky spot to be in. His whole operation now is going to be in question.
I like your honesty. He’s put you in an awkward position I don’t envy.
As Tim is so fond of saying when discussing OTC’s: “Welcome to the gutter.”
I heard rumors of this December 2011. Never thought I’d see the day. All for a measly 100k (50k to Tim by his word) that he could easily make applying the shorting stategy he promotes to everyone else. He has the $ and the brokerage accounts needed to make that pretty easy for himself, but chooses not to. Oh well. Mike your the last guy standing now.
Seems like Tim shut down the Comment box , from his last Blog post all comment were Bashing Tim,,,, I’m having a hard time with this and will probably end up canceling my Sub to his website,,,, But MG if you ever decide to leave Tim and Open your own Service I would Join in a Minuet !!!!!!!,,,,,, I feel Tim Sykes has been over come with Greed and now his Reputation is Tarnished ,,,, like TMcNasty said ” your the last guy standing ” Thanks for your Honesty !!!!
I would hardly say I’m the last one standing. There are plenty of traders out there — although most of them aren’t selling anything because they are interested only in trading. I do try to act ethically but I have rarely lived up to the standard I try to hold myself to.
Frankly I don’t blame Tim for shutting off comments on that post — most of the comments I saw were just pure vitriol. It is absurd to say that Tim is pure evil and that he is doing it for the money and all he does is rip people off. I think it highly likely that this whole affair will decrease Tim’s earnings and I believe he was aware of that likelihood. He is without a doubt acting out of good motives in this respect, trying to reform stock promotion, even if I believe that is futile and misguided.
That is a very, very good question.
Thank you very much for your thoughts, Jamal. I do appreciate your opinion and hold it in high esteem.
Dear Michael,
I am very concerned and feel very strongly about a recent issue and worried that some inexperienced investors may hurt themselves financially in a severe way.
You have always been held in high esteem by your peers because of your integrity and unswerving morals. However, Tim’s shady behavior & questionable ethics has been put to the test even as recently and aside from his current stint as a stock promoter.
I recently posted these comments on his blog and actually caught him in a blatant lie. He of course deleted them soon after but not before I paint shopped them on to my hard drive as historical proof that Tim is a liar. Please can I have your honest take on the following issue at hand? I am referring to his shameless endorsement of JLex24’s recent 5k win on AWSR and the dangerous message he is imparting.
Here’s the link to the original blog in dispute:
http://www.timothysykes.com/2012/02/how-to-make-10x-your-money-within-a-few-months-be-prepared-be-prepared-be-prepared/
And here are my concerns & rebuttals to that blogpost and his reply:
http://www.bilderload.com/bild/181404/jlex24tradewithcommentbyjustthefactsZOXV7.png
http://www.bilderload.com/bild/181408/jlex24tradepart2Z2164.png
http://www.bilderload.com/bild/181409/jlex24tradepart3LUYP7.png
Your candid views are always appreciated,
Sincerely,
JustTheFacts
I think Tim was just being loose with the term ‘breakout’. He has bought pure pumps in the past and Jarmal’s trade is an example of how one can make good money doing that. Was Jarmal chasing? Yes. I don’t think the risk/reward buying where he bought was very good. So he did get somewhat lucky. I don’t disagree with you.
That being said, I think you are overstating your case. Sadly, what sells is not following good trading rules, but making money quickly. Tim is not unique for highlighting a quick, highly profitable trade rather than say a better-thought-out trade that made less money.
I guess he’s jealous of some of the pumpers out there, like Lion and several others. Does he wanna compete with these guys to see who can get the biggest.
We all know Tim is very competitive, and a workaholic that barely sleeps. Is this another one of his inner challenges to see if he can make it bear fruit.
This shouldn’t hurt you what-so-ever though. If you wanna quit, go ahead. But there’s not a single person that can hold this against you. It’s plain that he tried to be as ethical as he could, while still making it enticing.
I have never fully embraced Tim and his antics, it’s one of the reasons I don’t trade as much as I could. When you start your paid site I’ll be there with bells on.
I guess to say, it’s one of the reasons I don’t hang in chat as much as I could, has nothing to do with trading.
For the record I am not a subscriber of any newsletter, promoter etc. I am a full time successful day trader of equities (no penny’s….yet :-} ) and have been for several years. I have known of Tim since his blog/website started years ago, and have loosely been watching him since.
I found Michael through his affiliation with Tim and have read Michael’s blog for a bit and like his honesty and thorough analysis of information regarding trading.
With that being said, at this point from my view, Michael is about the only transparent thing left of Tim’s operation.
I agree with Jamal’s assessment of the situation. You are at point in your relations with Tim (per his recent stock promotion), by no fault of your own, that requires serious thought and consideration going forward. If you have any thoughts or plans of starting your own stock related newsletter or whatever, this may be the time to save your integrity/reputation and kindly part ways with him.
Just my 2 cents, coming from a person that respects your work and integrity.
For what it’s worth, here are my thoughts on the whole thing. While promoting a company without hyping it up is a gray area at best, Tim did appear to do that with his first email. “I only did it because I’d get to be among the first to release the pick, giving you the best opportunity possible.” While I don’t mind this idea, I agree with you that it’s doomed to fail if you’re only attracting daytraders and nobody actually believes in the company.
Given the content of the first email, I was okay with the situation. However, Tim crossed a line in the second email that I’m surprised nobody has discussed. Tim links a copy of the hard mailer, and states, “Check out the direct mailer they’re sending to low-cap stock enthusiasts so that you can get a better idea of what this company does.” To present material from the hard mailer as if it’s reliable is no doubt unethical. Also, Tim states, “Do I think this is really the next Groupon killer? Maybe. Not yet, though.” To even bring it up as a possibility is absurd in my opinion. No legitimate company would hire promoters to run a $1 million + campaign, and this pump and dump will crash and burn like all others eventually do.
To sum up my thoughts, if Tim wants to go ahead and try to be an ethical, transparent pumper so be it, but I doubt he has much success for the reasons discussed above. If he continues to cross the line like he did in that second email though, his image is shattered and he’s no better than the rest of the promoters.
Michael, I love having you in the timalerts chatroom, however you may want to distance yourself from this, especially if Tim can’t keep his pump content ethical. I’m fairly certain I would if I were in your shoes.
http://www.padfield.com/1997/goodmen.html
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
So Mr Goode, the trading community now waits & watches to see………….
Thank you for your post Michael! I agree with you and everyone else who has posted. Please let me know if you ever decide to do your own newsletter and chat room. Tim has become no better than Lebed. I guess the greed has gotten the best of him.
if he promotes the stock and it bombs doesnt that pretty much mean his reputation is toast but if irys surges at all he saves his skin ethicaly?
From an ethical standpoint I don’t think it matters what IRYS does.
what does it mean for you as the moderator of his chatroom and business partner? you jumping ship now or do you just feel like youre flying with a verified skull and crossbones flag?
Good question. One that I cannot yet answer.
Michael,
I don’t want to sound too melodramatic, but I really felt betrayed today. I’ve learned a lot from Tim – and he has pioneered a lot of what we take for granted now. I have always felt that 99% of the criticism directed toward Tim was BS jealousy and ingrates. But today really stung. I’m wondering if Tim will have a major mea culpa next week – that or a justification. We all make mistakes, and I truly think this was one. If Tim steps up and says he blew it, I think a lot of us can move on from that. Until then, I think we would understand if you stepped back for a week to weigh your options. This really bothered me, and not much bothers me.
Thanks for the honest post, I always respected you and this affirms my belief. I think now is the time to sever ties with that greedy and pompous liar, and start your own service. People strive to find ethical trader teachers, so hope you can be one of them.
Hi everyone,
I am kinda new at this OTC promotion thing. How do you scan for those otc stocks and how did you get IRYS ?
Cheers
It all depends on being on the right mailing list.
Michael,
There are challenging and unexpected times in life and you are now in the middle of one. Use this as an opportunity to stand on your own wings. You whispered about your new project; I guess now it is the time to build it, swiftly and decisively. For sure, you haven’t got Tim’s marketing skill or the same level of energy. Few people in the world have. But, you are highly regarded within the pennystock community and your reputation worth much more. I guess Tim will try to convince one way or another. Cut the umbilical cord, now. Do not compromise yourself. Stay as you are and move ahead.
Take care,
Yaba
I am respected by some, reviled by a bunch too. I am however mostly proud of the enemies I have made, although there is at least one that I regret making my enemy simply because it was unnecessary and my actions were not above reproach.
Don’t make a decision just yet Michael, I think Tim’s got something up his sleeve. Tim is not a sell out, I’ve been following him long enough to be sure of that. It’s all part of a bigger plan.
Hey Michael,
Isn’t Tim breaking the law now he promotes stocks? I mean, the SEC is now going to catch him right? Or am I missing something here?
I saw a tweet from Tim saying “he did this on purpose”, so I guess there is a chance there is a bigger plan or he does this promotion thing 1 time and then justifies it in a way that “he could learn a lot from it and so could we”. In other words, he promotes a stock 1 time so that he can get the 100.000$ and then justify it to the community saying it’s a learning experience. This would be typical Tim.
Regards,
Haxor.
Stock promotion is not illegal unless you manipulate the stock or blatantly lie. He has said he has a big blog post coming on Sunday that will explain everything. We are all waiting.
Ah… a blog post…sunday…humm.. and he got 100K$ to learn this right O.o
Well there is one thing that the old “slim” Tim did teach. Promoter will lie, cheat and sell there own mother. Tim teach us that a promoter is like a cheater (or a killer) a scumbag, once he cheat on you (or kill someone), you cannot trust him anymore.
The weak-minded have ever been ready to obey one who wields great power. Those who learned the powers of the dark side were quick to exploit this weakness. Again and again the dark side has surged forth, like a storm. Those who mastered dark power became dark power. They unleashed destruction, for no other reason than for selfish gain. They despoiled nations and destroyed whole civilizations. Some of them, I am ashamed to say, were Jedi.
😉
I am only recently trying to be more of a follower of Tim’s despite being a member for a while (which was a waste of money, but oh well). I still want to learn how to do the whole short selling strategy successfully, but this thing really gives me pause. Also, I had thought maybe some of the other ‘gurus’ on the profit.ly site might be worth giving a shot eventually, but these actions actually call into question all of their credibility. The prepromotion guy was already kind of shady, but I figured you knew what you were getting into if you paid for his service. The other gurus though might be pretty pissed I would think though.
Ye ALL of little faith, when I first started publicly teaching how to short sell penny stocks, I faced this EXACT same kind of hate and ignorance…then after a few years, people realized I innovated the space dramatically…this is no different so I say you’re welcome in advance for my efforts…and PS I will be giving away much of the promotion money I make…ooooo, I have a plan, yah that right you moron jackals
Tim
I have faith Tim
knowing what a devious, hypocrytical liar sykes is, i would not be surprised if “Chris” is sykes.
If you ask Lebed or whoever pumpers, he may tell you the exact same bullshit:
– “I face hate and ignorance”
– “I will be giving away much of the promotion money I make”
– “I have a plan”
Yeh, sure. So prove it. Transparency is the only way to go.
Hopefully, Michael and the like (me included) are vigilent, we trust nobody, we doubt everything. Currently, you are WRONG as long as you can’t show the opposite.
Swear, little boy, but swearing doesn’t make you a better person.
You are a scumbag stock promoter. Everything you have said about stock promoters in the past applies to you (they are “soulless scum”, going “straight to hell”, etc.). A warning to anybody who plans to sign up to this scumbag’s service: you will received stock promotions every day guised as “stock picks”. He will sell into your buying. Stay away!!!
Yo Tim, where the F*** is your disclaimer on your site that you promoted $IRYS for 100K$, cuz c’mon son we all know where you list came from. We know that the email had a disclaimer for the pump, BUT not your site witch is still part of MMedia LLC. can wait to see what the SEC will think about that you promoter. Like the Slim Tim once said promoter are stupid and retarded scumbags.
Wow… I don’t know what to expect on sunday. I keep thinking about TIMFundamentals Part Duex. He had a Epiphany there. Is he trying to figure out when stock promoters are hired?
As a follower of Tim’s strategy all I can say is we need more good pumps, at best we get one great pump a quarter. If Tim promotes the stocks well then we should get more. Sure some might say it’s a very conflicted strategy, but at the end of the day we as subscribers should know better as we see how the gutter operates first hand. Tim has said time and time again that companies don’t do their PR right and that he wishes he could do it for them instead, now he can. Tim could even give them basic business advice, like getting FUSE to have their on-line payment system working on day one. There’s loads of ways these companies could be brought up to speed, sure they might be shams to start with but who knows which ones might turn out to be the next True Religion Jeans? Take BVSN for example, with their massively inflated share price, they could raise loads of capital and maybe bring their ClearVale platform up to scratch. Sure it’s crap now, but you throw enough money at it for a few months and it might turn out ok. I suppose in time we’ll see how this all pans out, does Tim have a bigger plan we can’t see fully yet? Who knows. Either way, let’s keep an open mind and see what happens.
Wakeup dude! Why would one pay the Sykes subcription let say the usual 49.95$ per month, when all they have to do is join a Lebed mail list for FREE and get a promo pick !?
And the fact to the matter is compensation, if you get 1$ or 100K$ to promote it is still conflict of interest (what you do with the money after that does not really matter ei. buying cocaine-car-giving it await to a poor orphanage in africa – etc) at the base the promoter still got compensated for is promotion and YES at the end of the pump SOME noob or poor soul with get to be the bagholder. It is a zero sum game at the end!
Are you so down the rabbit hold that you don’t remember what the light look like !?
And i wonder also how come there is not disclaimer for the pump of $IRYS on timothysykes.com and profit,ly and all the site of Millionaire Media LLC. After all there are the one that got compensated for the promotion, hence all owning of the LLC show hold a disclaimer of the pump. Even APS&PPS&Lebed have the disclaimer of they pump O.o
You’re probably right, I don’t remember what the light looks like any more. I don’t really care either. All I can about is playing low risk profitable set-ups. I don’t care where they come from and how they end up. All I care about is risk:reward and returns. Ethics are an overhead I don’t need (at least in trading anyway). You’re right though that lots of people will get sucked in and lose money, it is a zero sum game, but that’s life.
I cancelled my subscriptions with Sykes about one month ago because I felt that he did his own pump and dump on PZZI to artificially increase the price for his own personal gain. He prepared a very nice protional email with a lot of detail on why PZZI was a long term buy an hold. However, when the price spiked the next morning based on his pump, he sold his shares into the strength and made a ton on money. When he alerted his sell, PZZI pricing went right back down to his pre promotion levels.
I am not surprised at all to see that he has crossed the line even further by excepting a direct payment for promotion from the people he clearly calls the scum of the earth.
In my opinion, Sykes is actually much worse and more dangerous than normal stock promoters because Sykes has many subs that blindly follow his advice based on his teachings, alerts and Profit.ly track record. His subs trust that Sykes has their best interest at heart. However, in reality he is just using his subs to directly profit from them in an unethical manner.
At least with a stock promoter you clearly know the rules of the game… They will stab you while looking straight into your eyes… but Sykes is the worst kind of manipulator that stabs you in the back when you least expect it… and will even give the knife another turn if he can squeeze more money out of you.
In addition, I find it amazing that Sykes has no class and is completely unprofessional in how he deals with his business and subs. He has definately created an abusive type of relationship with his subs and gets away with it. Even his post in this thread is classless without any explaination or remorse whatsoever. Like a spoiled little child, I guess he thinks an aggressive offense is his best defense. I’m sure there will be many more condisending comments from him trying to spin his purpose for the pump.
I am sure Sykes will have many supporters of his new direction, but I am happy with my decision to leave Sykes’ services…
Inaccurate, PZZI was at 5.20 when I initially alerted the buy, it went up to 7+ after a few weeks and I sold into strength in the high 5s and low 6s…please don’t lie, thanks!
And yes I will treat jackals as they deserve to be treated…I would tar and feather liars like you if I could, but for now I’ll just educate you and say you’re welcome for my efforts while calling you an ingrate which is what you are
(PZZI was part of my longer term account which I alerted different than my short-term which is why Kip might be confused…he couldn’t afford a subscription to both…ignorance and poverty go hand in hand)
here is what Tim’s publisher Wealth Insider Alliance (undergoing change to Market Authority) sent affiliates on Feb. 1, 2012:
Tim Sykes has become a spokesperson for HUGE-budget stock “promoters,” and is getting paid to let his readers “front-run” their million-dollar direct mail campaigns promoting various stocks.
Penny stock promoting is HOT right now and the people involved are making millions in profit….
The companies pushing theses stocks up are making millions, and in some cases tens of millions of dollars PER stock they’re promoting!
Starting this Feb 22nd: Tim Sykes (and you, if you join this launch) will release a stock pick to all our readers that will be at the very front of a massive, million-dollar direct mail campaign that could skyrocket this stock’s price.
That’s what the presell video’s are all about… why these promotions make stocks fly and how they can get in early on one that Tim is paid to promote THAT week!
The goal is to release the pick as it’s rocketing up to our subscribers, let them see a quick and hefty profit, then have them come RUNNING to the credit card check-out page the following week to buy Tim’s paid product…
…which you’ll get 80% commissions on!
So, why are Tim and I giving away 80% first-tier, 10% second-tier and the rest to the merchant! What do we get?
Well, we get paid to promote this stock, and we’re doing it in an ethical and legal way. This pick, we’re only getting paid a total of $100,000 to endorse. If Tim’s following can push the stock high enough, however, the next pick, which comes out April 1, could earn Tim and I a cool million to share!
It all depends on how high we can make this stock fly!
“
I have made the mistake of being TOO good of a teacher, getting thousands of people who previously lost money and having no idea why to hating promoters…you should hate the past and current promoters but I failed to realize that there’s a way to give companies exposure in an honest way and that’s gonna truly revolutionize the industry…but idiots like Jamal who have made thousands of dollars using the strategies I have taught them can’t think outside the box…my bad
hey tim, let’s all “think outside the box”. let’s think of more creative ways to rob poor people of their hard earned money.
There is only one liar in this story… look in the mirror Tim. You did a fantastic job on hyping PZZI and the facts speak for themselves. Your bully tacktics that you use on your subs can’t cover up your actions this time. Until I realized that you were in fact manipulating price action for your own personal gain I believed in your service and strategy. It’s too bad greed got the best of you because it affects your partners and your subs negatively. You can reply with any outlandish acusations or defense you like, but responding to any of your future posts will be a waste of everyone’s time. You got caught with your hand in the cookie jar… end of story.
Look! The Emperor has no clothes!
Sykes pretends to be a pillar for complete transparency, yet he constantly deletes posts that expose his deceit and hypocrisy on his website, because he cannot handle any criticism that perforates the clever facade that he portrays. We are not living in Nazi Germany at the advent of World War 2 any more where propaganda was the language of the day. I think most people sooner or later experience examples of his dishonesty and realize he is a fake and a user and will twist and turn things for his own selfishness. I despise his blatant frontrunning and scalping of stocks at the expense of his subscribers. He doesn’t even deserve to be called a “trader” since the majority of his stocks are sold into the volume and price up-ticks generated from his “alerts”, leaving his subscribers holding the bag. His “long-term newsletter” is a complete fake since his idea of “long” is to sell many stocks within a few days of “alerting them.” His “buy-in alerts” is a joke and a complete rip-off. The guy’s a complete fraud, in my opinion, and you would do well to distance yourself from his corruption and immoral behavior. If you want, I can post his emails from WealthInsiderAlliance where he talks calculatingly about how to avoid getting into trouble with the SEC. In other words, how to abuse the spirit of the law without landing in jail ! Michael, do you really want to represent a person who has no moral compass or a code of ethics? Just because you can “get away” with doing something very dodgy and borderline criminal, should you still do it? What about old-fashioned values like integrity and character and walking the higher path in life? And let’s be clear: the ends NEVER justify the means. If you or I do something morally questionable but decide to donate the proceeds to a charity, does that negate the questionable act in the first place? Do the effects of the causative behavior somehow mysteriously disappear? Michael, let’s get real here and call a spade a spade. Judge a man by his actions, period. Not by his intentions or slick salesman talk. Look! The Emperor has no clothes!
Hola Reaper
long time ole buddy, hope you are well all things considered.
Man was I sad to read this news today. How unfortunate for Tim to take such a foolish risk with poor reward. He crossed a line this time. Some quick cash, especially for somone like him who is doing pretty well for himself, is not worth the unique reputation he has(d).That is(was) an enormous intangible asset behind all his enterprises.
I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt with his intentions (I read his blog from today), but I do think he will regret this decision in years to come. Perhaps the temptation was too great given how many ideas he experiments with. Perhaps he really believes that he can somehow reform the practice. Tim to his credit is always looking for an angle and he certainly has a talent for marketing and business. But that can get you in trouble too, if you don’t realize that some opportunities are best not taken.
Frankly I think this latest enterprise undermines everything Tim has tried to accomplish, from TIM Alerts to Profitly to Investimonials. Everything he has done, has been presented as being a way to bring integrity to penny stock trading. Even if this company is 100% on the up and up, Tim should avoid promotion to protect his reputational equity.
In my opinion there is no reasonable ethical way to be an advertiser for publicly traded companies and have a stock trading advice service at the same time (not to mention being a trader on top of that). You either do one or the other. Never both. If Tim’s new passion is to help small companies get exposure, then well he should do that and only that.
Sadly I must agree with Jamal’s comments to you. If you feel as I do, then you must cut ties with Tim. And the sooner the better. By stating what you’ve stated here in this blog and choosing to stay tied to Tim, you are implicitly endorsing this decision and new practice of his.
I don’t envy your position as I’m sure there are strong emotional ties that bind you among other things. But I don’t know what else you can really do.
Best of luck man.
Good to hear from you, Tasty. It has been too long. I hope all the unpleasantness we previously had talked about has blown over.
Hey Reaper
I think it largely has, but I’m not trying to push my luck too much. I only delurked because I felt you were in a jam and felt it might help to hear a familiar voice. Thanks again!
And hey man I’ll be thinking about you, good luck on whatever you decide to do. Not easy stuff man.
The problem is that I’ve been TOO good of a teacher, making all you idiots hate promoters…but I was a flawed teacher and should’ve just made you hate promoters who lie…my bad…there’s no such thing as “hurting my credibility”, it comes down to my continued success as a stock picker…will I continue shorting pumps? Yes….will I continue exposing pumps? Yes Will I continue making video lessons explaining everything? Yes…if you want to learn, learn, if not, enjoy the wilderness…what none of you people seem to understand is that this path gets my education out there to a far greater network…you’re welcome in advance as none of you see what I see
Hi Tim,
I think you may have me confused with someone else, I am not nor have I ever been a student of yours, unless you count reading some of your free material being a student. I respect your skill as a trader and as entrepreneur. I knew and disliked promoters many many years before I ever even heard of you. I have always been in the “wilderness” in your eyes I guess FWIW.
I didn’t expect you to reply to my comments and I’m sorry you may have taken offense. I tried to be pretty even handed in my comments about your latest venture and you in general, but I’ll be straight with you. I think you lost sight of the big picture here for your various Tim brands and put poison in the well of your reputation.
I see what I think you are seeing and think you’re letting a small idea ruin the big one. Yes, getting in on the promotion side can add insight for your students (and you) and may expand awareness of your services. But it also badly undercuts everything you’ve tried to establish that’s all founded on trust. You can grow your enterprises without endangering them like this.
You’ve built something pretty special here on based on transparency and frankly I don’t know how on earth you can honestly think ‘there’s no such thing as “hurting my credibility” ‘, when several of your ventures were founded on just that. In my opinion your reputation is the cornerstone of all your enterprises. The only reason they have value is because your readers etc trust you. Once you lose that it is extremely hard to get back.
This matters to you as it matters to every businessman. But especially in your case since what you are selling is basically yourself and your expertise and your integrity.
You violate that trust, or do something perceived to be violating that trust (in the world of reputation perception is reality) and you could lose what you’ve worked so hard to build.
I think you need to decide who you are Tim. An entrepreneur, a teacher, a trader or a promoter you wear all these hats now + maybe others I’m unaware of. Some of those don’t work particularly well together. You’ve pulled it off much better than just about anyone. There’s no shame in narrowing the focus, or swicthing passions if that’s what you need to do. I actually think your greatest talent is in startups.
But being a promoter puts in you in a direct conflict of interest with your other ventures especially as a teacher. You can’t serve two masters here, and as long as you are accepting money to promote stocks, you will undermine your students/users/customers faith in you.
If you don’t value what I have to say, that’s completely understandable and I wouldn’t expect you to.
but if nothing else I ask you to go talk to people you respect in the industry (especially Altucher) that you trust and listen to what they say.
I really suggest you read one of his most recent posts.
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2012/03/i-screwed-up/
good fortune to you Tim.
It’s very simple – if a company is paying a million dollars to promote a stock, this is not “investor relations” – it is bullshit. There is no way to ethically promote a stock that is only being promoted to raise the share price. If these small companies had any kind of future, they would spend the million dollars developing their profitable ideas, not their share prices. How many examples do we have of a penny stock promotion where the money the insiders made was used to actually develop the company into an actual enterprise that didn’t smell funny? On in a thousand? Can anyone name even one? There is no way that you can endorse a stock that is paying you for that endorsement and expect people to trust your opinion was not influenced by your relationship to the money involved.
Maybe Tim doesn’t see any of this because it is quite possible that he is seriously mentally ill – maybe Bipolar like Jim Cramer, more likely Narcissistic Personality Disorder, a much more serious illness that presently has no effective treatment. At least Cramer’s disorder seems to be under control because of professional treatment. Tim is out of control, and seems to be spending 24 hours a day defending his ego, with the full rage of a typical NPD when they feel that their supreme perfection has been challenged by all the unworthy below them.
I agree with tastylunch and Underground Observer here.
I might add this TIM = greed + ego.
Tim has let his success go to his head (ego) and most likely is an only child, with doting parents that fawned over him as a child. If you read the language he uses to describe people that are critical of him or his ways, he’s got problems (mental/social).
Tim, get over yourself. That might be a step in the right direction.
All this is completely irrelevant.
Gekko said it best : “It all about the money pal. The rest is conversation.”
Wow, I hope the SEC shuts this Tim character down. What scum. The level of hubris coming out of his comments on this thread is laughable. Nothing but pump and dump strategies. I fail to see how you have innovated anything. You know next to nothing about being a businessman, but you do know something about taking the easy way out. I hope you are eventually foiled for the foolishness you spout.
Fail to see me innovating, do you realize I’m the one who created Profitly, Investimonials and taught thousands of people short selling…my ego is perfectly in check, most of the commenters here are promoters I’ve exposed over the years, waste of my time…my thousands of students speak for themselves, the rest of you are useless, poor and ignorant, sorry but its the truth
Perhaps Tim’s playing of the pump-and-dumps was irritating the powers-that-be and they just figured they could shut him up by offering him enough money to work with them and they would come out ahead since he was costing them money. Just a theory.
I love going to Covestor.com and clicking Investment models and then Timothy Sykes and then on Contra Hype fund and then see full details and then scrolling down and then clicking on the “Average Subscriber (View Latest) link over the chart. You then see nobody can replicate his trades in their mirror accounts. That’s because Tim’s trades are impossible to duplicate. He defends this by saying he has special arrangements with brokers to reserve shares for shorting, which suggests he knows IN ADVANCE what stocks are being promoted. When you mention Covestor to Tim he goes into a frenzy, accusing you of not understanding anything, or being too poor or dumb to figure anything out or pay for his ripoff services. As if that would help.
Inaccurate, the reason why Covestor doesn’t work isn’t because my trades “are impossible to duplicate”, they have a $100 million minimum marketcap policy for 90 days BEFORE my trade is placed on any company, that eliminates the vast majority of my trades…so I accept your apology for your ignorance, you’re either lying or just didn’t know, either way, it’s a great example of an idiot being wrong about my strategy…yet again
Couldn”t agree more. At the end of the day it all about the promotion. what you do with the compensation (even if it to make sure that a pump is true or not) is trivial meaning.
The games is quite simple in his essence, but at what cost.
When the insider will start to dump the millions of shares those that are long (especially the day trades) will loose even more. Which on the other side of the coin is great since short sellers will make even more $$. The game will not really change that much.
This seems to be more a question of ethics then any thing else. If you don’t have any ethics well it quite simple it a great opportunity (one may even wounder why not go all the way and try to be bigger the Lebed or APS or whatever other pennystock promoter). If you have ethic that an other debate.
Nevertheless trying to say that it help POS companies that trade on the otc get some freaking needed exposure to become something of the sorry shelf is a little too far fetch. Especially when everyone (well almost) know that there are there to dump the stock at a higher value.
c”mon son a pump is a pump (Lebed or any other promoter could say there are doing an “ethical” (so freaking hilarious) promotion by not giving it a trajectory price and writing instead “wow big big huge volume incease” “there is mailing of so and so” “they spend so much money on marketing” etc…) but then again that vocabulary and meaning of words.
The thing is in life you always get what you bagging for (just sometime you don”t realize that you are bagging).
Hat off to you Tim. So people will make huge $$$ some will not. It just ethics at the end and God knows that in this day and age ethics has less value the a POS otc stock with a po box has it HQ.
Best of luck Sir.
I read Tim’s blogpost on Sunday. I was expecting something big. But there is nothing new in it.
Except “Reaper” is mentioned so many times! Apparently, Tim really wants to convince you, Michael, first and foremost. Even Saruman the White succumbed to the charms of Sauron and the attraction to power. So be careful.
This last decision from Tim is irreversible. His reputation is tarnished forever. From now on, when Tim says something, you can not tell if it is in favor of his subscribers or in favor of promoted stocks. For sure, as always, it is in favor of Tim’s wallet 😉
Sad.
Actually I will not talk about my promoted stock to my paid subscribers…you can leave if you want, that’s great, more shares available to short for the rest of us! Apology accepted for your ignorance…and we’d love REaper to stay but its up to him, I ain’t forcing anybody to do anything, just gonna keep educating and innovating
Your whole world is crumbling around you and you have zero perception as to what is happening. Pretty soon you will be your only fan. When someone is saddened or dismayed or shocked at what they perceive as a betrayal by you, your defense mechanism is to instantly discount them as idiots, and switch what would normally hurt any normal person with a heart into something that is actually welcomed by you. Presto! You come out ahead, as always! Infallible, unflappable, too bad your money will never repair your flaws. Not that you would admit to having any!
God you people are such drama queens “Your whole world is crumbling around you…” what bullshit. You don’t just need to get real, you need to take some anti-psychotics or something. I think the only real lesson learned for Tim here is maybe he should have done some work re-educating his subs first on the differences between good and bad promotion, like he does in his video comparing GS and IPO’s etc. He did too good a job of villainizing promoters and turned a lot of his subs in to zealots.
Are you suggesting the IRYS promo is a good promo? Look at the other outfits promoting along with Tim, go look at the iTrackr website, there are pages with gibberish, pages of text which makes no sense, pages that don’t work. Do you really believe that a “Groupon killer” would need to raise capital by promoting? Wouldn’t the insiders be buying up all the shares, not selling them?
Tim, I think you’re smart enough to know exactly what you are doing and you probably recognize that it is not ethical because there can not be “ethical” pump. You can try to play word (marketing, awareness, advertising, etc.) but paid promotion of OTC stocks is pump.
I am ready to bet that your promotion will act the same way all other propomoted stocks behave: upward stock move due to volume presure then downward stock move when the promotion is over… or even sooner.
A “good” campaign would be one where financial analysts study a company and consider its stock to be a bargain for objective reasons. Then, its valuation multiples would increase, pushing the stock price up with no pullback to its previous price level, as long as the fundamental reasons remain acurate. Notice that there is no need for cash payments or distribution of shares to get this kind of attention. The company just has to open its books and to take the time to explain its business model and perspective.
After all these years, Tim, you know that your followers are idiots (your word). If you say something, most of them will follow you, blindly. Are you sure that people will not get hurt financially with your promotions? You may think that, because they are idiots, it is just too bad for them. In this case, you’re not different from Lebed and the likes. You crossed the ethical line. You will not admit it, you will find thousand of reasons to justify it, you will lie to yourself.
Your stubborness and ego made you what you are today. Your success came from your capacity to go against the crowd. Beware the same characteristics can push you too far. You failed before, you know how to come back but you remember it hurts and it takes a long time. Also, maybe people who comment on GoodeTrades.com are not all idiot and jealous haters. Some of them may warn you sincerely and respectfully because they like you.
I think what irks a lot of people about Tim Sykes is his brashness is so over the top that it turns into egomania. I mean, he talks like he’s a fucking genius because he sometimes makes trades that make a little money. Like it’s some kind of miracle, meanwhile 7.5 million people are trading online in the United States, most of them successfully and quietly, without swinging their dicks in everyone’s face every time they make some money.
Go to the trading floor of any hedge fund or trading firm, you don’t see traders acting like wizards or gurus because they make a living trading. I can’t imagine why he takes himself so seriously, he is obviously talented at gaining attention, I’ll give him that, but man, if he was a musician he would be selling books and dvds teaching you how to play the guitar because he figured out how to and you haven’t yet, and acting like the messiah.
Study after study finds that most traders are unsuccessful. Being a successful trader is not as easy as you make it seem.
“7.5 million people are trading online in the United States, most of them successfully and quietly”
You have discredited yourself quite well.
Look it up, that’s the number. If you want the number of day traders it is 15,000.
Please ban this liar (Sykes) from posting his lies in this thread. He deleted everything from his website with a negative touch on it and now he post his BULLSHIT in this thread.
Nobody has a real chance to post his opinion on his website and if you have another opionion than this corrupt pig you are an asshole, idiot, moron and so on. This Sykes guy is a shame for the whole trading world.
I knew from the first time I heard of this unethical person that he is a liar, a greedy piece of …. you now know what I mean.
This Sykes guy has NOTHING absolutely NOTHING to do with Honesty, Transparency, Moral and Ethics. His only goals and motivations are to rip off people and make unethical dirty money.
Michael Goode, if you have one spark of decency in your body, you have to cancell all your relationships to this unethical and corrupt person.
I have read and saved all deleted post from his website and I can repost it here if you want. Sykes can NOT deal with criticism, what a poor pig this guy is.
I will not allow posting here all the comments that I saw posted on Tim’s blog post. Most of them had very little substance but contained plenty of hyperbole and ad hominem attacks. If someone wants to post a criticism of substance here then they can do that. That being said, I do reserve the right to not approve comments for any reason, as outlined in my comment policy.
And as long as I am letting people leave posts like the above on this thread I will let Tim respond.
I read Tim’s Sunday blog and thought it was rather lame. Nothing in it was new. Just the usual regurgitation of stuff that we have had forced down our throats for ages from him. The only curiosity was that he supposedly closed down the blog for comments but he allows a few handful ‘positive comments to be displayed. Don’t be surprised if he wrote them himself..regardless, the fact that he allows some comments to be shown and hides/deletes the rest proves that Tim is anything but ‘transparent’ It would be far better if Tim bit the bullet and faced his critics with their views without being such a COWARDLY wuss. Be a man TIM and not a scared little mouse. If you say you stand for transparency, then BE transparent. Don’t be a cowardly hypocrite.
Actually I didnt close down the blog post for comments, i welcome comments, even comments from degenerate jackals like most of you…we had some profanity setting in disqus that got tipped, still trying to figure it out, actually pretty annoying…but thanks for your ignorant assumptions
After dealing with this on another political website that uses Disqus, I can see where that would happen.
I’ll agree with Michael here, if you disagree and have a statement, make it. If you wanna spew hate and vitriol, get a punching bag and go at it. I have always related that kind of rhetoric to jealousy and/or envy in one way or another.
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Is Jason Bond also a paid stock promoter???
Is Tim Sykes whole life a lie???
Well, Bond’s newsletter is owned by Blue Wave. That doesn’t necessarily make him a promoter — it just means he works for one.
Dear A Trader
Please can you post here or at the very least send me an email.
I never got a chance to see the raw feedback that Sykes got on his website in response to his column about his stock promotion of IRYS because he deletes everything that he doesn’t like even when people tell him the truth he doesn’t want to hear or face the truth. He is right and everyone else is wrong, stupid, ignorant, poor etc, etc
My email is jpinvestor892@yahoo.com.
Many Thanks
JP
little Timmy, resorts to name calling when people don’t agree with him. for years he’s been calling promoters scum, but I see he’s got a price too.
those that have bought his dvds or paid for his alerts are just sheep. He likes to bash companies on their financials but did not discuss the financials of this latest promotion. now that the stock has crashed and is down 28% he claims he’s going to give away all the money. Wake up people, little timmy has been making money off all of you all along.
Actually it matters little what happened with IRYS stock, I simply alerted the promotion that would be coming…and yes there are new mailers as of last night and yes, I was planning on giving away much of the $ the whole time…I’m in Italy right now for a reason, my plans are just over your head, go get your GED and come back to me
In Italy? Let me guess. You go to swear allegiance directly to the maffia godfather. As a pumper, you climb in the maffia hierarchy. Caporegim?
😉
Actually, when your career is over as a pumper, maybe you can work as a comedian. That is actually one of the funniest things I have ever heard – “Actually it matters little what happened with IRYS stock” – I think I will start a newsletter with stock alerts where it doesn’t matter what the stock does. Maybe I can alert my subscribers that earnings will be announced on whatever date – doesn’t matter what the stock does – all I said was earnings are coming out. Think I can get 2 grand a year for that?
“and yes there are new mailers as of last night”
It’s a good thing that those mailers are going out, imagine where the stock would be without them.
I have always held that TS is a con man. Quite obviously too , which is part of the con.
Surprised he stooped to this latest escapade, maybe the suckers are finally drying up and he’s going for the easy bux.
There are so many liars in here. They make the overall comments irrelevant, in my opinion. Too bad. I would have appreciated a conversation between gentlemen.
Except few scalpers à la Reaper, nobody made money being long Tim’s pump. Anyway, the story is not over yet, but $IRYS is already down big.
Actually a dozen people posted they made $ on IRYS so far and the real promotion hasn’t even begun yet…you’re welcome for my efforts in advance, the shitty attitude most of you display is why nobody has bothered helping you before, you’re lucky I have thick skin
Tim, you’ve been screwed big time. You pretend to be early in this pump but you were probably the last bagholder (I mean your followers). The stock is now cut in half in 2 days. People who look at a 1-month chart can see the typical pump pattern (price action and volume). Your pump message signalled the top of the chart i.e. from pump to dump.
Promoters are smart: for a small cost ($100,000), they destroyed your credibility and stuffed your followers with artificially inflated shares that worth almost nothing.
And you complain that your followers hate you. But you took money from them! They lost money in the stock market because of you! Now, you just need to find new pigeons. Next.
So, maybe you try to find pigeons in Europe where your reputation is still clean. I’m kidding.
Lol you sound like a promoter Timbo….”actually some people made money”
You are a stock promoter plain and simple. But that’s not the issue Im focused on.
You did not disclose who paid you for this $100k you sold whatevers left of your soul for.
THIS IS A CLEAR VIOLATION OF SEC RULES.
From the sec’s website….http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/microcapstock.htm
Paid Promoters Some microcap companies pay stock promoters to recommend or “tout” the microcap stock in supposedly independent and unbiased investment newsletters, research reports, or radio and television shows. Paid promoters are generally behind the unsolicited “junk” faxes you may receive, touting a microcap company. The federal securities laws require the newsletters to disclose *****who paid them****, the amount, and the type of payment. But many fraudsters fail to do so and mislead investors into believing they are receiving independent advice.”
And for the record, no one who bought this stock is appreciative of the fact that its half the price you alerted it at. Your reputation is destroyed and you are in fact a criminal promoter who did not disclose compensation to SEC rules.
“the real promotion hasn’t even begun yet” LOL
IRYS went from .80 to .40 in 2 days, so when does the promotion begin? When it’s at .01?
So little Timmy promotes it to his so called free subscribers, and then tells his paid sub to short it? Or was he shorting it himself? Someone is going to jail
I havent traded IRYS at all and yes there has been further promotion already…the financing at 40 cents/share screwed over everyone bigtime, stay tuned for my video lesson on the situation, and yes its for subscribers only
On his site last year, Sykes was quick to defend another criminal stock promoter, Nate Michaud, proprietor of “Investorslive”. Michaud was convicted by the SEC of a massive pump and dump scheme that involved some of the filthiest tactics in the business. Here is what Sykes had to say: “In none of my interactions with him has he come across as anything less than honest and I have not later found anything of substance he has said to be untruthful.” You can still find Investorslive in Sykes’ paid chatroom, and he has pumped stocks through this chatroom in the past. Like most stock promoters, Sykes has not been convicted. But as far as I am concerned, he is a devious, manipulative, and cunning criminal.
Careful Alan, I have not done ANYTHING illegal Alan, in fact our promotional copy was okayed by not one but two SEC lawyers….and as my top students will learn in the upcoming video lesson, the education here is HUGELY useful, apology accepted for your ignorance
Michael Goode, I have a few questions for you. In an earlier comment on this blog you state, “Stock promotion is not illegal unless you manipulate the stock or blatantly lie”. Do you deny that the email Sykes sent out was intended to manipulate the stock’s price? If not, can you deny his actions were illegal?
Furthermore, as it states on your disclosure statement, you are paid to refer people to Syke’s website. Do you think this is ethical and do you plan to continue promoting his services? If not, would you have a problem referring business to Jonathon Lebed’s site, National Inflation Index? At least Lebed does not bash other stock promoters, and nor does he deny that he is a promoter.
Just because stock promotion in general can make stock prices go up doesn’t mean it is manipulative from a legal perspective. Actual manipulative trading or blatant lying is required to break the law. Sykes’ actions were 100% legal in my opinion (which of course is not the opinion of a securities lawyer). Anyone who says otherwise does not understand the law.
As to my affiliate recommendations of Tim, you will see what will happen with that in the next few days.
The SEC needs to check into all of timmy trading account, we need proof.
It’s illegal if he was front running or trading the stock that he was promoting. If he did nothing wrong, then he should not fear an SEC investigation.
Anyone is free to look at ALL my trades, I have not traded IRYS at all…I didn’t do this promotion for the $ and as I said I’ll be giving away much of the $50k compensation I received…the education is useful so you’re welcome in advance and I accept your apology for your lack of faith in me
Tim, you’re so good at rhetoric. Indeed, there are 2 possible states in trading: success or education. $IRYS was a complete fail… (doh!) education. 🙂
Reaper, I respect you as a trader. I feel that the only reason why you have not/or rather will not cut your ties with Tim is strictly monetary. The die has been cast, Tim has taken $ to promote a stock. We can agree to the legality of his actions, and frankly I think discussing the ethical nature of the pump is a waste of time – once the money has been taken.
From what I understand, you have the ability to trade Tim’s alerts with a slight advantage as a administrator of his chat, and has been a profit stream for you. Further, you must have some monetary agreement for your work in the chat, or barter, but there are advantages.
I hope you do the right thing now, and realized that yes you are giving money away by cutting ties with Tim, but if you don’t you are also yourself a stock promoter in the sense that your paycheck or Tim alert trade profits are being paid with tainted money.
I have never had any advantage in trading Tim’s alerts and especially with the advent of Profiding the difference in time between when people get Tim’s alerts is minuscule. I have rarely traded Tim’s alerts in the last year and they certainly have not been hugely profitable for me.
I do get paid to administer Tim’s chat, as I clearly state in my terms of use on this blog (and on my previous blogs when they existed).
What I wrote: “From what I understand, you have the ability to trade Tim’s alerts with a slight advantage as a administrator of his chat, and has been a profit stream for you.”
Whether large or small, both are still true. Your time advantage might be minuscule, but its still an advantage. Your profits may also be small, but still profits.
I have no time advantage. I get the alerts at the same time as everyone else. Any differences are purely random. So back prior to profit.ly sometimes I would be among the first to get text message alerts. Sometimes I would be among the last — the text messages would arrive at slightly different times due to different cell phone networks. That is how it worked, and it worked like that for everyone.
So I repeat what I said above. I have never had any time advantage over other subscribers to Tim. Being admin in chat gives me the ability to gag or ban people (in other words, to administer/moderate the chat). It gives me no other special abilities.
I lol’d when I read this. You should know that for a couple years Michael has barely traded Tim’s picks, and he has no advantage other than he’s a good trader and can use what Tim alerts does to certain trades to his advantage.
As a poster said above, “you just ruined your credibility”.
Michael, I am confused. I thought the SEC convicted Jonathan Lebed in September 2000 for “baseless price predictions”, not lying per se.
“These messages were generally devoid of substantive content and, in addition to false price predictions, touted the stock by claiming, among other things, that the stock was about to “take off,” would be the “next stock to gain 1,000%,” and was “the most undervalued stock ever.” “
I haven’t seen Tim makes such price predictions. Anyway, I have seen plenty of pumps over the last few years make such price predictions without any adverse reaction from the SEC.
Obviously, I am not a lawyer, so I could be wrong. And there are big differences between what the SEC asserts is illegal and what they will actually sue people for doing.
Michael, the reason the SEC has not prosecuted Tim, and many other promoter criminals like him, is that they don’t have the resources. And who can blame them? There are literally thousands of pumps out there that would qualify for SEC prosecution if you use Lebed’s early Yahoo message board scams as the standard. But the problem is that the SEC just cannot prosecute all these promoters. It’s very expensive and time consuming. It’s like trying to prosecute email spammers. It is illegal and it’s been going on for years, but who has the resources to go after all those email spammers? Lebed was just one of the first – at a time when internet-based stock promotion was in its infancy.
I applaud you for highlighting Sykes’ promotion though. We all really appreciate your honesty and transparency. Keep up the Goode work.
I continue to believe that stock promotion, if honest, is not illegal. I would argue that it was Lebed’s hyperbole and his use of scores of fake names to post the same things on message boards that were the illegal part of his actions. That being said, I am not a lawyer and I don’t want to keep arguing this point with various people in these contests.