SEC's Agora-Phobia (Agora - publisher of The Daily Reckoning and Mogambo Guru charged with fraud)

New York Post ^ | April 21, 2003 | Christopher Byron

[arete]

Richard Daughty just e-mailed me a response to my inquiry of the fraud accusations surrounding Agora and his involvement in the matter. Addison Wiggin of Agora also contacted me and will be sending me a letter from Mr. Bonner. Here it is --

---

Dear Sir:

I read with amusement that Agora, Inc, the publisher of Mogambo Guru, my rag of an economics commentary newsletter, is being sued for fraud, and that I am tarred with that same brush.

If one cares to completely waste some time and read the execrable rubbish that I write, one will no doubt notice that not once in, oh, let's see, the whole twelve years of writing the thing, have I ever recommended a single stock, company, bond, trust or specific investment of any kind whatsoever, other than the broad generic "get yourself some gold, and lots of it" with occasional forays into recommending oil and energy as it mood moves me. Additionaly, I have never received so much as a dime of income from Agora, or anybody associated with Agora, although if they did send me an envelope full of money for some strange reason, probably mental illness or some horrible mistake in their business office, I would keep it, pretend that I have moved, left no forwarding address and me no speakee Engleesh. Furthermore, I have had no dealings whatsoever with the Daily Reckoning/Agora publishers other than to express my appreciation that they would stoop to publishing my ridiculous newsletter and pleading with them to stop rudely hanging up the phone in my face whenever I call them.

I wish I could generate more heat, something on the order of righteous indignation or something, but it is actually so amusing that I am sort of enjoying the attention.

But, in order to cross the t's and dot the i's, let me state, for the record, that I have never committed any fraud, attempted to commit any fraud, or broken any laws of any kind, or even attempted to break any laws, other than to, and I blush when I say this, push the envelope of some posted speed limits on occasion, and if pressed on this particular point by anyone involved with enforcing the speed limit and traffic safety laws, I will plead the Fifth.

If you have any questions concerning this matter, please fo not hesitate to contact me, although I will advise you that I have already communicated to you far more than I actually know, which is nothing, because I am an idiot who is seemingly morbidly preoccupied with sneaking around behind my wife so she won't catch me smoking cigarettes and eating delicious snack foods that contain fats and cholesterol, usually something involving chocolate.

- Richard Daughty

the real Mogambo Guru

---

Richard W.

[palmer]

We desperately NEED to return to a open free market in stocks and stock marketing. To shutter the SEC, letting the equity courts bear the load for civil cliams of fraud.

Chipata is not stupid, he doesn't need the SEC to protect him from fraud. Most of us who read and benefit from arete's postings are not stupid enough to buy reports of secret information. So the real question is why is Chipata so interested in publicizing this investigation and pumping up the SEC? Does he think we are stupid enough to believe the SEC does anything but require reams of useless paper and perform arbitrary, politically motivated prosecutions?

Clearly it is time for the government to stop redefining fraud, malice, and intent and leave that to the marketplace. It is one of the benefits of the information age but the government and its lackeys don't want to admit it.

[Fractal Trader]

Clearly it is time for the government to stop redefining fraud, malice, and intent and leave that to the marketplace.

What they did was certainly unethical and definitely stupid. I subcribe to several of their publications, but I think they were way off the mark offering "insider info" to buyers at thousands of dollars for a subscription.

While I think the SEC is usually overboard in their prosecutions, a little scare tactics bu the agency might force Agora to wise up and admit to their folly.

Liz, I would be interested in your take on this, since you seem to be our resident expert on financial chicanery:

Are these charges warranted by the situation?

[Liz]

Too bad. They rode hard with the bulls but got trapped in the bear market, it seems. Clever fellows to be sure, but in the current street climate, in the aftermath of corporate stock swindlers, the tech bubble bust, their outsized tactics were sure to draw suspicion. Making exagerrated profit claims - giving off the aura of a pump and dump scheme - is too reminscent of stuff that nailed Grubman, the analyst guys with conflicts, and so on. The street's Big Guys are paying big buck penalties. Looks like these guys will pay a price, as well.