Free Republic

Shares of the ailing department store chain JCP, +6.10% crashed on Thursday, dipping as low as 92 cents before closing down 7.5%, at 97 cents — the first time they’ve ever closed below a dollar since the company went public in the late 1970s. [Shares remained below $1 Friday morning.]

Nine people have been charged in one of the largest international penny stock frauds ever, federal authorities said Tuesday in New York, one of five states where arrests were made. * * * According to court records, the defendants victimized investors in nearly three dozen countries and generated more than $140 million by fraudulently inflating the price of penny stocks and then dumping them on unsuspecting investors.

Circuit City’s announcement Monday that it was closing 155 stores, or 21 percent of its 721 U.S. locations, and planning to start lease renegotiations for others, will be echoed by numerous retailers throughout 2009, with the total number of stores shuttered in the United States expected to double the figure predicted for this year. By the end of 2008, store closing announcements will total 6,100, according to an October forecast from ICSC. But that figure might reach 14,000 next year, according to industry insiders. Store closings are already projected to be up 25 percent in 2008 compared to 2007, according...

A former FBI agent and an Internet penny stock adviser were convicted Monday of mining government computers for confidential information they used to manipulate the stock market. Former agent Jeffrey Royer was convicted of racketeering, securities fraud, obstruction of justice and witness tampering for leaking details of FBI investigations and executives' criminal histories to San Diego stock picker Anthony Elgindy. Elgindy was convicted of racketeering, securities fraud and extortion for his role in the scheme. He dropped his face into his hands and sobbed uncontrollably as the jury foreman read the verdict; U.S. marshals led him weeping from the courtroom....

PRESS PASS: Salon Behind on its rentSalon.com disclosed June 30 that it has renegiotionated its headquarters lease after getting sued for falling behind on its rent.The company struck a deal with its landlord late last week that will reduce its monthly rent from $70,000.00 to $12,000.00 according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.Salon will also forfeit a $400,000.00 deposit and rent just one floor of the offices instead of the two floors covered by the pervious lease.