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Trader admits fraud in $1 billion Apple stock scheme

finance.yahoo.com

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Re: Trader admits fraud in $1 billion Apple stock scheme

#3
post #2

> When the bet backfired, Rochdale was on the hook for $5.3 million of losses on the extra 1,623,375 shares, leaving the Stamford, Connecticut-based company undercapitalized, the SEC said in court papers. That actually sounds like an incredibly small loss, overall.

You're right. It's about $3.3 lost per share, which is a loss smaller than 1% of the share price.

Re: Trader admits fraud in $1 billion Apple stock scheme

#6
post #5

Now everytime I see cases like this I wonder to myself how much of the plea is because of over-reaching prosecutors and how much of it is really guilt. Anyone know more details about this case?

Using unauthorized millions of dollars of your company's and, ultimately, putting a bullet in the company's head, leading to many people losing their jobs, seems to land in the middle, IMO. Twenty-five years is probably too many, but a plea of five seems generous,

Re: Trader admits fraud in $1 billion Apple stock scheme

#7
post #2

> When the bet backfired, Rochdale was on the hook for $5.3 million of losses on the extra 1,623,375 shares, leaving the Stamford, Connecticut-based company undercapitalized, the SEC said in court papers. That actually sounds like an incredibly small loss, overall.

If he hadn't lost, would this scheme have gone unnoticed?

Re: Trader admits fraud in $1 billion Apple stock scheme

#8
post #2

> When the bet backfired, Rochdale was on the hook for $5.3 million of losses on the extra 1,623,375 shares, leaving the Stamford, Connecticut-based company undercapitalized, the SEC said in court papers. That actually sounds like an incredibly small loss, overall.

This is exactly why I don't try to play the stock market (or the Bitcoin market).

From a press article on the 25th it sounded like the price dropped suddenly but then quickly rebounded to "nearly break-even". I guess that "nearly" was the problem.

Is there a particular reason why the trader couldn't wait it out another day or two to see if he could make up the difference? I suppose with the money tied up in stock the company no longer had sufficient liquid assets to continue operating.

The article wasn't clear, but it sounds like his intention was to pocket the 'winnings' for himself somehow?

Re: Trader admits fraud in $1 billion Apple stock scheme

#9
This man really did not pay attention. I've rarely seen Apple stock rise the day of a press or investor briefing no matter how good the news. In fact it has often been the opposite. In fact, now that I've looked over just the last year, most of the times Apple issues a press release its shares close the same day or the next below the level they were at the day before the announcement.

Out of 40 times Apple put out a press release in the last year, more than three-fourths of those times the stock declined that day or the day following (31 times). And only once did a positive trading day coincide with a new product announcement. The exceptions were:

   Dec. 17, 2012 (iPhone 5 First Weekend Sales in China Top Two Million)
   Nov. 19, 2012 (AC/DC Now on iTunes)
   Nov. 5, 2012 (Apple Sells Three Million iPads in Three Days)
   Sept. 17, 2012 (iPhone 5 Pre-Orders Top Two Million in First 24 Hours)
   Sept. 12, 2012 (Apple Introduces iPhone 5, Apple Introduces New iPod touch & iPod nano, Apple Unveils New iTunes)
   Aug. 27, 2012 (Craig Federighi, Apple’s Vice President of Mac Software Engineering & Dan Riccio, Apple’s Vice President of Hardware Engineering Join Apple’s Executive Team as Senior Vice Presidents)
   July 30, 2012 (Mountain Lion Downloads Top Three Million)
   June 26, 2012 (Apple Launches iTunes Store in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan & Nine Additional Countries in Asia Today)
   April 25, 2012 (Apple Worldwide Developers Conference to Kick Off June 11 at Moscone West in San Francisco)
   
I'm pretty sure this has been the trend throughout Apple's history. The worst stock days seem to come when Apple has great news to report. At any rate, Wall Street surely does not care about Apple's new product announcements, at least not when it comes to shelling out for stock. Product sales or downloads, sometimes. New products, very rarely.

It's something I noticed in the early 2000s when I was a Mac reporter and very in tune with Apple's PR/IR efforts, but it's not something I actually consciously tracked, and I've already wasted enough time on something that doesn't affect me except as a curiosity.

Anyway, it never made sense to me the way good news from Apple translated into declining stock prices. But there you go. A little casual observation could have saved this man a lot of hassle.

Re: Trader admits fraud in $1 billion Apple stock scheme

#10
post #8
post #2

> When the bet backfired, Rochdale was on the hook for $5.3 million of losses on the extra 1,623,375 shares, leaving the Stamford, Connecticut-based company undercapitalized, the SEC said in court papers. That actually sounds like an incredibly small loss, overall.

This is exactly why I don't try to play the stock market (or the Bitcoin market). From a press article on the 25th it sounded like the price dropped suddenly but then quickly rebounded to "nearly break-even". I guess that "nearly" was the problem. Is there a particular reason why the trader couldn't wait it out another day or two to see if he could make up the difference? I suppose with the money tied up in stock the…

Wait it out? That's what every rogue trader says. Or they double up. Someone on the other side will be asking for their money.
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