January 26, 1998
Via Fax (214) 658-9328
Dear Ms. Hawkings,
I have been directed to contact you, after several unsuccessful efforts to resolve this problem with other members of your firm.
I really do not know where to start. My entire life savings have apparently been lost and, while I am reluctant to accuse your firm of any impropriety, I do not know where else to turn.
I am in receipt of several confirmation forms supposedly showing purchases by me of 84,200 shares of stock in Internet Holdings Ltd., with the symbol HTTP, in August and September, 1997. However, I know nothing of this company. I never ordered these shares. Furthermore, the confirmations indicate that I purchased the shares through TYM Securities of Dallas, Texas. During the time frame of these supposed purchases, I had no contact with that company. I have never had a broker at TYM Securities. TYM did not contact me, nor did I contact them.
I really know almost nothing about the stock market, but this incident has forced me to try to learn quickly.
I would like to direct your attention to the largest trade, which is a "multiple trade" with the "ENTRY DATE" of 9/29/1997. This shows a purchase of 21900 shares at 4 7/8 for a total amount of $107,455.00 (including commissions) and 22000 shares at 4 3/4 for a total amount of $105,550.00 (including commissions). The total for this multiple trade is $213,005.00.
Although the trade shows an "ENTRY DATE" of 9/29/1997, there is also a "Trade date" of 9/26/1997. I have spoken to Nicole Han of your firm about this, and she has said that this means that the trade was put through on an "as of" basis.
I have found out that only 5900 shares of HTTP traded on 9/29/1997, so this transaction could not have been done on that day. A volume of 5900 and a closing price of 4 7/8 were reported on 9/29. 9/30 vol. 2800 price 4 3/4; 10/1 vol. 20800 price 4 3/4; 10/2 11004 3/4; 10/3 22500 4 3/4; 10/6 1500 5 etc..
I realize that you are merely the clearing firm, which executes the trades. However, this trade appears on its face to be improper. I feel that your firm should have noticed that this was highly irregular. Indeed, I suspect that the trade did not occur at all.
I understand that HTTP is a thinly traded stock. For example, it has not traded at all for more than two weeks. The last trade was at 3/16ths on January 8. It seems unlikely that your broker could have gone into the market and purchased such a large block of HTTP from a market maker. Rather it seems more likely that somebody in your firm or at TYM simply put the stock into my account and took my money. I understand that this would be illegal without full disclosure, which of course there wasn't any.
I also need to mention that there is absolutely no financial information available about HTTP whatever. HTTP does not have a balance sheet. I have been able to obtain no information about HTTP, not even a business or an address, except that it supposedly exists in England.
Therefore, I am requesting the following information:
1. I want the name of the counter-party to the transaction. In other words, I want to know from whom you bought the stock.
2. I want a copy of the order ticket.
3. I want a copy of the time stamped order showing the exact time, date and manner of purchase.
4. I want the name of the broker who issued the order.
5. I want the name of the order clerk who executed the order.
6. Please explain why the trade was put through "as of" a previous date.
Similarly, I want the same information for every other transaction in my account. I wish to emphasize that I never authorized any of these transactions.
Frankly, I do not believe that you will be able to provide the above information, because I do not believe that this information exists. I do not believe that any of these transactions actually took place.
I have found that there were two reverse splits of HTTP stock last year, an 8 for 1 reverse split and a 2 for 1 reverse split. Therefore, the 84,200 shares which your firm put into my account represents 1,347,200 pre-reverse split shares, which represents almost the entire outstanding stock. I want to know if these 84,200 shares were newly issued shares (as I strongly suspect to be the case) and were these shares registered or unregistered.
I would like to point out that I have made numerous calls to your firm about this. I have spoken to Nicole Han and to other members of your firm on numerous occasions. Each time, I have been told that your firm was prohibited by some rule from speaking to me about this, and that I must contact TYM Securities, a firm with which I have no relationship.
It is unfortunate that you have chosen to take the position of refusing to speak to me about this urgent and important matter, because otherwise this matter could have been resolved on a timely basis, and the losses, amounting to more than $400,000, could perhaps have been avoided or reduced.
Very Truly Yours,
Tova Rosen
The beautiful woman to the right is not Tova Rosen. Can you guess who that is?