Dear Mr. Serwer:

As a subscriber to Fortune Magazine, I am somewhat dismayed to have read recent allegations of unprofessional journalism on the increasingly popular BLOG, DeepCapture.Com, and the questionable journalist’s connection with Fortune Magazine and Rocker Partners. In the event you are not familiar with DeepCapture.Com, it is the collaboration of Dr. Patrick Byrne of Overstock.Com, and “uncaptured” journalists, such as Judd Bagley and Mark Mitchell. It is a finalist in the 2008 Business BLOG of the Year Award, and deservedly so. It is an extremely eye-opening BLOG with many explanations as to why the markets have found themselves with a huge loss of investor confidence lately. Surely, this is commentary deserving the immediate attention of truly objective journalism.

Yet, it seems that despite Dr. Patrick Byrnes’ pleas for your responses to his allegations of manipulative journalism by your former reporter, Bethany McLean, you have remained suspiciously silent. As you are aware, this is not the normal actions of an innocent party, particularly journalists. I beg you to respond to Dr. Byrnes’ communique (email) of Dec. 22, 2008. Bad things sometimes happen to good companies. With big baskets, there are bound to be a bad apple now and then. But, a good apple producer will quickly cull them from the group and admit such things can occasionally happen, pointing out that steps have been taken to minimize recurrence. The lack of response makes it appear that apple producer knew the bad apple was in there all along infecting the rest (if I may use such an analogy).

If his allegations are incorrect. Please give him the correct information. If however, he is correct, please make it clear whether or not management knew of such activities. It is imperative, in my humble opinion, to your image and credibility. I thank you in advance for your prompt response.

Sincerely,
Speculator

I was curious if you happened to get the 1000 page case uploaded? Or is there any other way of receiving it?

Thanks,
Kyle

Lavaman.. cute… a reference to making stocks blow up like a volcano.

Why would Richard Sauer need an alias in talking to Bethany? I might suggest he take a gift of a mask to one of the other femme felons. For her not him. A visual prophylactic. And we all know who I’m taking about. The female version of Gary Weiss, a world-class bucket of ugly. Maybe it was just his alter ego…honest regulator, hedge fund shill.. Koko’s roommate.

Everyone congratulate Bethany’s new husband… Building a life together.. well sort of.

What does a defense attorney charge for securities manipulation and racketeering? I doubt that her employer will cover it. Bethany, if you are the first one to turn state’s evidence, you can get a better deal… The rest of the shills are still wondering which e-mails Judd is going to post next. They aren’t going to roll until they are exposed, so you and Lavaman are in unique situations..He probably knows that he could make a deal… You being first to get your dispicable self out there, use your head.. It’s totally your call.. You are in control… You were a naughty girl… and you worked so hard on that article..

You can write a book about your experiences… “An Insider’s View”.. “The Dumbest Broad in the Room” “Dial M for Manipulation”

Here is what Herb Greenberg told me a couple of years ago on Marketwatch.com……..Keep in mind that I had a published book that explained it all very easy for Herb and everyone to understand…

take it away Herb………

Brian,

Some hedge funds and others try to use CNBC and all forms of the press to manipulate. Having worked at an arbitrage fund very early in my career, I also know that many funds like to talk to the press because they genuinely think they have a good story to tell or insight to share. Key is finding someone who has done the original work; not someone trying to pass along a story they merely heard.

When it comes to money, there will always be efforts to manipulate. The role of a reporter is try to separate the wheat from the shaft. And just because a source is wrong doesn’t mean it was attempt to manipulate. I can generally smell attempts to manipulate a mile away, and go out of my way to avoid them. So do the reporters I know. Smart people do make mistakes; that’s life.

In the end, if a story is a legitimate story, I don’t really care who or what the source is. But when you are as busy as I am, the quality of the person providing the tip or information is critical so you don’t spend as much time as we often do running up against dead-ends. Of course, that comes with the territory — and the job.

Sometimes, when I hear from someone new, I ignore the idea unless it’s tremendously compelling to see how it plays out. If it does — and I never wrote a word — I realize I may have found myself yet another smart person to talk to from time to time. (I’ve also saved myself from looking foolish by doing that.

Reporters are always looking for smart people who know more than we do. We then take it from there. Sometimes it’s a story; sometimes, it isn’t.

THERE YOU HAVE IT IN HERB GREENBERGS OWN WORDS. ha!

Brian Villwok
Author of the 2006 book “Overstocked and Understood”

I wonder, what part of the details in those e-Mails did you not get? You clearly have no issue with a Fortune Reporter and a Hedge fund working together to manipulate a market but you do have issue with deepcapture reporting it because it involves an investor in overstock.com.

Tell me, are you this conflicted in all you do? For me, I would not tolerate fraud from anybody but based on your post you seem totally accepting of the McLean – Cohodes relationship. Care to explain?

_http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081217/ap_on_go_co/madoff_scandal

Attorney general takes himself out of Madoff probe

WASHINGTON – The fraud investigation of Wall Street money manager Bernard L. Madoff took unusual twists Wednesday as the U.S. attorney general removed himself and the Securities and Exchange Commission looked into the relationship between Madoff’s niece and a former SEC attorney who reviewed Madoff’s business.

The developments reflect growing criticism that Wall Street and regulators in Washington have grown too close. Madoff himself has boasted of his ties to the SEC.

The question of Madoff’s connection to regulators goes to the heart of the investigation of the alleged $50 billion fraud, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox told reporters.

Congress jumped into the Madoff scandal, too. The chairman of the House capital markets subcommittee, Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., announced an inquiry that will begin early next month into what may be the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time and how the government failed to detect it.

In New York, Madoff showed up at the federal courthouse to sign some papers in his case, wearing a baseball cap and walking silently past a reporter who asked Madoff whether he had anything to say to his alleged victims. Free on $10 million bail, Madoff now has a curfew and an ankle-bracelet to monitor his movements.

U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey recused himself from the Madoff probe because his son, Marc Mukasey, is representing Frank DiPascali, a top financial officer at Madoff’s investment firm. The Justice Department refused to say when Mukasey became aware of the conflict but confirmed Wednesday he was removing himself from all aspects of the case.

DiPascali was the Madoff employee who had the most day-to-day contact with the firm’s investors. Several described him as the man they reached by phone when they had questions about the firm’s investment strategy, or wanted to add or subtract money from their accounts.

The turmoil at the SEC came as the investigation into the scandal widened.

Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin’s office said he subpoenaed Madoff’s brother, Peter Madoff, who is the chief compliance officer of Madoff’s company, and Marcia Beth Cohn, chief compliance officer of Cohmad Securities Corp., which is in the same building in New York. Galvin is trying to determine the relationship between Madoff’s firm and Cohmad Securities, as well as the names and numbers of all Massachusetts investors with both companies.

The events unfolded the day after Cox delivered a stunning rebuke to his own career staff, blaming them for a decade-long failure to investigate Madoff.

Credible and specific allegations regarding Madoff’s financial wrongdoing going back to at least 1999 were repeatedly brought to the attention of SEC staff, said Cox. Cox said he was gravely concerned by the apparent multiple failures over at least a decade to thoroughly investigate the allegations or at any point to seek formal authority from the politically appointed commission to pursue them.

Cox’s critics said that targeting the staff was Cox’s attempt to salvage his own reputation.

“He put in place the people he is now shifting the blame to,” said Ross Albert, a former SEC senior special counsel, former federal prosecutor and now a private attorney in Atlanta.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., suggested Cox bears some of the responsibility for what went wrong.

“I served in Congress with Christopher Cox, but I don’t think he’s going to make the All-Star team,” said Reid.

SEC Inspector General David Kotz is looking into the agency’s failure to uncover the alleged fraud in Madoff’s operation. One area Kotz said he will examine is the relationship between a former SEC attorney, Eric Swanson, and Madoff’s niece, Shana, who are now married.

As an SEC attorney, Swanson was part of a team that examined Madoff’s securities brokerage operation in 1999 and 2004. Neither review resulted in any action against Madoff. In a statement about Swanson’s role, the SEC compliance office cited its strict rules prohibiting employees from participating in cases involving firms where they have a personal interest.

A spokesman for Swanson said that he and Shana Madoff met at a breakfast in October 2003, started dating in April 2006 and married last year.

Kotz said his office would move as quickly as possible to complete the inquiry into why regulators didn’t pursue Madoff more aggressively.

Kanjorski, the lawmaker, said his subcommittee’s inquiry will examine the alleged Madoff fraud and try to determine why the SEC and other regulators “failed to detect these substantial evasions.”

With the scandal swirling around Madoff, he was unable to find co-signers of his bail package. The judge modified the bail package, and gave lawyers until next Monday to come up with additional paperwork.

Associated Press writers Lara Jakes Jordan in Washington, David B. Caruso in New York and Jay Lindsay in Boston contributed to this report.

I wonder if they were Madoff’ized.

do you think we’re Weiss, or Stock lemon, or Antar?

Hey, Brian. Where’s Herb?

Cheers.