capt_nemo

In August of 1995, Mr. Chelekis was rumbling about a short squeeze, but that never seemed to materialize.

A few weeks later, with the stock struggling to stay above $2 per share, the Florida tipster claimed that AGC Americas Gold was the victim of a well orchestrated short campaign involving U.S. and Canadian short sellers and a fair-sized junior mining company that wanted to get its hands on the company's Toodoggone gold play.

In October of 1995, with AGC Americas Gold dipping under $1 per share, Mr. Chelekis suggested in a Hot Stocks Review e-mail alert that two private investment groups were bidding to buy up the company's entire float.

The notorious tout said the tender offer could be in the range of $5 per share.

Within days of Mr. Chelekis spreading that rumour, AGC Americas Gold threw water on the Florida tout's speculation, reporting that the company was not negotiating any sale and did not endorse the newsletter writer's report.

Mr. Chelekis, who would later earn the dubious distinction of being blackballed from association with any VSE companies, which was no small feat, given the VSE's general tolerance for touts and skunky promotions, was losing patience with AGC Americas Gold by the end of October of 1995.

In the first part of an Oct. 27, 1995, Hot Stocks Confidential Special Report, Mr. Chelekis lamented that AGC Americas Gold was a classic tale of a stock promotion gone awry, in spite of a very promising property.

Mr. Chelekis, who would later add to his dubious distinctions by being slapped with the largest libel award in B.C. history for his nasty defamation of Vancouver Sun veteran financial journalist David Baines, put the blame for AGC Americas Gold's floundering share price on what he suggested was the company's lousy management.

The Florida tipster said he had an eye opener when AGC Americas Gold had flown him up to the Toodoggone property a few months earlier.

According to Mr. Chelekis, he learned before the trip that everything Mr. Arlitt had told him since June of 1995 was either suspect or completely off the wall.

The newsletter tout said he discovered that Mr. Arlitt was not a director or decision-maker for the company, but just a hired gun promoter.

It is not clear why the Florida newsletter tipster was under any illusion about Mr. Arlitt's role with AGC Americas Gold, which was a matter of public record long before Mr. Chelekis began touting the stock.

In any event, Mr. Chelekis went on to grumble that Mr. Arlitt denied that Glen Indra, who abruptly resigned as a director of AGC Americas Gold in September of 1995, had been blowing out all his paper.

Oddly, in the second part of his October of 1995 Hot Stocks Confidential Special Report, Mr. Chelekis changed gears and direction, particularly with respect to Mr. Arlitt.

Uncharacteristically, Mr. Chelekis disclaimed any credit for AGC Americas Gold's share price rocketing from 50 cents to briefly touch $5.50 during the summer of 1995.

The Florida tipster said that when he began covering the company at $2 per share, the promotion was already in progress.

According to Mr. Chelekis, Jerry Wenger's WEVD-AM radio talk show went into full tilt promoting AGC Americas Gold and NBC helped out by broadcasting the Equities Magazine Gold Show on June 1, 1995, which included a segment on the company.

He went on to claim that fund manager Eric Cohen talked of $20 for the stock and promised to support it.

The infamous Florida tout then blamed Mr. Cohen and Mr. Wenger, along with AGC Americas Gold's directors, for blowing out their shares.

Coming to the end of his Hot Stocks Confidential Report, Mr. Chelekis said that everyone incorrectly blamed Mr. Arlitt for AGC Americas Gold's rise and fall.

The tout then urged investors to support Mr. Arlitt in a bid to take control of the company from the existing directors, most of whom were heavy sellers during the promotion.

Apart from the fact that there was no subsequent successful coup, it is not clear what, if anything, came of Mr. Chelekis's campaign to draft Mr. Arlitt to lead the revolt.

AGC Americas Gold lumbered on for several years, but it never regained the lustre or the share price of the summer of 1995 promotion.

Interestingly, in the summer of 1997 an Internet poster began touting the stock to the same discussion group favoured by Mr. Arlitt.

By something of a coincidence, particularly given that Mr. Arlitt had a tout sheet called The Professional Trader and he at times used the alias "The Professional Trader," the 1997 AGC Americas Gold Internet tout used the alias "protrade."

By another remarkable coincidence, protrade touted a number of stocks with ties to Mr. Arlitt.

By another notable coincidence, protrade, like Mr. Arlitt, used an axionet.com e-mail address.

By yet another intriguing coincidence, protrade appended a link to Mr. Arlitt's website in several of his posts.

Like Mr. Arlitt, protrade had a penchant for using multiple exclamation marks in his posts.

"AGC Americas Gold Corp. - symbol AGA-V - 1995's big winner to be this years winner again!!!" protrade exclaimed in a June 8, 1997, message.

"Drilling over the last three years has continued to prove that this could be a high tonnage porphyry gold system in the order of 30 million tons or more," the tout wrote. "Announcements are expected this week and as the drilling starts up we can expect excitement to build and have a strong effect on the share price."

Alas, the stock just languished at approximately $1 per share.

On July 27, 1997, protrade was back again with another boosterish message.

"Assay results expected within the week and these could be big!" protrade exclaimed.

"They drilled where Energex in the early '80's drilled up extemely (sic) high grade big intersections which shot their stock way up," the tout continued. "AGC should be coming up with something very similar and that could really boost their share price big time.

"This is definitely time to take this company seriously and have a closer look."

Alas again, the share price went into a protracted slide and by the end of 1998 AGC Americas Gold was floundering at 20 cents per share.

In early 1999, AGC Americas Gold tried to catch the Internet bubble by launching an e-commerce site to flog discount watches, jewelry and collectibles.

In October of 1999, the company changed its name to Timebeat.com Enterprises Inc. with no consolidation of shares.

The Timebeat.com promotion sizzled for a while in the still-frothy Internet frenzy, but then fizzled.

In December of 2000, Timebeat.com, which was then trading on the OTC-BB, delisted from the CDNX.

In late 2003, the struggling operation acquired the rights to some purported herbal product to treat diabetes.

In October of 2004, then a lowly pink sheet outfit changing hands for less than a dime, Timebeat.com changed its name to New Morning Corp. and moved into the natural herbal medicine field.

A year later, New Morning was sloshing around for less than two U.S. cents per share and was in the process of changing its name to Window Rock Capital Corp., which was touting involvement in some Chinese real estate deal.

On Sept. 27, 2006, the SEC suspended Window Rock and initiated an administrative proceeding against the company to revoke its stock registration.

Window Rock last traded on Oct. 30 when 9,600 shares changed hands at one-100th of a U.S. cent.

Stockwatch will continue its review of Mr. Arlitt's career as a Howe Street promoter and Internet tout in a following article.

Meanwhile, Conversion's shrinking band of faithful followers is anxiously awaiting some word from their new champion.

With approximately 346,000 shares changing hands in 29 trades, Conversion gained two U.S. cents to close at 18 U.S. cents on Dec. 6.

Stockwatch will follow developments as the saga continues.

Comments regarding this article may be sent to lwebb@stockwatch.com.

(More information regarding Conversion Solutions Holdings Corp. is available in Stockwatch articles published on Oct. 13, 16, 18, 20, 24 and 26; Nov. 2, 3, 7, 10 and 16; and Dec. 5, 2006.)




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Reader Comments - Comments are open and unmoderated, although libelous remarks may be deleted. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of Stockwatch.



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Mr Webb,

Who is this Arlitt you speak of?


Posted by TUT @ 2006-12-07 13:34



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Another most enjoyable article, Lee. To pen another, "You have altogether too much fun!" I always look forward to reading your articles. A friend commented recently, "I need a Lee Webb fix!" She, like me, is hooked on delightful but addicting truth.

Being an English professor, inherently my first notice is John Arlitt, years back, misspelling "Tutankhamen" or "Tutankhaten" in some social academic circles; Arlitt never seems to have things quite right.

With his history of being a resident of the infamous Canadian Howe Street gang, I am of an opinion Arlitt will still not have things quite right, specifically correctly spelling, "truth." I understand he has closed down his Howe Street residency but I tend to believe his moving out of the Howe Street neighborhood, this will not improve his language skills nor improve his known veracity.

Okpulot Taha


Posted by Okpulot Taha @ 2006-12-07 13:43



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Okpulot Taha your a muppe.


Posted by Okpulot Taha you genious @ 2006-12-07 13:57



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Okpulot Taha your a muppe.


Posted by Okpulot Taha you genious @ 2006-12-07 13:58



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Did you mean to write "you're" and "genius"? Also, I couldn't find a match for "muppe" at dictionary.com..... CSHD long, I assume.


Posted by liable @ 2006-12-07 14:25



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you just proved my point muppe. Do all English "professors" use dictionary.com?


Posted by figures @ 2006-12-07 14:30



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I believe the CSHD motion to default has now been tossed out.

Calling someone semi-literate once is enough. Making that statement over and over makes ones self look just as bad.

Keep it up. You must feel good about yourself.

rob


Posted by Roheex @ 2006-12-07 14:32



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arlitt@cvsu.us (TUT) asks, "Who is this Arlitt you speak of?"

Could it not be, "What is this Arlitt you speak of?"

Do you remember the brief tenure with Zim-Gold (ZIM)?

For some unknown reason, Zim had levitated itself to an unimaginable (and unearned) high of about $2.50 when Arlitt Financial Corp reported for duty on August 15, 1996, presumably to lend a bit of expertise and a lot of hot air to the promotion.

Alas, like Al Capp's Joe Btfsplk (the world's worst jinx), rain and inclement circumstance seem to dog TUT's footsteps, hammering stock prices down with a vengeance.

I do recall the Zim-Gold promotion, and burned into my collective Howe Street subconscious is an off-the-cuff reference to an 'Arliti the Numb and the Leaden Horde'.

I don't recall who made the comment, or whom it was in reference to; however, when the Arlitti Financial Corp. contract expired on January 28, 1997, ZIM had retracted to $1.55...all on low volume and few trades.

On February 24, 1997, the following news release was issued by the company:

"Zim-Gold Resources Ltd (C-ZIM) - Halt Trading

1997-02-24 15:11 ET - Halt Trading

Shares issued 3,951,530 Close 1997-02-24 $ 2.20

Effective at 11:56 am, February 24 1997, trading was halted at the request of the company, pending an announcement.

Effective at the close, February 24 1997, all trades occurring on February 24 1997 have been expunged, the exchange having determined that certain trades had occurred based on undisclosed material information. Trading in the shares of the company will remain halted pending clarification of the company's affairs."

Suggesting bad karma (and a residual, lingering Btfsplk-like effect) can infect less-than-robust promotions, ZIM was languishing at an unhealthy 15 cents on January 28, 1999.

Tut, tut, dear TUT. Might you not want to offer vaccinations as part of the IR packages, to spare new clients from the malignant southward declines associated with so many past operations?

Conversion will be a challenge, as you're starting out at a lowly 16 cents; however, the penny-dreadful pink sheet's computers do function well at levels as low as one one-hundredth of a cent.

Lotsa luck, TUT (or is it skill, lol?).

As for me, I'll protect myself from infection by washing my hands of any and all Arlitti-associated promotions.


Posted by Halcrow @ 2006-12-07 14:54



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Mr. Webb - you have stated the past. What is the future? Some analyisis ! Bush league reporter that knows a few colorful adjectives.


Posted by Mike @ 2006-12-07 16:32



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Ahh, ZIM, just another of the stocks I let ArlittTout talk me into. got out with a small loss on it, but never sold DMR, QTL, SUT, and one more whose symbol I forgot. Did sell AGC for a nice profit. Was too gullible and dumb to get out of the others. So, yes, Arlitt has been on my **** list for many a year.


Posted by rbtree @ 2006-12-07 17:30



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wow - your dd uncovered much more than what i found on him...good article and i really have to say arlitt was VERY creative this time around for sure >> a dead king with a rising phoenix and striking cobra, which was very entertaining and did beyond any doubt help him to develop quite a following... what was interesting for me was watching him sit up on his nest and being able to get to the point of predicting when he would fly down out of the loft and post... another interesting aspect was noticing some major selling more times than not always seemed to follow his posts for the restless "shee-people", so he was/is not a dumb one but as was posted for him in arabic >> lies have no legs to stand on - lies will be discovered....

and last but not least >> STILL waiting (with some others) for that article about those bonds!!


Posted by fireopal @ 2006-12-07 18:33

Stockwatch > News > News Item

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Use your own mind on what to buy and sell!!