Yesterday evening I posted an article titled “Accounting Irregularities at L&L Energy.”
In it I discussed my concerns regarding certain SEC filings of L&L Energy (LLEN).
I had originally intended to post several follow up articles focusing on other aspects of the company, but in light of today’s events I no longer plan to continue this story.
I am also a contributing author for SeekingAlpha.com, and in connection with this am required to disclose if I have a position in any securities that I write about. My disclosure for the L&L article was that I had plans to enter either a short position or purchase put options.
For the record, I do not, and never have had any position in L&L Energy. To my knowledge, none of my friends, family, or associates have or have ever had a position in L&L Energy. I also no longer plan to enter any positions in the foreseeable future.
Simply put, I am not and never was positioned to profit in any way from the publishing of my article.
I write about investments as a hobby. I write about stories that I find interesting and always look forward to sparking a good debate. I firmly believe that a healthy market allows all market participants to discuss their views openly and that differing opinions contribute greatly to the efficiency and integrity of the markets.
I want to make one point very clear:
I am proud of the article I wrote, and I believe it to be 100% factually correct.
It accurately reflects my current opinion of the company, but at the end of the day, it is only my opinion.
Others will disagree but that is what makes a market.
Sincerely,
Aaron Stackhouse
I know you will not post this comment – you have yet to post any comments. However, I would like to point out that if you were to do this the *correct* way, you would find that a conversation with management to discuss your due diligence findings would be the proper way to go about this, rather than write a one-sided, factually incorrect article. It’s ludicrous for anyone to claim to do research without looking into things thoroughly.
Why stop if you are telling the truth and you have no position in the stock? People can’t sue you for telling the truth.
@Michael
Sadly people CAN (and do) sue other people for telling the truth, but they cannot WIN. Truth is an absolute defense in almost all States. Some states, such as California, even have passed Anti-SLAPP statutes to prevent companies from silencing critics.
Please do share your work, sunlight it the best disinfectant. If it helps even one person avoid being scammed, you have done a good thing.
I came across these year old posts during some DD work on L&L.
Interesting reading to say the least. I am not really refering to the original LLEN post on the accounting irregularities, but the replies to it.
I have had some contact with this group of ……..L&L defenders ……if that is a correct term for them. They are a vicious bunch and do not tolerate dissent in their little world, you might say.
Your article was insightful from a historical perspective, now over a year later. The stock continues to languish, and the auditor continues to issue disclaimers about the data they recieve from the company to audit.
In other words, you were right, and as usual, these penny pumpers were wrong. But they will never admit it as they ride it down. They will always blame it on the short seller and their evil blog writers. You should see what they say about Geo Investing.
Have a nice day….Just thought I would comment as I can see you quit posting a year ago, likely as a result of that post about LLEN.
I must admit that I would as well…
Mike
Well done Aaron on a good call with LLEN. The shares have now collapsed and are rapidly becoming worthless due to what appears to be fraud at the company.
I agree with M. A. Daniels. The so called defenders of the good longs against the evil shorts are largely made up either of paid promoters manipulating the share price, or utterly incompetent private investors who refuse to admit that they are wrong. For example, not one of your critics has apologized and admitted that you were right in the end.
Both these groups of people would never in a million years be considered for professional analyst positions, and I am sure that their CV’s would be laughed at all the way to the bin. But they will tell lies on a regular basis, both about themselves and about this company, and often come up with the most ludicrous and poorly researched reasons why they invest in a company (while tell everyone that they apparently did some great and deep due diligence)!
Thanks BR! It’s been a while since I’ve written anything about L&L but I still follow it out of curiosity. I couldn’t agree more… one of my biggest surprises was the extent to which the longs (at least the vocal ones) go to ignore and discredit anything negative and the mental gymnastics they will do to spin other things positively.
I was skimming the message boards the other day and actually read longs arguing that because Lee was charged with lying about the CFO and using company funds to cover it up, it meant the SEC fully reviewed L&L and found nothing else wrong. Truly unbelievable…