No Joke: National Lampoon Exec Faces 25 Years In Jail Over Stock Manipulation

from the what-you-get-when-chevy-chase-is-your-accountant dept

Wed, Dec 17th 2008 9:44am — Mike Masnick

I have to be honest and admit that I had no clue that National Lampoon was even a public company, but apparently it is. Either way, the company probably best known for its various National Lampoon's Vacation movies (and, yes, I'm aware National Lampoon has done much more...) appears to be in deep deep trouble after both the SEC and the Justice Department came down hard on the company for attempted stock manipulation (Eric Savitz wins for best headline on this one: Coming Soon: National Lampoon's Litigation Vacation). Apparently, the company's CEO allegedly paid stock promoters to illegally manipulate the stock upwards, giving them kickbacks for buying the stock in order to increase the price beyond what the market had decided the stock was worth. On top of that, he was accused of providing the stock promoters with confidential and non-public information. If convicted, National Lampoon's CEO could face 25 years in jail. Stock manipulation is no laughing matter, apparently.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: stock manipulation
Companies: national lampoon

4 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Josh, 17 Dec 2008 @ 10:38am

Sad
Too bad that the SEC can't manage to even bother investigating anyone who is manipulating stocks down, despite a wealth of evidence that's already been published in the WSJ and NYT. Or perhaps deal with a Ponzi scheme in the range of 50 billion dollars when they were given evidence and simply closed the investigation.

Instead we get these tiny insider trading and kickbacks investigations that only effect a small amount of people. Obviously, if National Lampoon did do this, they're breaking the law, but this is yet another glaring pointer that Christopher Cox (SEC chairman) is the hedge funds and shorts best friend. But seriously, get with the program and start the trials for the people who have actually caused genuine harm to the market.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Ross M Karchner, 17 Dec 2008 @ 11:29am

But....
I'm sure their annual report is a riot;)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
scott, 17 Dec 2008 @ 11:51am

laughing all the way to the bank...er jail.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Mark Regan, 17 Dec 2008 @ 7:24pm

That's Not Fair of You
That's not fair of you to criticize the way George Bush (Daddy and Junior) earned their living, along with nearly all other US politicians capped out at less than a quarter million dollars a year in salaries for their "public service" who become MILLIONAIRES through business deals and stock "leverages" overnight that the public never hears about.

We need to level the playing field and let everybody in on the scams that have INFESTED Wall Street and Main Street and Congress and Governor's Mansions and White Houses all over the country.

How many of our Senators "invest" in real estate and leasing and suddenly get rich when interstate highways are built right over land they recently bought, or the federal government suddenly signs a no-bid 20 year lease on a building they own?

I can name names, but you probably already know who they are anyway.
[ link to this | view in thread ]