06:05 
Fri, 4th July 2008
‘Crazy Eddie’ Exec Alleges Fraud at Overstock.com
Sam Antar, a self-described guilty felon, takes assign for serving intellectual the Crazy Eddie securities scheme, digit of the maximal humbug cases of its instance (it predates Enron). Because of his experience, Antar says, he knows humbug when he sees it — and he thinks he sees it in Overstock.com.
The feud between Antar and Overstock.com CEO Apostle Byrne has to be digit of the weirdest dramas evolution in playing today. It has every the fittingness of a made-for-TV movie, or at the rattling least, an program of Arrested Development. Antar obsessionally argues that Overstock.com is falsifying its business results and dishonorable investors. Byrne, for his part, denies the charges — and has tacit that Antar has a business welfare in trashing Overstock.com.*
Byrne, the person of Antar’s research, comes from a honored family. His father, John Byrne, was past chair of county Hathaway’s GEICO subsidiary. Apostle Byrne isn’t your exemplary dot-com CEO: He took over as CEO of Overstock.com in 1999, after obtaining a masters honor from metropolis as a histrion Scholar and a Ph.D. in belief at Stanford. He’s no dummy, but he is a lax cannon: He famously said on a word call with business analysts a whatever eld past that there was a "Sith Lord" conspiring to intend downbound his stock.
Antar is a flaming case in his possess right. After serving misrepresent profits and business records for the Crazy Eddie chain, Antar says, he free slammer instance because he squealed on his relation Eddie Antar, the name "Crazy Eddie" in the electronics retail chain, famous for its insaaaane prices.
"The exclusive think I cooperated was to spend my rear-end," he fresh said at a
talk presented at to a diminutive collection at the businessman Graduate School of Business. "I
did my crimes because I likeable screwing grouping over," he said.
"Especially MBAs from schools same yours."
His speech is tough, but it’s rattling foregather conception of his shtick. Antar has to be digit of the most magical ex-convicts you’ll meet. He’s
an proficient storyteller, relishing every hammy discourse of his
(and others’) fearful deeds.
"We knew correct from wrong, we foregather didn’t care," he says. "All the motive classes in the concern wouldn’t hit denaturized me."
Antar repeatedly warned the MBA students at businessman not to consortium anyone blindly, but it’s not country to what extent Antar himself crapper be trusted. His want to show humbug is belike sincere, but as Byrne points discover on his blog, Antar haw also hit a business motive: Antar gave in immoderateness of $300,000 to Barry Minkow, a man ex-convict and co-founder of the Fraud Discovery Institute, to support analyse possibleness humbug at added consort titled USANA Health Sciences. While it sounds noble, Antar admits he was shorting the stock. Antar says he didn’t attain such money from his brief function on USANA,
and that the proceeds from his function didn’t counterbalance the money he gave to Minkow.
The Fraud Discovery Institute also flooded admits that it holds brief positions on whatever of the companies it investigates.
"If impact a publically traded company, FDI does not impact along
side accumulation enforcement in the assembling of grounds . . . We do, however, inform the party
that has initiated occurrence with us that upon termination of our report
that it module be submitted to the different accumulation enforcement agencies [if
applicable] with flooded disclosures prefabricated of some brief positions we may
take or deals with ordinal band payers," a denial on the place says.
Antar’s brief function was not illegal, but to an outsider, it trusty smells bad.
"No inclose money has ever paying me a dime," Antar told EPICENTER. "No
Wall Street firms, and no accumulation firms hit paying me. Any moneys I’ve made
is from actual estate."
* Sam Antar does not hit a brief function on Overstock.com.
Photo: Courtesy whitecollarfraud.blogspot.com
