The FBI Is Investigating Long Island Iced Tea's BlockChain Pivot (futurism.com) 48
Beverage firm Long Island Iced Tea -- now known as Long Blockchain -- is being investigated by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation for insider trading and securities fraud. From a report: Court records show that the FBI is investigating suspicious dealings that date back to December 2017 -- around the time when the beverage company changed its name and shifted its "primary corporate focus" from selling sweetened iced tea to blockchain. The company's stock shot up by almost 300 percent after it announced the pivot in late 2017. The FBI is focusing in on secretive phone message conversations about Long Island Iced Tea between two men, Oliver Lindsay and Gannon Giguiere, who were previously arrested for securities fraud related to a different company.
Vaporous Woo (Score:4, Insightful)
How long will it be before they find that selling tea-based beverages is more profitable than trying to capitalize on pure woo?
"The stock market loved the announcement."
Of course they did, the morons.
Re:Vaporous Woo (Score:5, Informative)
"The stock market loved the announcement."
Of course they did, the morons.
Yep, the stock market loved it THEN. Probably not so much now.
Before announcement - Dec 8, 2017 = $2.01/share
After announcement - Dec 22, 2017 = $6.01/share
Now = $0.34/share
Hopefully their actual blockchain business dealings are working out better for them then it did the stock price, but since stock price generally reflects that sort of thing, I'm guess that's not the case either.
Re:Vaporous Woo (Score:4, Interesting)
I've worked in a number of investment banks - most traders are barely educated dorks who if they weren't working the desk would be selling fake rolexes on a market stall. They see a buzzword , they press buy. They see their fellow sheep all suddenly selling because a phantom wolf was spotted, they press Sell.
Re: (Score:3)
Yep, the stock market loved it THEN. Probably not so much now.
Before announcement - Dec 8, 2017 = $2.01/share After announcement - Dec 22, 2017 = $6.01/share Now = $0.34/share
Long enough for a few people to get cured. Which is why they're being investigated.
Re:Vaporous Woo (Score:4, Interesting)
"The stock market loved the announcement."
Of course they did, the morons.
Well the US has pretty much converted retirement saving into something backed by the stock market. Be it 401(k), IRA, etc but far and wide the majority option is to invest your retirement on the current performance of the stock market. So it does beg the question of are we sure they're the morons or might it be us instead? And yes, before you go spouting off that you've got your retirement stuffed in your mattress, you and you alone does not negate the fact that the vast majority of America is bank rolling these morons to bring back high returns for their retirement.
Re: (Score:2)
So it does beg the question of are we sure they're the morons or might it be us instead?
Investing and speculating are two entirely different things.
Re: (Score:2)
How long will it be before they find that selling tea-based beverages is more profitable than trying to capitalize on pure woo?
Nobody has it worse than a publicly-traded soft drink manufacturer.
Re: (Score:1)
Ns. They're screwed otoh their were probably shenanigans when they were doing tea. Too bad as they were one of the first around here and way better than canned Lipton if a bit sweet for my tastes.
Wouldn't surprise me at all if decades of shenanigans get uncovered, seen it with failing tech and ad companies, doing things like wiring money between many bank accounts which would, apparently, allow them the appearance of more money than they had at least for a while.... Amongst other things...
What's an inning? (Score:1)
("3++ STRIKES - 'yer out'")
Define an inning.
In baseball, a batter receiving three strikes in an appearance at bat appears again three innings later, or sooner if several teammates subsequently reach base on a hit, walk, or error. A lot of critics who use the "three strikes" analogy to baseball fail to define a counterpart to an inning after which all strikes are forgiven.
Re: (Score:2)
I can't think of any rule/scenario that says a batter gets more than 3 strikes.
My point was that in baseball, a batter gets more than one at-bat: at least three in a single game, or at least one per three innings. A lot of misapplications of the analogy give a person one at-bat per lifetime.
WTH did I just read (Score:3)
This is even more weird than that time Konami stopped making real games and focusing on Pachinko casinos' and Gym clubs' management
Konami gyms are real, but... (Score:2)
I'm sort of disappointed that Konami Sports Club [konami.com] doesn't tease that members who follow the strength training plan could be as ripped as Bill and Lance from Contra or Simon Belmont from Castlevania. The characters on the "My Fit Planner" look a lot more spindly than that. I'd bet they don't even have Dance Dance Revolution in the cardio theater.
No shit, Sherlock (Score:3)
The clue's in the name.
If they were being tickled by the U.S. Federal Bureau of putting everything in the kitchen in the wrong place that would be news.