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Nicholas A. Guarino, Jr. (born in New York, USA) is a prominent financial analyst and possibly the most prodigious financial investor in the history of the stock exchange.
The following is plagiarized from http://www.wallstreetunderground.org/disclaimer.asp. It needs to be rephrased.
180+ I.Q., grade school drop-out, self-made millionaire, former president of his own commodities brokerage firm, host of radio and TV financial programs, inventor, private pilot, newsletter author, and in the opinion of some, one of the most accurate financial forecasters in history. Well, that's Nick's opinion of himself, Nicholas Guarino is an intelligent man, although I've never believed his IQ is 180+ and I've heard him tout that line for decades, I knew him first hand and never saw any indication of pure genius. Intelligent, but not genius. I also question his skills as an inventor and pilot. He did lease a plane, but never flew it himself. Also, he was not an accurate financial forecaster, he is an excellent sales person, who could literally sell snow to Eskimos and he was excellent at fraudulent representing the accounting of his trades and the trades of some of his brokers.
Childhood
editNicholas came from what appeared to be a good Italian family, but he disgraced them repeatedly with his fraudulent activity and ruthless philandering of customer's monies. Guarino claims to have been a child prodigy, but the questions begs to be asked. A prodigy of what? I suggest more research into this portion of his life. Surely there was some trauma or possibly genetic flaw that produced such an ego maniac who thinks its proper to and acceptable to fleece hardworking investors of their money and then spend the rest of his life lying about it. I know his father had to have been traumatized the day they came and took away the Mercedes Nick had given him for his birthday. The one Nick purchased with money he stole out of one of his clients accounts.
1980s stock market activity
editThe following is plagiarized from http://www.wallstreetunderground.org/disclaimer.asp. It needs to be rephrased. Not only is it plagiarized, it is the biggest pile horse manure I've seen since the first day I met Mr. Guarino. If Nick didn't write this he transcribed it and had someone else put in into understandable english.
The public first heard about Nick Guarino in the early 1980s. He stirred up the financial industry by publicly advertising his trading record in the Wall Street Journal. People were frankly skeptical. But in 1984 a famous gold and silver newsletter authenticated his phenomenal trading record. This set the entire industry abuzz.
Nick compiled what, in the opinion of many, was the most successful documented track record in the history of precious metals trading. This should read, Nick falsified a successful track record while embezzling clients funds and using those funds for his own pleasure. The story goes that he began with $25,000, he allegedly grew one trading account into $225,028.06 in three years, but in truth he was so successful at cooking his books, Bernie Ebbers could have been using Nick's accounting fraud strategies while he was bolstering WorldCom's books.. A Big Ten accounting firm audited and publicly confirmed that account. The Big Ten accounting firm originally came in to audit HGSE Gold and Silver Exchange for non-delivery of gold and silver physicals purchased by clients. Since Mr. Guarino had comingled the funds of HGSE Commodities and HGSE Gold and Silver they had to look at the books of both companies. Nick did such of good job of cooking the books and shucking and jiving the auditors, they gave his falsified books a gold seal of approval. Mr. Guarino had continued to wave that approval over his head and tout his great accomplishments as a commodities trader. Unfortunately, the day that the Big Ten accounting firm handed him that approval put a black mark on their record, which remains there to this day. Guarino took another private $25,000 account and, using a more aggressive strategy, turned it into $1.3 million in ten months. He refused to publish that result because he thought no one would believe it. And we don't.
The fellow on the order desk who executed the trades in this astonishing private precious metal account publicly said it was true. He says he is still, to this day, amazed by it all. I'm amazed by it all too! I was there, had a front row seat and saw Mr. Guarino using his customer's money for his own financial gains. The "fellow" on the order desk, was convicted on a narcotics charge while working that order desk and is a convicted felon too. That's the kind of people I want speaking for me and gambling with my money. Regardless of the vomit smeared on this page, the truth is the Government regulators shut him down, not because they didn't believe his trading record, it was because he was falsifying his end of day run sheets and reporting fraudulent information to his clearinghouse. You have to remember this was in the days of internet infancy so information traveled much slower in those days. The government does not incarcerate someone just because they don't like their trading strategy. If that were true most of us would have been in jail at one time or the other.
However, government regulators dispute Guarino´s verified track record. Despite the fact that a top ten CPA firm independently audited and confirmed the $225,028.00 trading account, regulators claimed it’s a fraud. The government bureaucrats simply can’t believe that anyone could make that much money trading precious metals. Because it was fraud, the auditors confirmed nothing other than the fact Nick did a really good job of cooking his books.
Same was true of the commodities industry’s own “self-regulators.” This is a “voluntary” body that attempts to “police” brokers and others involved in trading. These non-government regulators refused to accept Guarino’s track record. They made life so difficult for him – with the endless bureaucracy, investigations, restrictions and rules – he finally concluded that trading other people’s money simply wasn’t worth the intrusion and constant harassment. Rather than battle the regulators, Guarino simply “unvolunteered.” He closed his firm in 1986, cashed in his chips, and sailed off in his yacht to the Cayman Islands. Well actually the government regulators closed his firm, suspended his trading license, and Nick fled into the night. He island hopped until INTERPOL picked him up and extradited him back to the US for trail. He even tried to trade again after he got out of prison, but was arrested again by the government for fraud, embezzlement and illegal trading practices. The documents are part of the Freedom of Information Act and are available on the internet for anyone who is curious. This is the link to the court ordered restitution Mr. Guarino is ordered to pay his vicitims, http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/pr5206-06, please note the fact that he has done everything possible to avoid being served the court document and is now apparently living outside the US to avoid having to pay restitution to the people he defrauded. You can also read more at these links: http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2005/01/03/daily10.html http://www.cftc.gov/opa/enf03/opa4778-03.htm http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/pr5206-06. These links pretty much speak for themselves. If you note, Mr. Guarino NEVER paid a dime of restitution for any of the crimes for which he was convicted.
Criminal record
editThe following is plagiarized from http://www.wallstreetunderground.org/disclaimer.asp. It needs to be rephrased. I fixed the issue with the plagiarism.
He is also a convicted felon. He is definitely that and more. He served nine months in federal prison, during the 1992 presidential election, allegedly for a business failure that occurred back in 1987. The business did not fail. The Federal regulators suspended trading of Mr. Guarino and his brokers until they could investigate HGSE Commodities, Inc. for trading violations. In fact, many of his brokers quit the firm just days before the regulators arrived because they had discovered Guarino's rigging of the books. Many of HGSE Commodities, Inc's brokers regained their licenses and trading privileges without sanction, but Mr. Guarino did not and has continued to trade illegally. Guarino claims he was set up by powerful moneymen in Arkansas. Men who feared that – because of Guarino´s extensive financial dealings in the state — he would reveal all he knew about then-governor Bill Clinton, Whitewater, Madison Guaranty and Hillary Clinton’s remarkable ability to make a 10,000% profit on cattle futures (with the help of the state´s biggest corporation, Tyson Foods). Following Bill Clinton’s election, Guarino was released, openly vowed revenge. The truth of the matter is, Bill, Hillary, Don and Madison Guaranty only marginally ever heard of Mr. Guarino, they took one look at his scheme and knew it for what it was. Their trading what done through a brokerage firm in Little Rock Arkansas not Mr. Guarino's fly by night operation in Harrison Arkansas. Personally, I'm amazed that Mr. Guarino had has plenty of years to contemplate the errors of his way and yet he is still looking under his bed for the boogieman who made him do it. Release: 5206-06 For Release: July 25, 2006 Federal Court Orders Kansas City Resident Nicholas A. Guarino, Jr. and Merriam, Kansas Company Wall Street Underground, Inc. to Pay Over $2 Million to Defrauded Customers and to Pay a $7 Million Fine for Fraudulently Promoting Commodity Trading Systems[1]
1990s stock market activity
editThe following is plagiarized from http://www.wallstreetunderground.org/disclaimer.asp. It needs to be rephrased.
It is well documented that Guarino was a lone voice crying in the wilderness, Thank goodness for that! We don't need anymore "geniuses" like Mr. Guarino out there, helping themselves to the purses of retired widows.
In more recent times Nick called gold at $250 an ounce the bargain of the century. He said the dollar was the most overvalued currency in the world. He urged subscribers to buy Euros when they traded at .77 cents to the dollar. He said the U.S budget deficits, balance of trade deficits and national debt are out of control. He now is predicting the dollar will collapse like we have never seen before, relestate will be worth 10 pennies on the dollar – and a depression will soon hit, that makes the 1930’s depression a coloring book fight at the preschool. He predicts the stock market will again crash, in Wall Street´s biggest wipeout ever.
You can imagine the enemies he has made. Wall Street, mutual funds, politicians, the bought-and-paid-for Wall Street media, and lap-dog regulators want to shut him up. He says the Wall Street prosecutions and fines paid are just tax-deductible fines, chump change, for these trillion dollar industries. He calls the penalties a joke – a slap on the wrist to appease the masses. They have tried everything to stop him. But to no avail. The more they attack him, the more popular he has become with the little guy. He keeps up his one-man crusade to warn people of the corruption that will steal their life savings.
Writings
editThe following is plagiarized from http://www.wallstreetunderground.org/disclaimer.asp. It needs to be rephrased.
He wrote about Clinton’s crimes in Arkansas in a controversial “payback” book, The Impeached President, published in 1994. Of course like the rest of Nick's ramblings, very few people ever read it because after the first chapter you suspect that the author has a mental illness or is just plain high! In this book Guarino predicted, FOUR years before it actually took place, that Clinton would be the first president impeached since Andrew Johnson. When Clinton was actually impeached, it was largely based on information that Guarino himself leaked to the press – including to Newsweek star reporter Michael Isikoff. (In his book Uncovering Clinton, Isikoff admits that Guarino was his source for key information that blew the cover off Clinton’s crimes.) Guarino also began writing The Wall Street Underground newsletter. WSU´s mission was to expose the shady financial practices and corrupt business dealings that the “legitimate” (corporate-owned) Wall Street news media and government regulators (also corporate-owned) were ignoring. From the very beginning, this newsletter has been investigated by government agencies that seem intent on silencing it and censoring the truth. It's easy to say you predicted something after it's happened.
Guarino writes other newsletters for many different publishers, and has developed a global cult following. His list of loyal subscribers -- many of whom have been with him for years -- grows every year. Some of the most powerful people of our time use Guarino as a constant source of political and market information. They also use him as a predictor of future events. People who are aware of the inside dirty deals know he never reveals his sources. They know they can give him vital information: he will publish it to the world and blow up the scandals, frauds and corruption designed to steal the little guy´s hard earned savings.
The following is not plagiarized from http://www.wallstreetunderground.org/disclaimer.asp.
Guarino also wrote a pamphlet in 1994 titled Murder, Bank Fraud, Drugs, and Sex: How Whitewater Will Change Your Life Forever, copyrighted in 1994 by The Wall Street Underground. It is basically a distillation of Guarino's own research into the Whitewater Controversy. Mr. Guarino is an avid writer. His claims to predictions are just that and the claims are usually made after the fact. Shall we now refer to him as the Oracle of Arkansas?
Personal life
editThe following is plagiarized from http://www.wallstreetunderground.org/disclaimer.asp. It needs to be rephrased.
Guarino’s exposes of Wall Street crimes and government corruption have put his life in danger. As a result, since 1994 he has lived outside the United States in a hidden location. Nick did live in the Kansas City area, where he was still defrauding clients and trying to find a way around Sarbanes-Oxley. Sometime between 2003 and 2006 he had once again gone island hopping, reportedly this time in the Mediterranean to avoid having to pay restitution for his criminal activity. Mr. Guarino is a master of deception, I wouldn't be surprised if he had moved back to Harrison Arkansas and was living under someone else's name. His radio program, “Radio Free Wall Street” – which has aired on some of the largest radio stations in America -- is broadcast from “somewhere in the Northern Hemisphere.” He has no address, telephone number, email address or known contacts. Government regulators allege this is because he is a fraud out to steal people’s money. Yet Guarino refuses to accept other people’s money for trading. He will not take a penny. He says all people can do is subscribe to the publications he writes, read the information he gives them, and make up their own minds. Guarino says his exotic lifestyle is designed to keep him alive long enough that he can warn more people of the financial apocalypse Wall Street is preparing for them. He communicates with his loyal subscribers through his newsletters, his radio broadcasts, and through specially encrypted websites. The websites feature regular tapes of the elusive, very private, and in the opinion of some, endearingly-eccentric Guarino. Anyone who has embezzled, defrauded and lied to the public as much as Nick has needs to be reclusive. Just off the top of my head I can think of numerous people who would like to meet Nick Guarino in a dark alley some night. But they aren't government agents, federal regulators or the FBI boogeymen that he claims. They are former clients and the families of those clients. Yes folks, Mr. Guarino outlined the dangers of investing in gold and silver commodities in his HGSE Commodities documents, but he failed to warn them about unscrupulous business owners, liars and thieves.
References
edit- Michael Isikoff and David Corn (May 1, 1999). Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter's Story. The Crown Publishing Group. ISBN 0609603930.
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