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| Paula Poskon |
A Wall Street analyst says she was unaware that Campus Crest Communities CEO Ted Rollins has been convicted for an assault on his stepson and investigated for possible child sexual abuse of the same stepson.
"Oh, my God, I was not aware of any of that . . . ," Paula Poskon said. "It certainly sounds like I need to do a lot more digging."
Poskon is a senior research analyst at Robert W. Baird and Co., which is one of about six underwriters on the $380-million IPO that Campus Crest Communities completed in late 2010.
In his role as CEO, Rollins markets student housing to young people and their parents. So it is grimly ironic that he has a history of abusive actions toward young people. That irony was not lost on Paula Poskon. "That's what makes this so concerning," she said.
How much did Wall Street investors and analysts know about Ted Rollins' background before supporting his company to the tune of several hundred million dollars? Well, Poskon said quite a few of them knew about the nasty nature of his divorce case, which was unlawfully completed in Shelby County, Alabama, even though it started and was litigated for three years in Greenville, South Carolina.
Poskon said concerns about the divorce case were strong enough that she asked Rollins about it--and he apparently supplied answers that she found satisfactory. But based on the conversation I had with her, it sounds like Poskon might be rethinking that.
Do investors care only about making money, or do they also care about the personal activities of those who run public companies? Is a conviction for assault and an investigation for possible child sexual abuse enough to give investors pause?
Here is how Poskon addressed those questions: "I think the broad question you're asking is: Hypothetically speaking, in any public company CEO situation, where a CEO was accused or convicted of these kinds of things, how concerning would that be to investors? The answer is it would be very concerning."
We have much more coming on Paula Poskon's reaction to news about troubling events in Ted Rollins' background. Ms. Poskon deserves credit for being willing to take questions about Ted Rollins and Campus Crest. We've already shown that Vick Seth of Raymond James, the chief underwriter on the Campus Crest IPO, ran for cover when confronted with such questions.
Meanwhile, recent reports indicate that investors do care about ugly events in a CEO's background. Ryan Petersen resigned on September 17 as CEO of OCZ Technology, a Silicon Valley company that is a leader in solid-state storage technology. Petersen founded OCZ, and the company is on the leading edge of a computing transition from hard drives to solid-state drives (SSDs).
The Petersen story speaks to the power of the non-traditional press. A story broke in April 2011 on seekingalpha.com that Petersen and the company's underwriters had failed to disclose information about the CEO's criminal record. The story specifically broke with Copperfield Research, a contributor at the Seeking Alpha site, and then made its way into the mainstream business press.
A little more than a year later, Ryan Petersen is out as CEO. Could a similar fall be in Campus Crest Communities' future? It's probably too early to say. But it does appear that Ryan Petersen and Ted Rollins have some unpleasant characteristics in common. How similar are they? For that, we need to learn more about Ryan Petersen. And that is coming in our next post.
17 comments:
Legal Schnauzer: WOW....Gutsy move on your part; now the underwriters are looking at the Rollins boy. Can't imagine how this must be affecting his position with this publicly traded company.
Does this mean that people and investors really might care about the morals, values, and backgrounds of wealthy owners/CEO's of corporations in leadership roles?
I also noticed that Rupert Murdoch had to seperate himself somewhat from his publicly traded company lately.. Could this become a trend? You are to be commended for digging under the fence on this one.
Anon at 7:00--
My interview with Ms. Poskon took some very interesting twists and turns, and I will be reporting on them shortly.
Hope you will stay tuned about the story of Ryan Petersen, the CEO of OCZ Technology who stepped down recently--in the aftermath of revelations about his criminal history.
I certainly will look forward to your story about Ryan Petersen; it will be interesting to see what prompted his leaving.
What do CEO's need to know about KARMA?
Be careful, Roger. We need you. You know the Alabama legislature reads your blog. Your reporting is changing things.
You know me. I say it because I care about you and the Mrs.
They probably think Karma doesn't apply to them. The Petersen post should be up a little after 10 this morning. Applying finishing touches.
Anon at 8:35--
Appreciate your concern, but I decided early on to face corrupt forces head on. Not going to stop now. They expect people to quake before them, but I'm not much of a Quaker.
Oh, I've had a pretty good idea about my readership for a long time--AL Leg, FBI, DOJ, USCourts, law firms, MSM, etc.
Some might be friends, some might be foes, some might just be amazed that a journalist actually is tackling the topic of judicial/legal corruption in a serious fashion. Probably a mixed bag.
Do some wish me harm? Considering that I've had numerous messages that sound like thinly veiled death threats, I would say yes. We'll see where it all leads.
In early 1990s, when CITI "decided" that the "financial industry of the U.S." was in charge of our country and moving right along to gulag the world, we were doomed.
Financial digital computer keystrokes sold as real money is not intelligent, especially in the time of the internet.
But, that is what America and the vassal states of "Israel," decided to do, conquer the world with digital debt-credit. Especially all those Chinese.
Now we have all the false flags to destroy any and all intelligence.
Religious wars have been used since time was manufactured to enslave the "proletariat."
Israel, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. are truly not the most intelligent of our world to follow.
The manufacturing of "goods" was moved off shore and so was the "financial innovation," the U.S.A. only has, basically, war to continue covering up there is no such idea: "civilized."
Israel, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. basically fund any and all the corrupt CEOs and the "Agents" of foreign governments, because this style of "modern" fits the ideologies of Ghetto hell in earth forever. Pays enormously well, look at Karl Rove, Ted Rollins, et al, and know the fruits have been looped together because the "modern style" allows for our "civilization" to be a NO.
VOTE IN NOVEMBER? NO, not until we have the true representative CONGRESS! AND these 'people' are to show us the full transparency of how did "we people commoners" acquiesce our rights to the gulag digital debt, when our sovereignty is old as dirt.
Wow LS, the slime New York Times and Murdock, Fox, et al, are giving up reporting for good reason, no competition with you!
Thank you so much.
LS, this reminds me of the guy from Raymond James who wouldn't come to the phone to discuss Ted Rollins. What was his name?
That was Vick Seth. He and Raymond James were the chief underwriters on the Campus Crest IPO.
I might not be the only person with serious questions for Mr. Seth. Investors might soon have them, too.
Tragically the court system was the greatest fatted ponzi and should LS not have taken this bold approach, the country would be far worse than we now experience our "reality."
How dumb are the JUSTICES in the U.S.? Well, most are not tech savvy and begin with this fact, that proves they cannot serve the now generation of U.S.
U.S. "children" since the 1970s, late, and some since the 1960s, early, have been on the computer.
Justices do not write their own opinions for the most, nor do they do any research to know what is actually going on.
Not to say there are not some that have brain cells, the trouble is the air, water, food and every natural element is controlled and this Israeli "modern" has been practiced on the Palestinians since early 1900s, and actually beginning in the 1700s to the 1800s, "Persia" as the "prize."
America was and is an intentional failed nation state. We have only our soul to lose, should we not stand with Roger and Mrs. LS.
Karma? Oh please let us talk about what energy is - real.
We, all NATURE'S "life," are energy and what we "think, say, do" is energy and this is how we reenter the unknown: the energy of our "fruits," "works and faith," we take with as not unreality. Think about this.
Roger, you are not to leave regardless of the evildoers' motives, with other than the greatness of your incredible courage and gene of altruism.
Not a bad karmic record, at all.
This quote is worth the price of admission:
"Oh, my God, I was not aware of any of that . . . . It certainly sounds like I need to do a lot more digging."
"... EG, Patrick Clawson, deputy director of research for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) was caught on film last week suggesting that crisis initiation (i.e. false flags) are needed to “get America into war with Iran.” Clawson has very little confidence that Obama “can get us into war.”
.. WINEP was founded in 1985 by Martin Indyk, former US Ambassador to Israel and former deputy director of research for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) which is the largest and most influential Zionist-controlled pro-Israeli lobby on Capitol Hill. Other founders of WINEP include self-proclaimed Zionists such as Paul Wolfowitz, president of the World Bank from 2005 – 2007;
Patrick Clawson Assisting Zio-Communist Takeover of US Under Cover of Washington Institute
Susanne Posel Sep 30th, 2012
Susanne Posel
Occupy Corporatism
September 30, 2012
Big Mike--
I agree about that quote. It shows a Wall Streeter showing some humanity. You actually get the sense that this woman cares a little about Ted Rollins' victims.
She might only care about the feelings of investors. But at least I sense a tad of humanity there.
And that is the point.
"Mainstream media" has failed miserably otherwise Ms. Poskon would not have to "dig" some more.
LS, soon the deep pockets that pay for the cover-ups, are to begin to pay you for the uncovering, of the digging: too OMG to not fail.
LS, I was interested in your reference to the Seeking Alpha Web site. I had never heard of it, and checked it out. It appears to be a sprawling site, almost the business equivalent of Daily Kos. Going to keep my eye on this site. If they are doing real journalism on the business world, that gets my interest.
I have a new post just up at LS about reporting that originated at Seeking Alpha.
SA was new to me, too, but it apparently has a powerful presence in the business world. (Readers can check it out at seekingalpha.com)
I have opened an account at Seeking Alpha and have started to publish my business-related work there.
Your term "sprawling" is right on target, and I'm still learning my way around. It seems geared toward investors, stock pickers, etc. But there is a lot of general business news, and that's where I hope to fit in--with reports on Orkin, Rollins Inc., NCO, AMEX, Campus Crest Communities, JPMorgan Chase, Raymond James, Barclays, Robert W. Baird, and more.
He will bust a damn gasket when he reads this. Great job!!!!!x
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