Jonathan Lebed and Ron Durando Are Two Of A Kind
April 23rd, 2009 at 9:26 am Posted by The Dean
Since 2004, mPhase Technologies (XDSL) has been retaining the services of notorious penny stock promoter Jonathan Lebed. Over the past 5 years Lebed has shamelessly promotedXDSL while the company continues to lose tens of millions of dollars.
When Jonathan Lebed had his first run in with the SEC back in 2001, he resided with his parents in Cedar Grove, NJ just a few blocks away from Ron Durando and XDSL’s corporate office in Little Falls, NJ.
Obviously Ron Durando had heard of Lebed at that time and the two started doing business together shortly thereafter. Before Lebed was even old enough to incorporate his own company (must be 18 years old) he was accepting large chunks of cash and stock to hypepump tout exaggerate discuss XDSL.
What’s ironic about their relationship is that Ron Durando himself has run afoul with the SEC.
On October 18, 2007 the SEC instituted a cease-and-desist proceeding against Durando and one of his companies at the time, PacketPort.com. Specifically, Ron Durando had…
-Violated Section 5 of the Securities Act by making unregistered offers or sales of PacketPort.com common stock.
-Violated Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act and Rule 16a-3 by failing to timely disclose his positions on Form 3.
-Violated Section 13(d) of the Exchange Act and Rule 13d-1 by failing to timely disclose his acquisition of +5% of PacketPort.com’s shares outstanding.
The SEC cease-and-desist order naming Ron Durando can be seen in its entirety HERE.
Since 2004 the two have been working together and in my opinion it’s been a mutually beneficial relationship (Lebed pumps, Durando’s team dumps & everyone gets paid minusXDSL shareholders). You can see from Lebed’s legal disclaimer below that it’s certainly been a very profitable endeavor for him:
My firm Lebed Biz LLC has been compensated by XDSL 1 million restricted shares and $50,000 cash for a one-year investor relations contract. We were previously compensated by XDSL 850,000 restricted shares, $55,000 cash and 175,000 warrants to purchase shares at $0.35 for past investor relations contracts which have since expired. We have sold our shares but still hold our warrants. Never invest into a stock we discuss unless you can afford to lose your entire investment. For our full disclaimer go to:www.lebed.biz/disclaimer.htm
So Lebed has received about $130,000 from XDSL over the years for “investor relations” services… good for him. But when he first started promoting XDSL the stock was trading as high as $0.60 and today it closed at $0.0123 for a loss of 98%.
A 98% loss in a stock (XDSL) that Lebed wrote:
12/27/05 “I believe XDSL should be worth a lot more than what it is currently trading at [$0.21].”
1/10/06 “My #1 pick for 2006 XDSL”
2/1/06 “I believe XDSL clearly is the most promising stock trading on the entire OTC BB”
10/24/06 “I believe XDSL is going to EXPLODE just like PLRS did for us!!!!!!!!!!!”
1/5/07 “I am willing to bet anything that we are about to see XDSL breakout above the 200-day moving average of $0.201 and start to explode.”
2/13/07 “I think the PERFECT Valentine’s Day Gift would be shares of XDSL stock [at $0.20]”
7/18/07 “XDSL is going to EXPLODE! I can’t believe the stock is only $0.125!”
5/5/08 “I can’t believe XDSL is trading right now for only $0.104! XDSL‘s chart looks amazing and I believe the stock could be ready to make it’s BIGGEST run ever!”
Yikes! Talk about one bad call. Since 5/5/08 Lebed hasn’t mentioned XDSL in a single email newsletter and I tend to doubt that he’ll ever mention the stock again unless XDSLforks over more cash.
Exaggerated claims are the bread-and-butter of Lebed’s business model because a small % of email subscribers buy into his lingo. But in the long-term ‘Accountability is King’ and in a perfect world every mention of Jonathan Lebed would cite all his successes, failures, winners and BIGGEST FLOPS EVER!!!!!!!!!!! (yes, that’s 11 exclamation points).
Key Takeaways:
(1) Never invest in a penny stock for its “coming soon” products or anything whatsoever that’s 100% forward-looking without material substance.
(2) Tips are for waiters. Be skeptical of all “tips” regardless of the source and remember that some stock promoters fail to properly disclose their compensation received.
(3) There are a lot of dishonest penny stock executives out there.
(4) Birds of a Feather Flock Together
I wish more people knew about this information its sad how much recognition labed gets
I have followed Lebed for years. Years ago when the market was full of morons everyone was making money on empty shells, thats when Lebed made a name for himself. Basically all he was was first to the party, anyone with a stock promoting website and a following made money. It’s all over now. 99% of Lebeds picks fall flat and never even move up when he releases them. People either don’t have the money to waste anymore or are onto him. Now he’s involved with “Inflation Nation” and is pumping gold and silver stocks and miners. A no brainer in this economy. I don’t know actually who Inflation Nation is but if Lebeds involved I don’t want to know.
[...] speaking of uncertainty, it is also a constant factor in this company. One example would be the past peculiar promotional activities associated with it. Words like ” pump and dump” are also associated with the CEO, and [...]
[...] speaking of uncertainty, it is also a constant factor in this company. One example would be the past peculiar promotional activities associated with it. Words like ” pump and dump” are also associated with the CEO, and [...]