Bloomberg reports that Ron Salmon first invested in Sino- Forest Corp. as a speculative stock. He bought more shares even after they tumbled 83 percent in June, when the company was accused of fraud. Salmon, a teacher of English as a second language who is semi-retired after a car crash left him quadriplegic, said he carried out his own research into Sino-Forest and was encouraged by other investors buying the stock after its initial plunge. Now he’s unable to recover any of his C$42,000 ($42,300) original investment because regulators imposed a trading ban.
“It’s gut-wrenching,” Salmon, 43, said in a telephone interview from Richmond Hill, Ontario. “I’ve just been blind- sided.”
Other investors caught out by the storm that has engulfed Sino-Forest over the past three months include hedge fund manager John Paulson and billionaire New Zealander Richard Chandler. Sino-Forest has lost at least C$3.3 billion of market value since Muddy Waters LLC, a firm founded by short seller Carson Block, issued a report saying the Hong Kong- and Mississauga, Ontario-based forestry company was exaggerating its Chinese timber holdings.
“It now seems quite likely it’s a fraud,” said Jaap van der Hart, a money manager at Robeco Groep NV in Rotterdam, which owns 627,100 Sino-Forest shares after selling 272,900 in June. “The key question is to what extent they have defrauded and whether there’s potentially still some value….”
Wait...wait...there's more at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-21/sino-forest-victims-span-paulson-and-chandler-to-retirees-as-shares-halted.html
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