Menu Foods CFO sold stock before pet food recall

[tencats]

Source: CTV.ca

The chief financial officer of Menu Foods Income Fund says it was a "horrible coincidence" that he sold nearly half his units in the pet food company less than three weeks before a massive product recall.

Insider trading reports confirm that Mark Wiens sold 14,000 units, or 45 per cent of his stock, for $102,900 on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27, reports The Globe and Mail. The shares would be worth $62,440 at current prices.

Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070410/menu_foods_070410/20070410?hub=TopStories

---

Isn't that what they sent Martha Stewart to prison for?

But in this case its Canadian law that would decide.

[EFerrari]

1. Welcome to DU, tencats.

He's got some karma ahead of him.

[central scrutinizer]

2. three weeks?

If I remember correctly, the animals started dying a month before the recall began. Horrible coincidence, my ass.

[loudsue]

3. K & R Does Canadian Law have the goods to go after him?

This sucks!!!

:kick::kick::kick:

[kestrel91316]

4. Mark Wiens has been a very naughty boy, it seems.

Does he think people are STUPID????

[catgirl]

26. Yah, sometimes you guys get caught.

Looks like the truths coming out. Nonsense, huh Kestrel?

[aquart]

5. He sold it as soon as his test cats started dying:

<http://www.harlemfur.com/2007/03/over_80_brands_of_pet_foods_re.html>

Berry, ask your friend what kind of food the kitty was eating. it's being reported that Menu Foods knew as early as December that there was a problem but didn't test their foods until Feb. 20-28, whereupon 1 in 10 of their test animals died after eating the food. Menu Foods did not announce the recall until this past Friday. I have been reading story after story of pets who have died of renal failure after eating the foods on the recall. Ugh. So horribly sad. :(

[catgirl]

6. I knew there was more to the story

Greedy bastards.

[Cass]

7. Horrible coincidence , my foot. Test animals were dying in their facility a month before the recall.

:mad:

It will be interesting to see how this pans out with Canadian law.

[anitar1]

14. Isn't the Canadian gov. RW?

If so, I doubt if they go after this guy. Being RW means you support the crooks and liars, in my book.

[Occulus]

22. timeline:

week 1: "Oh shit our test subject are keeling over, maybe it's that new supplier from China"
week 2: "I better dump what I can of my stock"
week 3: "..."
week 4: "..."
week 5: "We're issuing a recall..."

:grr:

It'll be uninteresting and predictable to see how this pans out with US law.

[northzax]

23. why US law?, among

the company is based in, and trades on a market in, Canada.

my money is on coincidence, if Canadian law is in anyway similar to US law on this matter. you simply cannot keep something like this quiet, among other things, you have to file a report saying you sold your shares, when, and for what price. If he had any inkling that there was something wrong with the firm that was not public and he did this, then he is the biggest fucking idiot EVER, it is the most obvious place to look. this would be like robbing a bank with a note written on your personal stationery and then reporting the income to the IRS.

[ThingsGottaChange]

8. OMFG

I'm not even going to say what kinds of things I would like to see happen to him.

Please keep this kicked

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x616458

Thanks!

[nashville_brook]

9. Martha wasn't responsible for the death of (four-legged) family members...

but your comparison is well taken.

she was screwed by a Republican court system, and courageously did the time in order to get the mess behind her. Martha is my hero.

THIS GUY is a certifiable CRIMINAL. i REALLY wonder if he's going to do any time or be held liable. i'm taking one of my Italian Greyhounds to the vet today and will be having a detailed discussion of this food mess.

[damntexdem]

10. Maybe this form of tending one's stock portfolio should be known as:

Martha Stewardship. ;-)

But Martha was not sent to prison for selling stock, rather for telling a lie about it to investigators.

[northzax]

15. last spring, in fact

Stewart settled with the SEC on the issue of insider trading and paid a $195,000 fine.

[Psephos]

11. "A horrible coincidence" - yeah, horrible for the suckers who bought his stock n/t

[valerief]

12. Wow! How very Ken Lay of him! nt

[Kagemusha]

13. Well either he heard about the tests or not.

Simple as that. Simple as that.

[OhioChick]

16. Horrible Coincidence, My Ass.

Bastard. :mad:

[grasswire]

17. not exactly

Martha was imprisoned for lying to the feds.

[Shipwack]

29. More accurately still...

She was imprisoned for claiming to be innocent of a crime she was never charged with.... Thus "obstructing" the investigation.

[grasswire]

35. I read about a fellow in a Texas prison..

...who was refused parole because he had received a ruling stating that his appeal showed a "colorable showing of factual innocence" and that innocent people could not be rehabilitated and that parole could only be granted to those who were rehabilitated, so no parole. True story.

[kath]

18. How con-VEEEEEN-ient!

<church lady>

[barb162]

28. If this story is true, I hope he gets locked up

[tencats]

19. "I hold myself to the highest ethical and moral standards possible"

Mr. Wiens said yesterday.
"I hold myself to the highest ethical and moral standards possible. I wouldn't do anything to imperil the high governance standards that I demand of myself or anybody in the company."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070410.RMENU10/TPStory/Business


Pet Food Study: Cat Kidney Failures Up 30%
cbsnews.com Breaking News April 10, 2007 1:27pm
Animal Hospital Chain Saw More Cases While Tainted Pet Food Was On The Market
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/10/national/main2666754.shtml

Durbin announces pet-food hearing line-up
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2007/04/durbin_announce.html
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Illinois's mostly unheralded other senator, has announced the witness list for his hearing Thursday to investigate the death of numerous pets due to tainted pet food.
United States Senate

COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
NOTICE OF SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING

The Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies will meet in open session at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 12, 2007 in Room 192 Dirksen Senate Office Building.
The program includes: Hearing to examine the current pet food recall.

Witnesses:

Panel 1:

Dr. Stephen F. Sundlof, D.V.M, Ph.D., Director, Center for Veterinary Medicine, Food and Drug Administration

Panel 2:

Mr. Duane Ekedahl, Executive Director, Pet Food Institute

Mr. Eric Nelson, President, American Association of Feed Control Officers

Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins, Veterinarian

Dr. Claudia A. Kirk, Associate Professor of Medicine and Nutrition, University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine

[melnjones]

20. kick nt

[JuniperLea]

21. Where the hell is PETA????

I guess none of these bastards were wearing fur when they traded their stock.

[Raine]

33. Where the hell is the media

I don't see this on the national news at all, where it should be!

[LeftyMom]

37. Advanced search is your friend. They've been screaming bloody murder for weeks.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=567415
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=562633
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=495868
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=479075

That's just what wound up in GD here on DU.

[Xenotime]

24. What scum.... here comes another Enron.

[Javaman]

25. Wasn't this true they knew about the poisoning a full month before the recall? nt

[RamboLiberal]

27. These bastards started getting reports of pets getting sick

and dying in December!

[TroglodyteScholar]

30. Speechelss, but must kick n/t

[0rganism]

31. so where's the "horrible coincidence" checkbox on my 1040?

"I'd like to claim three 'horrible coincidence' exemptions, please."

[Raine]

32. Outrageous and no one is covering this

it makes me sick! :mad:

[Toucano]

34. Martha wasn't charged with insider trading, but rather fraud, obstruction of justice

and conspiracy.

[Canuckistanian]

36. Hmm, a company executive sells out his stock before a disaster

Now, where have I heard that story before?

Ah, yes, it's coming back to me...
http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/headlines02/1030-06.htm

[Scriptor Ignotus]

38. not too sound naive

but this was shortly after Menu Foods released their earnings report for 4Q. He could be telling the truth, but it certainly looks suspicious and warrants an investigation.