I haven't fully read(yet) the 9/11 Commissions final report published by W.W. Norton & Co but was wondering if it contains any financial details
(suspect or not) recovered from the hard drives by CONVAR in Pirmasens,Germany.Seems like a few engineers over there could have some interesting info
to share by now regarding the "put options" and other peculiar transactions made in the final moments of that chaotically horrific morning by those
oddly unvexed & calculatingly sedate.
08/06/03: PIRMASENS, Germany (Reuters) - German computer experts are working round the clock to unlock the truth behind an unexplained surge in
financial transactions made just before two hijacked planes crashed into New York's World Trade Center on September 11.
Were criminals responsible for the sharp rise in credit card transactions that moved through some computer systems at the WTC shortly before the
planes hit the twin towers?
Or was it coincidence that unusually large sums of money, perhaps more than $100 million, were rushed through the computers as the disaster
unfolded?
www.informationclearinghouse.info...
Manipulators with inside information made huge profits on sophisticated trades as the stocks of the airline and insurance companies plummeted in the
aftermath of the Sept. 11 disaster. The inside information was so precise that experts have concluded that it could have only come from those who
masterminded the terror attacks.
This money trail is the closest investigators have come to �a smoking gun� and could lead directly to those who planned the attacks. But with the
notable exception of Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D.-Ga.), Congress has yet to demand a thorough and open investigation.
In the days following the terror attacks, suspicious and unusual stock trading activity indicated that people used inside information to make huge
profits. The money made from the trades done with apparent inside information has been estimated at up to $15 billion worldwide
www.americanfreepress.net...
The Associated Press
This article appeared in the International Herald Tribune, 2001-10-04.
WASHINGTON - The [U.S.] government says it is investigating suspicious trading in 38 companies, including major airlines, cruise lines, General
Motors Corp., and Raytheon Co., to determine if people used advance knowledge of the terror attacks last month to profit from trading in the
companies' shares.
The Securities and Exchange Commission list includes several big companies that were tenants in the collapsed twin towers in the heart of New
York's financial district: investment firms Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, the complex's biggest occupant, and Lehman Brothers; Bank of America; and
the financial firm Marsh & McLennan.
Also among the companies named are the parents of major airlines American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, Southwest, United and US Airways, as
well as the cruise lines Carnival and Royal Caribbean, the aircraft maker Boeing and the defense contractor Lockheed Martin.
In the days before the terrorist assaults, unusually high numbers of put options were purchased for the stocks of AMR Corp. and UAL Corp., the
parents of American and United - each of which had two planes hijacked. A put option is a contract that gives a holder the right to sell an asset at a
specified price before a certain date.
Several insurance companies are on the list - American International Group, AXA, Chubb, Cigna, CNA Financial, John Hancock and MetLife. In
addition, American Express, Bank of New York, Bank One, Bear Stearns, Citigroup, Hercules, L-3 Communications Holdings, LTV Corp., Lone Star
Technologies, Progressive Corp., Royal & Sun Alliance, XL Capital and W.R. Grace were named.
The commission has not previously disclosed details of its investigation, part of a worldwide inquiry into advance trading by individuals linked
to the terrorists. The agency's list of 38 companies was posted Monday [2001-10-01] on the Web site of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada,
which represents that country's securities firms.
The Securities commission has asked U.S. and Canadian brokerage and investment firm to review their records for trading in the stocks to find
any unusual patterns in the weeks leading up to Sept. 11, the day hijackers slammed planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing
thousands.
Several days before the attacks, there was unusually heavy trading in airline and related stocks using a market tactic that essentially bets
that a stock will decline in value.
Alex Popovic, vice president of enforcement for the dealers' group, said the agency asked brokerages to concentrate on stocks on the list, but
not to limit their review.
Are there any CONVAR employees here at ATS who could elaborate on their findings or share their insights regarding the analysis of the data?I'd be
very interested in hearing them.