Subject: S7-16-97
 
Date:    8/13/98 6:49 PM
     
     
You have gotten to being kidding!!!!
     
I have contacted the SEC numerous times and continue as a matter of courtesy 
to
e:mail the agency regarding the recent contacts that I have made. Mr Arthur 
Levitt Chairman of the SEC has at various times chastised the CPAs for not 
doing enough to uncover fraud.  That is some joke when you consider the role 
that the SEC has played in covering-up a major stock market manipulation case. 
Remember, it was the SEC who supported the brokerage industry by allowing them 
to monitor and dispose of consumer complaints.   The SEC went so far under Shad 
as to state, in their friend of the stockbrokerage industry brief in the 
McMahon v. Shearson case that went before the US Supreme Court in 1987, that 
the SEC monitors arbitration cases.  In my case the SEC covered-up a stock 
market manipulation case..  It was Ira Sorkin, former Northeast SEC 
administrator, who confessed to the press in 1986 that self-regulation never 
worked.  It was he who refused to investigate my case because he considered the 
fact that Merrill Lynch had performed their own extensive internal 
investigation. (I have an SEC internal memorandum that supports the statement 
Sorkin made to Shad). They certainly did.  They got rid of their workpapers 
that supported earnings projections that were 100% off the mark and not 
corrected until the end of the 11th month of the corporate calendar year.
     
I have made a copy of the e:mail that I have forwarded to various interested 
news groups and organizations.
     
     
Gentlemen where have you been hiding?????
     
I worked to shed light on how Merrill Lynch's controlled the market valuation 
in Ranger Oil in 1980 and 1981.  I brought a lawsuit before the NASD and 
became a victim again!!!   I am a CPA and former auditor with Price Waterhouse 
& Co.  What I witnessed was a trashing of the Justice system that can only 
happen in a country where the almight dollar is worshipped more than God.
     
I won my lawsuit against Merrill Lynch in 1988.  I still have the transcripts 
of my case for your consideration.  You may find it interesting to note that 
the NASD destroyed the transcripts (some 2000 pages) of the case just as 
Merrill Lynch did with its workpapers on Ranger Oil.  
     
It is not surprising that Wall St continues its ill begotten ways when it has 
the SEC and the NASD to cover-up its fraudulent and manipulative ways.  I have 
made a copy of the e:mail that I previously aired some months ago which will 
provide you with some idea of the extent of organized crime's involvment in 
the marketplace.  I am not talking about the Mafia --- I am talking about our 
respected members of our society.
     
My name is William V. Marino, CPA, MBA.  I am a so-called activist who had 
been working deligently to shed light on the manipulation of the stock market 
by the major brokerage firms all with the blessing of the SEC and the NASD. 
     
I was contacted by the SEC in 1988 for input when Congress attempted to 
investigate the securities arbitration process. I won a case against Merrill 
Lynch which ended in 1988 and mailed to the SEC my findings.  
     
    The findings deal with a cover-up of a major stock market manipulation
case.  I won my case against Merrill Lynch in 1988 and what I uncovered should 
have been investigated by the so called watchdog of the industry. Needless to 
say, the regulators engaged in a cover-up and the media did not get involved. 
The lesson I learned is crime pays. If you are interested read my letter that 
was sent to the SEC.
     
To the SEC
Dear Mr Stark:
     
    If you had the opportunity to explore my case against Merrill Lynch and my
experience with the regulatory agencies, the conclusion that I have arrived at 
is the investing (trusting) public would be better served if there were no 
SEC. At least they would know that its buyer beware and that reliance on trust 
(Merrill Lynch's slogan) is just a technique to disarm the public from doing 
in depth investigations.
     
    Don Regan, former chairman of the board of Merrill Lynch, put it very
succinctly when he stated that the SEC is not a watchdog but the lapdog of the 
brokerage industry. More correctly stated, the SEC is a watchdog -- the 
securities industry watchdog. In my case against Merrill Lynch, the SEC 
actively engaged in a coverup. Ira Sorkin, a former N.E. regional 
administrator of the SEC, who I was in contact with in my investigation of 
Merrill Lynch, confessed to the press in 1986 that self-regulation never 
worked. What a bum!!!!!!  Al Capone certainly has a lot of company.
     
    I have in my possession an internal memo from Ira Sorkin to chairman Shad
which stated in brackets that the SEC decided not to investigate Merrill 
Lynch's manipulation of the market in Ranger Oil because it consider "the fact 
that Merrill Lynch had performed its own extensive internal investigation." 
Merrill Lynch certainly did, they destroyed the workpapers that contained 
their research on Ranger Oil. Ltd.
     
    I am now spreading the word by the internet worldwide. I appeared on CNN
moneyline in 1990. I was written-up in Ralph Nader's corporate crime 
newsletter. I spoke on a Texas radio station and was writtenup in L.I.'s 
Newsday. 
     
    Merrill Lynch certainly learned there lesson from the Scientfic Controls
case that the SEC brought in the 1970s.  The Ranger Oil case clearly 
demonstrates that to say the SEC is a lapdog of the industry is a substantial 
understatement.
     
    Al Capone with his lack and morality could have been something if he went
to College. He could have been the chairman of the board of Merrill Lynch or 
at least the chairman of the SEC.  Here is a clear case that education pays.
     
    God bless the USA because it will certainly need in coming years. If you
stopped Merrill Lynch in its tracks years ago you would not have what you got 
today - Orange County fiasco; Prudential Securities Limitied partnership 
scandals; EF Hutton check kiting scheme just to name a few blemishes that were 
revealed in the press that the SEC failed to coverup. 
     
    When the next stock market crash occurs and it will very soon; then maybe
the public will get a SEC that it deserves.  My uncle, Lt Col. Chuck Molfetto, 
recently deceased was a career C.I.A. agent and served in southeastasia for 
more than 25 years. He was a counterinsurgency specialists and a member of the 
OSS during WWII. He was appointed military governor of a section of Northern 
Italy. He was a loyal servant to his country as I am and as so many members of 
my family. Tom Marino, cousin, captain - special forces. Recipient of the 
soldier's medal. Sgt Stanislaus Sladowski, bronze star medal winner. Vincent 
Marino, father, fought in the battle of the bulge and served with the 3rd 
armored division.  All, except for my uncle, invested their hard earned 
savings in Ranger Oil and were part of a nationwide herd that stampeded into 
Ranger Oil when the stock was rated high risk on Dec 2, 1980. A rating that 
was not released in the USA but was only for distribution in Canada. No wonder 
the Canadians did not suckup Ranger Oil stock in December 1980. In 1988, I 
received a favorable verdict from the NASD in the case I brought against 
Merrill Lynch. Mr Franko an attornery for Pershing & Co was no stranger to Mr 
Crowe, the in-house counsel for Merrill Lynch, who also serves as an 
arbitrator for the NASD. What I had uncovered in my case was the fact  that 
Merrill Lynch's key clients and brokers trading through Merrill Lynch 
accounted for 1.1+million share being sold. Of that amount, 400,000+shares 
were "shorts." The American Stock Exchange only reported 1+million shares of 
RGO being purchased by ML customers and 400,000+ shares as being sold. On the 
buy side 9000+ customers actually purchased 2.5+million shares and only 100+ 
keyclients and brokers trading through ML accounted for 1.1+million sold.
This is manipulation at its best.  Merrill Lynch's select group of NASD 
arbitrators decided not to enter this information because it came too late in 
the hearing to be introduced. Merrill Lynch was shocked when they discovered 
that I have in my possession the American Stock Exchange computer run of 
Merrill Lynch customer trades in Ranger Oil and Merrill Lynch stock record of 
customer positions in Ranger Oil.
     
    I brought this scandal to your attention and you the SEC covered this up.
If Al Capone belongs in the Hall of Shame then where does Merrill Lynch, 
Prudential Securities, the SEC, the American Stock Exchange and more than 3/4 
of the House of Congress belong.
     
    I am e mailing you with the sole knowledge that nothing will change until
the next stockmarket crash which will be largely attributed to the SEC and 
their inability to coverup the next stockmarket scandal. You the SEC have 
allowed Merrill Lynch to destroy their workpapers on Ranger Oil and get away 
with it. You the SEC have allowed Merrill Lynch to trade off the exchange a 
actively traded stock and by doing so have participated in the ultimate crime 
- the manipulation of the stockmarket which affected the good people of the 
country - pension accounts, gifts to minor accounts etc.
     
    I worked for Price Waterhouse and if we lost our workpapers for an audit
engagement that failed, we would lose our CPA licenses and go to jail.  As a 
fomer client of mine who was a fomer FBI agent and now a VP at First Boston so 
aptly put it - "money talks and bullshit walks."  Or appropriately put - those 
with the gold make the rules.
     
E:mail skibuff1@aol.com
516-599-0932
     
    If you are interested in understanding why the NASD are co-conspirators -
read on.    Merrill Lynch's in-house counsel who tried the case before Merrill 
Lynch's select group of arbitrators should have been thrown in jail. There was 
one situation in the arbitration session that revealed the duplicity of the 
NASD.  It occurred when  my attorney questioned the the fundamental analyst 
concerning the missing workpapers.  Mr. Crowe, ML's attorney, looked at Mr 
Franko, atty for Pershing & Co., when the question of the "missing workpapers" 
was raised and Mr Franko rolled his eyes upwards towards the ceiling. There is 
no doubt in my mind that MR Crowe was in communication with Mr Franko all 
during the time my case was going on. Having Mr. Franko on the panel was like 
having another Merrill Lynch attorney.  In the transcript, we have Mr Franko 
questioning me on statements I never made. My attorney objected only to have 
Mr Franko scream out - I'm an arbitrator. We ask to have Mr Franko examine the 
record for statements I supposedly made and he said never mind. 
    Sometime after the hearing was over I discovered that Mr Crowe also served
as an arbitrator for the NASD and even went so far as to prepare a training 
film as to how arbitration was to be conducted. 
    In my case, ML's select group of arbitrators refused to admit into
evidence huge trades off the exchange stating that the information came to 
late in the hearing to be introduced. ML was extremely upset when they found 
that I had in my possession their computer run of customer trades and their 
stock record of customer position in Ranger Oil. 
     What I learned is how far organized crime has come. Gifts to minor,
pension accounts invested their savings in Ranger Oil at a time when it was 
rated high risk.
A Mrs McGuiness, who was a widow for 30 years and worked for ML in their wire 
room, invested her savings in Ranger Oil. Her total life's savings was 60,000. 
She was living on social security, and a $80 a month pension from Merrill 
Lynch. The broker who told her to sell out of blue chips and get into Ranger 
Oil and Damson Oil had a position in Ranger Oil that approximated $800,000.
In fact, the Merrill Lynch Garden City office that I used to make my 
investment in Ranger Oil accounted for 10% of the total shares traded 
nationwide. Some 35 brokers had invested their own money in Ranger Oil.
     Why didn't the SEC investigate my case????? You had a situation of huges
trades off the exchange that demonstrates how organized crime operates. 
Needless to say, they have nothing to fear when the NASD and the SEC are their 
watchdogs.
Can you imagine a situation where some 9000+ ML customers across the nation 
jump into Ranger Oil at a time when the stock was rated "high risk," and when 
the technical analyst stated that there was a material negative unkown that 
could not be quantified. 
    ML's select group of arbitrators held for the Marino family with a 3 out
of 5 vote. Needless to say, Merrill Lynch never had to worry about Franko. He 
was with Merrill Lynch right from the start. The bum should serve a life 
sentence. What was shocking was the panel held Merrill Lynch responsible and 
not the broker. The broker perjured himself during the hearing and in his 
written statement to the NASD. He stated that I received a written research 
report on 12/2/80 and 12/9/80 which indicated that investors should not buy 
but Hold and indicated that the stock was high risk. On cross examination of 
ML's former fundamental analyst, the truth came out. The research reports 
prepared in December 1980 was not for distribution in the USA. After the 
analyst's statement, the broker on cross examination admitted that he was 
mistaken. In the broker's written reply to my complaint as to why I held onto 
the stock in 1981, he stated that he contacted me in the early part of 1981 
and advised me to get out of Ranger Oil.  We confronted him with the first 
research report I received in March of 1981 which was very positive -showed a 
70% prjected increase in earnings  and a April Value Line report which showed 
a 80% projected increase in earnings. The broker was confronted with this 
information and he confessed that those reports were positive and would tend 
to make me hold onto the stock. In fact, Merrill Lynch had a buy on the stock.
     
We requested from the arbitrators to know what Merrill Lynch's did in their 
firm trading account in Ranger Oil and were never given that information.
     
My case reveals the height that organized crime now operates at.
     
The threat to our democracy was never communism but corruption from within.
     
William V. Marino, CPA, MBA
118 Stella Ct.
Lynbrook, NY 11563