An operative out there in the Bo Nation wrote me a few weeks back and suggested a really weird conspiracy. After today, maybe its a theory worth investigating.
The theory is this: someone inside the West Virginia Supreme Court is using inside information to trade stock. Or leaking information to affect stock prices. Specifically, stock in Massey Energy Company (MEE).
The Massey Case — Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co., No. 33350 — was first argued before the Supreme Court of Appeals on October 10, 2007; the Court probably decided the case on October 11th. And the original opinion was issued on November 21st.
This opinion wiped a $76 million debt off of Massey Energy’s books.
In the days around October 10th, the price of Massey stock jumped nearly 20% — from $22.64 on October 8th to $27.21 on October 11th. The volume of shares traded also jumped from between 1 and 2 million a day, to 5 million a day.
Just before the opinion was issued — during the week of November 12th to November 16th, SEC records show lots of insider trades. Members of the Massey Board of Directors exercised their options and bought stock.
Now, this could all be a coincidence.
Then, tonight I saw an article about Don Blankenship’s kerfuffle with an ABC News cameraman, which ended with this paragraph:
Massey is the nation’s fourth-largest coal producer by revenue. It operates 19 mining complexes in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. Its stock rose $2.31, or 6.12 percent, to $40.06 Thursday.
It strikes me as really odd that Massey’s stock would jump 6.12% on the same day the Court released its revised, second opinion in Caperton v. A.T. Massey. Not just the same day, but just before the Court’s opinion was released again vacating the $76 million verdict.
Again, maybe its just a wild coincidence. But with this Court, I don’t believe in coincidences.
