I was reading another board and somewhere in the thread it was mentioned that Ann B. had been subject to arbitration by the National Futures Association, which found in favor of the accusers and she was forced to pay out $100,000.
I'd never heard of this before, despite her rants being prominent on a lot of sites. So is she just a garden variety hypocrite? Or maybe agreed to pay the $100k simply because it would be cheaper than "winning" in court?
Does this make her less credible? Did she really shut down her brokerage out of pure moral outrage after all?
http://www.nfa.futures.org/basicnet/Arbitration.aspx?entityid=0282801&case=09ARB00009
It looks like the matter was settled in arbitration and never went to court.
on site i Found claimed
All the rage of a reformed sinner. On 10/28/2009 (Case #09ARB00009, filed 01/20/09) the NFA issued a finding & award in the matter of Moiola Brothers Cattle Feeders, ltd. vs. Barnhardt Capital Mgmt. She was charged with “constructive fraud, fraud and deceit, misrepresentations of material facts, excessive trading, failure to follow instructions, breach of fiduciary duty, violation of NFA Compliance rules (listed), violation of Sections (listed) of the Commodity Exchange Act, Violation of CFTC Regulations (listed). The Moiola Brothers sought $350,000 in Compensatory damages + $100,000 in Punitive; award was $50,000 + $50,000. Bad girl, Ann Elizabeth. She’s mightily pissed because little minnows like her get caught while sharkz like Corzine swim away. Still, none of us is pure…. @
And quite frankly that has a bit of a ring of truth to it for me... part of her passion for this is that she also broke the rules but was unable to buy the correct favor to avoid being in trouble. But $100K is a lot less than then $450K- and that also smacks of a deal - where neither party wanted to go to court.
Does that make here a Hypocrite? Yes possibly. Or maybe she was onry back in 2008 as well and someone decided she needed a lesson. Maybe she was in deep with all of the Corzine like crap and got caught and went rogue when no one stepped up to save her. Maybe she isn't as pure and Godly as the St. Ann Barnhardt that some think her to be ( I don't think SHE thinks that however. )
Guess we won't ever know ( though I suppose if one were motivated to, one could write to Ann and ask..) For me it makes precious little difference. She has stood up and called the spade a spade, she has been right on most of her calls, and right long before anyone else - and that makes her worth listening to - if she is a hypocrite, a sinner, or a shape-shifting Alien. All are Ad Hominem attacks to distract from and to avoid engaging her arguments.. Should this make you wary of entering into futures trading on your cattle with her? Perhaps. But she doesn't do that any more - maybe because of a principled stand, maybe because her business was so damaged by this suit it couldn't recover and was failing anyway. Maybe both.
I don't agree with everything she says, and her overbearing Catholicism is not a plus for me, but I rarely find listening to what she has to say a waste of time. I don't donate to her, and I don't buy $500 spoons from her Kitchen. If she put up a paywall, I probably would stop listening. But as long as its free? Why not?
