The Optionable story minus the megaphone

A few weeks ago Optionable posted a press release on their website, which was the first public statement by the company in 6 years.  I thought I would take this opportunity to attempt to write a news article based on the press release.  My hope is that the end product will more closely resemble something an actual reporter would write, and less like the ramblings of a megaphone wielding community activist.  Here goes.

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New York – Back in 2007, Optionable was a fast track New York brokerage firm.  Optionable commanded a sizable voice brokerage presence and had rolled out a groundbreaking electronic options trading platform that was gaining acceptance in the market.  New York based, Bank of Montreal Commercial Markets (BMO CM) traded heavily through Optionable and had become their largest client.  The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) invested $27M to secure a minority interest in Optionable after releasing a string of press releases that announced expanded services NYMEX offered in partnership with the firm.
 
And in a New York minute, it was gone.

According to a July 2013 statement released on Optionable’s website, the company claims that their reversal of fortune was no accident.  Optionable asserts that each for their own reasons, their two most important partners profited by taking deliberate and destructive actions against them which has left Optionable permanently unable to generate revenue as a brokerage firm.

Why did they do it?

Optionable claims that the Bank of Montreal had been incurring trading losses while still reporting profits to the Securities and Exchange Commission.   When the losses could no longer be concealed, the Bank hired a crisis management agency that advised the Bank to publicly blame Optionable, as their CEO had an unrelated previous criminal record, which would serve as a smoke screen for the Bank’s failed risk management practices.

Optionable also claims that NYMEX “piled on” to the Bank of Montreal’s bad acts so that they could launch a competing product through the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and thereby laid the groundwork for their own ten billion purchase by CME the following year.

Optionable states that they have filed significant counterclaims against CME and that they will not cease to fight for their beleaguered shareholders until BMO and CME are held accountable.  October 2013 depositions of Bank of Montreal personnel have been scheduled.

Optionable's first public statement in six years can be found here.
Disclosure: I am an investor in Optionable.  This blog does not offer advice on buying or selling any security.