prevent losses on stocks, so don’t involve anyone actually executing them.”
“I understand that much. What were these two doing?”
“Two things; they found auto-sell orders lower that a stock’s price then triggered the sell orders and bought the stock themselves at the auto-sell price. They’d wait a few minutes and sell the stock at the corrected price. That’s pretty much what Blake described to you. The added fillip was that they also sold stocks short, you know, essentially borrowing shares from their brokers as people do when they think a stock is going to drop. Then they triggered the auto-sell orders and bought the stock at the auto-sell price. They paid back the borrowed shares and kept the difference.
“Certainly big money could be made that way.”
“Definitely, but it wasn’t easy. One guy had to hack into the auto-sell computers and trigger or delay the orders while the brokerage insider exercised and doctored their own orders. They were caught because all brokerages have multiple backup systems and the insider couldn’t doctor them all. But they made a lot in just a few months.”
“Janice, this has been very helpful. The detectives I’m trying to help need to know as much as they can about the possibilities, and this auto-order scam you’ve just described seems to me the best idea of what Kelsey and McDermott were doing.”
Kate, Charlie, and Sommers talked a bit more. She told them about her nephew and they finished brunch. It was getting on to one o’clock and Sommers said she really should be going. Kate and Charlie stayed for more coffee and discussed what Sommers had told them. Both agreed DeVries should be told, but both wished there was more to tell her.
“You know, Charlie, Janice said that in the scam she described one of the scammers worked for a brokerage company. I’m willing to bet that even if Kelsey was doing the actual account stuff, the third party is in a brokerage and was providing information for Kelsey and McDermott.”
“Yes, given their expertise, I can see McDermott doing the hacking of the auto-order computers and Kelsey doing the buying and selling, but they’d either need or could do better with information provided about the accounts. I can’t help thinking that Kim Berger works in a brokerage. Trouble is, she’d hardly volunteer that McDermott had an account with Raymond, Teller if she was in on the scam.”
“You said she blurted out McDermott was a client to Janice.”
“Yeah, but if she were involved I doubt she’d have blurted anything to Sommers. I did spend a little time looking up Berger in the social media. She wasn’t on Facebook or Twitter but does have a LinkedIn account. Unfortunately, it’s all business contacts.”
“You should mention her to DeVries. For one thing, Berger might have been trying to look innocent, you know, by being up front about McDermott’s account. It’s something the police would eventually have learned, or at least she had to assume so.”
“That’s a good point. But as for calling DeVries, this is all conjecture. She’s got the basics and a lot of professional help. I’m not sure I’ve got enough to bother her.”
With that Charlie and Kate went home. The rest of the day passed uneventfully and that night Charlie decided that he might as well call DeVries the next morning. He did have a little more detail and she might have learned something she was willing to share.
Chapter 11
The Second Monday
Over his morning coffee Charlie had second thoughts about calling DeVries. Mainly, he still doubted that Berger could have been involved with Kelsey and McDermott and have told Sommers and himself about McDermott having a Raymond, Teller account. Still, Kate did have a point. Berger might have been anticipating what the police surely would have found out. Charlie was still dithering as he showered, shaved, and dressed. When he got to his office, Charlie prepared for his seminar and put off calling
“I understand that much. What were these two doing?”
“Two things; they found auto-sell orders lower that a stock’s price then triggered the sell orders and bought the stock themselves at the auto-sell price. They’d wait a few minutes and sell the stock at the corrected price. That’s pretty much what Blake described to you. The added fillip was that they also sold stocks short, you know, essentially borrowing shares from their brokers as people do when they think a stock is going to drop. Then they triggered the auto-sell orders and bought the stock at the auto-sell price. They paid back the borrowed shares and kept the difference.
“Certainly big money could be made that way.”
“Definitely, but it wasn’t easy. One guy had to hack into the auto-sell computers and trigger or delay the orders while the brokerage insider exercised and doctored their own orders. They were caught because all brokerages have multiple backup systems and the insider couldn’t doctor them all. But they made a lot in just a few months.”
“Janice, this has been very helpful. The detectives I’m trying to help need to know as much as they can about the possibilities, and this auto-order scam you’ve just described seems to me the best idea of what Kelsey and McDermott were doing.”
Kate, Charlie, and Sommers talked a bit more. She told them about her nephew and they finished brunch. It was getting on to one o’clock and Sommers said she really should be going. Kate and Charlie stayed for more coffee and discussed what Sommers had told them. Both agreed DeVries should be told, but both wished there was more to tell her.
“You know, Charlie, Janice said that in the scam she described one of the scammers worked for a brokerage company. I’m willing to bet that even if Kelsey was doing the actual account stuff, the third party is in a brokerage and was providing information for Kelsey and McDermott.”
“Yes, given their expertise, I can see McDermott doing the hacking of the auto-order computers and Kelsey doing the buying and selling, but they’d either need or could do better with information provided about the accounts. I can’t help thinking that Kim Berger works in a brokerage. Trouble is, she’d hardly volunteer that McDermott had an account with Raymond, Teller if she was in on the scam.”
“You said she blurted out McDermott was a client to Janice.”
“Yeah, but if she were involved I doubt she’d have blurted anything to Sommers. I did spend a little time looking up Berger in the social media. She wasn’t on Facebook or Twitter but does have a LinkedIn account. Unfortunately, it’s all business contacts.”
“You should mention her to DeVries. For one thing, Berger might have been trying to look innocent, you know, by being up front about McDermott’s account. It’s something the police would eventually have learned, or at least she had to assume so.”
“That’s a good point. But as for calling DeVries, this is all conjecture. She’s got the basics and a lot of professional help. I’m not sure I’ve got enough to bother her.”
With that Charlie and Kate went home. The rest of the day passed uneventfully and that night Charlie decided that he might as well call DeVries the next morning. He did have a little more detail and she might have learned something she was willing to share.
Chapter 11
The Second Monday
Over his morning coffee Charlie had second thoughts about calling DeVries. Mainly, he still doubted that Berger could have been involved with Kelsey and McDermott and have told Sommers and himself about McDermott having a Raymond, Teller account. Still, Kate did have a point. Berger might have been anticipating what the police surely would have found out. Charlie was still dithering as he showered, shaved, and dressed. When he got to his office, Charlie prepared for his seminar and put off calling
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