You are cordially invited to attend a lecture on the topic of
Naked Shorts, Bust-Outs, and the Once and Future Cataclysm:
Economic Warfare as an Instrument of Transnational Organized Crime
with
Patrick M. Byrne, Ph.D.
Chairman and CEO of Overstock.com
and introductory remarks by
Frank Gaffney
Founder and President, Center for Security Policy
Tuesday, December 17
5:30 PM
The Institute of World Politics
1521 16th Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
Parking map
Please RSVP to kbridges@iwp.edu.
About the lecture
Mr. Byrne will describe how the Mafia has infiltrated Wall Street and applied its gangster techniques for profit, but in the process has destabilized our financial system.
About the speaker
Patrick M. Byrne, Chairman and CEO, launched Overstock.com in 1999 with revenues of $1.8 million. In 2012 Overstock.com had revenues of $1.1 billion and net income of $14.7 million. Forbes magazine named Overstock.com the No. 9 Best Company to Work for in the Country for 2010, and Byrne the CEO with the highest employee approval rating (92%). Byrne received the 2011 Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
In 2001, Byrne began Worldstock Fair Trade, an Overstock.com division selling handcrafted products from artisans in developing nations. The department distinguishes itself by returning 60-70% of the sale price to artisans (to date, $100 million has been paid to Worldstock’s artisan suppliers). In addition, all Worldstock net profits are donated to fund philanthropic projects in several countries. Worldstock and Byrne have funded the building of 26 self-sustaining schools internationally that currently educate thousands of students.
A “classical liberal,” Byrne believes that our nation’s success depends on a sound educational system and a healthy capital market. Since Milton Friedman’s passing in 2006, Byrne has served as chairman of The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, an organization leading the national debate for school vouchers.
Towards the goal of clean capital markets, in 2004 Byrne (as a citizen-journalist) began a vigorous campaign against abusive Wall Street practices, focusing on regulatory capture, hedge fund “expert network” (insider trading) schemes, settlement system failures, systemic risk, and the possibility of economic warfare against the US by Organized Crime and foreign governments. His stance quickly caught the attention of Wall Street analysts and reporters and became a point of high controversy and ridicule until the economic crash of 2008, occasioned by the very things Byrne had warned of. Byrne’s website DeepCapture.com has received much recognition, such as Weblogs Award “Best Business Blog” (2008), Business Pundit’s “Best Business Investigative Journalism” (2009), and Xmark’s “Top Site on Corruption in the USA” (2010).
Before founding Overstock.com and serving as chairman, CEO, and president, Byrne held the same three positions at Centricut, LLC, a manufacturer of consumables for industrial plasma torches, and held the same three positions at Fechheimer Brothers, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company, manufacturing police, firefighter and military uniforms.
Byrne received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and Asian studies from Dartmouth College, a master’s in philosophy from Cambridge University as a Marshall Scholar, and a doctorate in philosophy from Stanford University. He has taught at the university level and is a frequent guest lecturer discussing Internet commerce, capital markets, Wall Street practices, education, leadership and ethics.