I Have A Question

Nice timing. NBTY Inc. (NYSE: NTY) Directors Michael L. Ashner and Peter J. White May purchased company stock just about two months before last week's announcement that NBTY is being acquired by the Carlyle Group, according to publicly available information.

On May 13, 2010, Michael Ashner purchased 5,000 NBTY common shares at a total cost of $171,295 or an average price per share of $34.26. Five days later on May 18, 2010, Peter White purchased 4,000 NBTY common shares at a total cost of $140,398 or an average price per share of $35.10.

On July 15, 2010, NBTY agreed to be purchased by the Carlyle Group. According to Dow Jones Newswires:

NBTY Inc. (NTY) agreed to be acquired by private-equity firm Carlyle Group in a deal valued at $3.5 billion in one of the largest transactions to take a public company private since the credit bubble burst.

Carlyle and Blackstone Group LP (BX), two of the world's largest buyout firms, had been eyeing the vitamin and nutritional-supplement maker, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday night.

Under the deal unveiled early Thursday, NBTY holders will receive $55 a share, a 47% premium to Wednesday's closing price. The stock has lost a quarter of its value the past three months and has never been at $55.

In July 2010, Carlyle agreed to pay $55 per share or about $21 per share more than the average share cost paid by Ashner and White in May 2010.

David Faber from CNBC reported:

Some background on the deal itself: Carlyle approached NBTY with an offer in early May, according to people familiar with the deal. [Emphasis added.]

So I have a question. If Faber's reporting is correct, does "early May" mean before or after Michael Ashner and Peter White bought their NBTY shares?

Written by:

Sam E. Antar

Disclosure:

I am a convicted felon and a former CPA. As the criminal CFO of Crazy Eddie, I helped Eddie Antar and other members of his family mastermind one of the largest securities frauds uncovered during the 1980's. I committed my crimes in cold-blood for fun and profit, and simply because I could.

If it weren't for the efforts of the FBI, SEC, Postal Inspector's Office, US Attorney's Office, and class action plaintiff's lawyers who investigated, prosecuted, and sued me, I would still be the criminal CFO of Crazy Eddie today.

There is a saying, "It takes one to know one." Today, I work very closely with the FBI, IRS, SEC, Justice Department, and other federal and state law enforcement agencies in training them to identify and catch white-collar criminals.

I do not seek or want forgiveness for my vicious crimes from my victims. I plan on frying in hell with other white-collar criminals for a very long time.

Recently, I exposed financial reporting violations by Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) as an independent whistleblower. The Securities and Exchange Commission is now investigating Overstock.com and its CEO Patrick Byrne for securities law violations (Details here, here, and here).

In addition, the SEC is now investigating possible GAAP violations by Bidz.com (NASDAQ: BIDZ) after I alerted them about the company's inventory accounting practices.

I do not own NBTY securities long or short.