O.co (Overstock.com) Suit Against Brokerage Firms Set For Trial

O.co, also known as Overstock.com, is today announcing its case against Goldman Sachs and Bank of America subsidiary, Merrill Lynch, will go to court on March 5th, 2012. The company is claiming that the defendants engaged in share price manipulation by “naked short selling” and failing to deliver shares they sold, in order to benefit themselves and their hedge fund clients.

The San Francisco action was filed back in February 2007, but a motion to amend in December 2010 was denied. That motion would have allowed O.co to include claims under New Jersey’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

“We believe that Goldman and Merrill manipulated the price of our shares,” O.co Chairman and CEO Dr. Patrick Byrne said in a statement. “As we expect to show in this case, their illegal actions were designed to, and did, make them billions of dollars.”

Byrne also attempts to gain support for his case, by referencing the current backlash against Wall St. and the Occupy Wall St. protests.

“Wall Street’s unfettered greed has gutted the financial markets and, with Occupy Wall Street movements growing across the country, people are ready to see the corrupt organizations of Wall Street brought to justice,” said Bryne. “I anxiously await watching Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch rationalizing their nefarious schemes to a jury box with 12 Americans in it.”