Present

Few brokers ever achieve a public reputation, good or bad. One broker who has escaped the anonymity of his calling is Michael J. ("Mike") Meehan, head of the New York Stock Exchange firm that bears his name. He is the one man on the Floor whom visitors in the Stock Exchange gallery know by name, ask to have pointed out at Post No. 12, where he has been a specialist in Radio Corp. since that stock was listed in 1924. Mike Meehan's fame rests squarely on the fact that he ran the great pools that bulled Radio stock to a high of $549 per share before it was split in 1929.

Last week the genial, generous Irishman arranged to buy for $130,000 another Stock Exchange seat to present to his son William on his 21st birthday. Father Meehan also got a present--a summons from the Securities & Exchange Commission to show cause why he should not be suspended from all U. S. exchanges in which he holds memberships. SEC had reason to suspect that Mike Meehan was up to his old tricks, this time not in Radio but in Bellanca Aircraft Corp. listed on the New York Curb Exchange.

According to the stockmarket's omniscient policeman, Mr. Meehan had been jiggling Bellanca since last April, using the old but now forbidden device of "matched orders''--buying & selling simultaneously to create an appearance of market activity. This is done to make the public think that something exciting is about to happen in the stock under manipulation, lure them in as buyers. Jiggled or not, Bellanca rose from a low this year of $1.75 per share to a high of $5.50. Last week, though no one except a few SEC and Curb officials were supposed to know about Mr. Meehan's present until the last minutes of the week's trading, Bellanca tumbled from $5 to $2.75.

Part of Mr. Meehan's interest in Bellanca arose from the fact that he was one of the underwriters of an additional issue of Bellanca stock that was to have been publicly offered this week at $5 per share. If Bellanca stock were selling below $5 in the open market, the underwriters would have had a hard time selling their new-issue. And apart from its charges against Mr. Meehan SEC also held up Bellanca's registration, threatened a stop-order.

Mike Meehan will have to defend himself at hearings on Nov. 12. "I am prepared," he declared, "to prove at any time that I have not, wittingly or unwittingly, violated any of the provisions of the Securities & Exchange Act, or the rules of any exchange of which I am a member."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.