Sharesleuth runs first story with no financial interest by Cuban

The business journalism investigative web site ShareSleuth.com has run its first story where financial backer Mark Cuban doesn’t hold a financial interest in the company.

The site, launched last year and run by former St. Louis Post-Dispatch business reporter Chris Carey, has been criticized for only writing articles about companies where Cuban has a short interest.

The story is about privately held Orthopedic Development Corp., and it states, “The Clearwater, Fla.-based company says in its promotional material that its TruFUSE procedure gives patients a middle option between physical therapy and major fusion surgery.

“It even says its minimally invasive procedure can be performed on an outpatient basis, saving money and time. But former insiders tell Sharesleuth that ODC has encountered design and performance problems with TruFUSE. They add that documents given to investors in a recent stock placement overstated the number of patients who have been treated using the procedure, and may have overstated the results.

“‘I believe the company misled investors to raise money to market a product whose function and benefits had not been validated through clinical studies,’ said Dan Grayson, who was in charge of TruFUSE sales from early November until early May.”

Read more here.

In an e-mail exchange with Talking Biz News, Carey said, “We thought it was important to pursue this story to give patients — and investors – a more complete view of the company and the product it is promoting. As we said when we started Sharesleuth, we’ll go after good stories wherever we find them.”

Carey also provided some other good news for the site, which has gone months in the past year without posting an article.

“We’re planning to post two more investigative stories in the next couple of weeks, and we’ve got a few more in the works beyond that,” he said. “We’ve also commissioned our first freelance story, and I expect to make regular use of outside writers in the months ahead.”