Utah-based Internet wholesaler Overstock.com recently received a subpoena from the SEC. The SEC will be investigating “previously-announced restatements of its financial statements in 2006 and 2008 and other matters.” It is the second such investigation into Overstock.com’s finances in the last two years.

In the time since the subpoena was served, Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne - who has a long and well-documented history of accusing “naked short-sellers” for any of his company’s woes, as well as for libelous attacks on financial journalists - has come out and accused the SEC of being in the pocket of these unnamed “short-sellers.”

Regardless of Byrne’s claims, Overstock.com is now under investigation by the SEC, and curious investors in this publicly traded company will now have to wait and see what, if anything, this latest investigation will mean to the company’s stock prices and future.

Of course, investors in the Salt Lake City who only get their news from one of the local newspapers - the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret Morning News - currently have no idea about the current status of Overstock.com - located near Salt Lake City - as the two local newspapers have yet to report anything on the subpoena or Byrne’s reactions.

Despite attempts to contact the Deseret Morning News Business section, they have yet to comment on why and how they missed the story. At the SLC Tribune, Business Editor Michael Limon said that the story just got passed them, most likely due to a a key business reporter being off. “I’m just as embarrassed as can be about it,” said Limon.

The SLC Tribune and Deseret News are both distributed by Newspaper Agency Corporation.

Convicted fraudster and current whistle blower Sam Antar - whose work documenting Overstock.com’s violations of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and other violations very likely led to this most recent investigation - has a summary of Overstock.com’s past issues with financial statements here.

Overstock.com’s attack against “naked short sellers” and against journalists that they disagree with can be found at Deep Capture.

–WKW