Reuters dominates story Kuwaiti financier accused of Harman hoax

From the fake bid for U.S. industrial firm Harman to the death of the Kuwaiti financier accused of engineering the hoax, Reuters dominated this saga of trading manipulation. Harman shares rose as mush as 30 percent in trading on July 20 after some news outlets reported a fake bid at double its market price. Reuters quickly dispelled the hoax and was the first to link it to a fake bid that had whipped up Textron shares in April. Once the SEC charged a Kuwaiti financier with the manipulation on July 23, Reuters offered the most details on the case and the accused, including how he claimed a bogus U.S. military award and had a track record of spreading rumors in Kuwait’s Wild West market place. When news of his death broke on July 26, the former chief correspondent in Kuwait related his personal dealings with him in a WITNESS piece.