Stelco might not have been among the industry leaders, but the original assumptions of Stelco CEO Courtney Pratt, the ex-Brascan/Brookfield senior executive, and Hap Stephen, the Chief Restructuring Officer who was formerly the President of the Court Monitor Ernst & Young, who are non-steel people, were flat-out wrong. And they ought to be held accountable.

Here is the stock performance of some of Stelco's rivals since Stelco was put into CCAA "protection":

Makes you want to cry. How well has your portfolio done?

But then you have to know that Pratt, Stephen, Farley, or many of 39 law firm representatives in this matter really don't understand capital markets. What they do understand is how to use an insane law to manage a corporate take-over.

And they all got together with the judge in a Toronto hotel room a week before the Stelco filing was done to ensure they had their ducks in a row.

That's part of the reason I call this an engineered fraud. That and the fact the company stayed profitable through this period despite every possible impediment that its management and Board of Directors threw at it.

Stelco isn't bankrupt. Can you imagine what shareholders would be enjoying today without carrying the burden of the $150 million costs of this CCAA sham? The stock would easily be worth $10 to $15.

How do I know? Because I know capital markets.

I don't know much about the courts or the process of Appeal, but I do know a good securities lawyer and shareholder rights advocate who knows the Stelco case well enough to put in an Appeal. Shareholders have only until February 10 to file an Appeal.

If somebody with deep pockets and an interest in protecting capital markets for the many little people who have written to me and I know are out there, please write me directly. I'd like to put you in contact with somebody I think could be effective. But it has to happen soon.

BCara@BillCara.com