Opinions requested: Options trading newsletter

[Kevin Fenton]

You probably know the wording of this footnote by heart, but here it is again, just in case you've forgotten:
"Highly publicized allegations of insider trading in advance of 9/11 generally rest on reports of unusual pre-9/11 trading activity in companies whose stock plummeted after the attacks. Some unusual trading did in fact occur, but each such trade proved to have an innocuous explanation. For example, the volume of put options – investments that pay off only when a stock drops in price – surged in the parent companies of United Airlines on September 6 and American Airlines on September 10 – highly suspicious trading on its face. Yet, further investigation has revealed that the trading had no connection with 9/11. A single U.S.-based institutional investor with no conceivable ties to al Qaeda purchased 95 percent of the UAL puts on September 6 as part of a trading strategy that also included buying 115,000 shares of American on September 10. Similarly, much of the seemingly suspicious trading in American on September 10 was traced to a specific U.S.-based options trading newsletter, faxed to its subscribers on Sunday, September 9, which recommended these trades. These examples typify the evidence examined by the investigation. The SEC and the FBI , aided by other agencies and the securities industry, devoted enormous resources to investigating this issue, including securing the cooperation of many foreign governments. These investigators have found that the apparently suspicious consistently proved innocuous."
9/11 CR, p. 499

Not taking the 9/11 Commission's word for it, I had a look for the "specific U.S.-based options trading newsletter, faxed to its subscribers on Sunday, September 9".

I didn't get that far - how many options trading newsletters were distributed on a Sunday by fax (you must remember them, they were the clumsy machines we used before we had e-mail) in 2001? What sort of options trader couldn't afford e-mail in 2001?

Anyway, I found an options (OK, derivatives) newsletter distributed on Sunday, September 9 (it says posted, but I suppose they might have faxed a few copies) that contained a story specifically detrimental to one WTC tenant (Morgan Stanley, it was in WTC 5) and, as regular readers of the newsletter will know, often claims oil prices are on the up, which is detrimental to airlines.

Anyway, here it is:
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/11_09_01_Derivatives.html

Seriously,
"much of the seemingly suspicious trading in American on September 10 was traced to a specific U.S.-based options trading newsletter, faxed to its subscribers on Sunday, September 9, which recommended these trades.
(1) What does US-based mean? That they are disributing it outside the US?
(2) Why would anybody fax anything in 2001? Especially to options traders.
(3) How much is "much"? DRG suggests 35% on page 56 of Omissions and Distortions.
Any opinions welcome - it beats me.