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Article: Naked Short Selling is Real – And It’s Fucking Up Our Economy

Article - Media

Naked Short Selling is Real – And It’s Fucking Up Our Economy

Ben Makuch

Vice, 27 June 2012

Unfortunately, like many people out there, I don’t know my ass from my elbow when it comes to the economy. Sure I know a few terms like “recession” and “stock,” but ask me to explain stuff like the “Eurozone crisis” and I’ll get as far as “Apocalyptic omen.” That’s probably why businessmen can get away with pretty much anything; half of their concepts are so convoluted you need to have at least gave a shit about high school calculus to understand them, which most of us didn’t.

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Article: Barclays guilty of market manipulation

Article - Media, Publications

Barclays guilty of market manipulation

moneyweek, 27 June 2012

Barclays Bank is to pay a 290 million pound fine following an investigation by UK and US regulators into manipulation of inter-bank lending rates.

The bank’s top executives, including Chief Executive Bob Diamond, have agreed to waive their bonuses this year as a result. City watchdog, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), said Barclays’ regulation breaches were “serious, widespread and extended over a number of years”.

It accused the bank of having inadequate systems and controls in place until June 2010 and of failing to review its systems and controls at a number of appropriate points. Continue reading “Article: Barclays guilty of market manipulation”

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Article: Watchdog says jury out on CDS short-selling impact

Article - Media, Publications

Watchdog says jury out on CDS short-selling impact

Huw Jones, 18 June 2012

There is no firm proof that short-selling credit default swaps (CDS), blamed by some policymakers for exacerbating Greece’s debt problem, damages the underlying government bond market, the world’s top securities body said.

CDS are contracts written by large banks that insure the buyer against a default in an underlying asset such as a government or corporate bond. Continue reading “Article: Watchdog says jury out on CDS short-selling impact”

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Article: Austria extends naked short ban for some financials

Article - Media, Publications

Austria extends naked short ban for some financials

Reuters Staff, 29 May 2012

VIENNA, May 29 (Reuters) – Austria has extended until Oct. 31 its ban on naked short selling of shares in lenders Erste Group Bank and Raiffeisen Bank International and insurers Vienna and Uniqa, the FMA market watchdog said on Tuesday.

The ban had been set to expire on May 31. Only short-term transactions by market makers or specialists are exempt from the ban.

Short sellers sell borrowed shares in the hope they can be bought back at a lower price. Naked short-selling involves selling shares without first borrowing them.

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Article: Heist of the century: Wall Street’s role in the financial crisis

Article - Media, Publications

Heist of the century: Wall Street’s role in the financial crisis

Charles Ferguson, 20 May 2012

Bernard L Madoff ran the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, operating it for 30 years and causing cash losses of $19.5bn. Shortly after the scheme collapsed and Madoff confessed in 2008, evidence began to surface that for years, major banks had suspected he was a fraud. None of them reported their suspicions to the authorities, and several banks decided to make money from him without, of course, risking any of their own funds. Theories about his fraud varied. Some thought he might have access to insider information. But quite a few thought he was running a Ponzi scheme. Goldman Sachs executives paid a visit to Madoff to see if they should recommend him to clients. A partner later recalled: “Madoff refused to let them do any due diligence on the funds and when asked about the firm’s investment strategy they couldn’t understand it. Goldman not only blacklisted Madoff in the asset management division but banned its brokerage from trading with the firm too.” Continue reading “Article: Heist of the century: Wall Street’s role in the financial crisis”

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Article: Lawyers For The Major Banks Accidentally Leaked E-mails About Their Clients Naked Short-Selling Overstock.com

Article - Media

Lawyers For The Major Banks Accidentally Leaked E-mails About Their Clients Naked Short-Selling Overstock.com

Linette Lopez

Business Insider, 16 May 2012

For years, Overstock.com has been in a legal battle with Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and more. The online retailer accuses the banks of naked short-selling its stock.

Overstock.com lost that battle, but they’re still trying to get the banks to unseal documents that would prove their case.

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Article: Goldman, Merrill E-Mails Show Naked Shorting, Filing Says

Article - Media, Publications

Goldman, Merrill E-Mails Show Naked Shorting, Filing Says

Karen Gullo, 16 May 2012

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Merrill Lynch & Co. employees discussed helping naked short-sales by market-maker clients in e-mails the banks sought to keep secret, including one in which a Merrill official told another to ignore compliance rules, Overstock.com Inc. (OSTK) said in a court filing.

The online retailer accused Merrill, now part of Bank of America Corp., and Goldman Sachs of manipulating its stock from 2005 to 2007, causing its shares to fall. Clearing operations at the banks intentionally failed to locate and deliver borrowed shares for clients shorting stocks, including two traders who were fined and suspended from the industry, Overstock’s attorneys said in court filings earlier this year.

Lawyers for Overstock, whose California state court lawsuit inSan Francisco was dismissed in January, asked a judge to make public e-mails sent in 2005 and 2006 that it said “reflect business decisions to put profits and corporate ambition over compliance” at Goldman Sachs and Merrill. The banks’ decisions to intentionally fail to deliver Overstock shares caused large- scale naked short selling of the company’s stock, according to the filing. Continue reading “Article: Goldman, Merrill E-Mails Show Naked Shorting, Filing Says”

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Article: Accidentally Released – and Incredibly Embarrassing – Documents Show How Goldman et al Engaged in ‘Naked Short Selling’

Article - Media

Accidentally Released – and Incredibly Embarrassing – Documents Show How Goldman et al Engaged in ‘Naked Short Selling’

Matt Taibbi

Rolling Stone, 15 May 2012

The lawyers for Goldman and Bank of America/Merrill Lynch have been involved in a legal battle for some time – primarily with the retail giant Overstock.com, but also with Rolling Stone, the Economist, Bloomberg, and the New York Times. The banks have been fighting us to keep sealed certain documents that surfaced in the discovery process of an ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit filed by Overstock against the banks.

Last week, in response to an Overstock.com motion to unseal certain documents, the banks’ lawyers, apparently accidentally, filed an unredacted version of Overstock’s motion as an exhibit in their declaration of opposition to that motion. In doing so, they inadvertently entered into the public record a sort of greatest-hits selection of the very material they’ve been fighting for years to keep sealed.

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Article: The Emperor is Naked: David Stockman

Article - Media

The Emperor is Naked: David Stockman

Karen Roche, JT Long

The Gold Report cited by NASDAQ.com, 4 May 2012

A “paralyzed” Federal Reserve Bank, in its “final days,” held hostage by Wall Street “robots” trading in markets that are “artificially medicated” are just a few of the bleak observations shared by David Stockman, former Republican U.S. Congressman and director of the Office of Management and Budget. He is also a founding partner of Heartland Industrial Partners and the author of The Triumph of Politics: Why Reagan’s Revolution Failed and the soon-to-be released The Great Deformation: How Crony Capitalism Corrupts Free Markets and Democracy.The Gold Report caught up with Stockman for this exclusive interview at the recent Recovery Reality Check conference.

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Article: Naked Short Selling and Market Returns

Article - Academic

Naked Short Selling and Market Returns

Thomas J. Boulton, Marcus V. Braga-Alves

The Journal of Portfolio Management, 30 April 2012

Boulton and Braga-Alves study persistent failures to deliver (fails) to better understand naked short sellers’ trading strategies, their ability to profit from their trades, and the market’s reaction to information about their activities. Contrary to recent claims that naked short sellers are momentum traders who drive down stock prices, they find that returns are typically positive just prior to periods of increased naked short selling that result in persistent fails and that returns generally remain positive for several weeks afterward.

Paywall access to article.

 

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Web: SEC Charges optionsXpress and Five Individuals Involved in Abusive Naked Short Selling Scheme

Web

SEC Charges optionsXpress and Five Individuals
Involved in Abusive Naked Short Selling Scheme

SEC, 16 April 2012

The SEC’s Division of Enforcement alleges that Chicago-based optionsXpress failed to satisfy its close-out obligations under Regulation SHO by repeatedly engaging in a series of sham “reset” transactions designed to give the illusion that the firm had purchased securities of like kind and quantity. The firm and customer Jonathan I. Feldman engaged in these sham reset transactions in a number of securities, resulting in continuous failures to deliver. Regulation SHO requires the delivery of equity securities to a registered clearing agency when delivery is due, generally three days after the trade date (T+3). If no delivery is made by that time, the firm must purchase or borrow the securities to close out the failure-to-deliver position by no later than the beginning of regular trading hours on the next day (T+4).

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Article: SEC charges OptionsXpress over naked short selling

Article - Media, Publications

SEC charges OptionsXpress over naked short selling

Reuters Staff, 16 April 2012

April 16 (Reuters) – The online brokerage OptionsXpress and five individuals were charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with involvement in an abusive naked short-selling scheme.

The SEC on Monday said the scheme involved a series of sham transactions, violating a regulation requiring that equity securities be delivered when due.

Four OptionsXpress officers and a customer were charged by the SEC. Three of the officials settled without admitting or denying the regulator’s findings.

The SEC said the misconduct lasted from at least October 2008 to March 2010. Charles Schwab Corp bought OptionsXpress last year.

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Fined: Goldman Sachs & Co. Fined by FINRA (April 2012)

Article - Media, Fined

Goldman, Sachs & Co. Fined $22 Million for Supervisory Failures Relating to Trading and Equity Research

Michelle Ong, Nancy Condon

FINRA, 12 April 2012

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today announced that it has fined Goldman, Sachs & Co. $22 million for failing to supervise equity research analyst communications with traders and clients and for failing to adequately monitor trading in advance of published research changes to detect and prevent possible information breaches by its research analysts. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today announced a related settlement with Goldman. Pursuant to the settlements, Goldman will pay $11 million each to FINRA and the SEC.

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Article: ‘Naked short selling’ probed in new documentary

Article - Media

‘Naked short selling’ probed in new documentary

Joe Meyers

ctpost, 12 April 2012

Years before the financial collapse of 2008, Greenwich writer-director Kristina Leigh Copeland was digging into Wall Street irregularities that she believed could have a devastating impact on the economy.

Along the way, however, her fictional screenplay, “Blue Chip,” evolved into the new documentary “Wall Street Conspiracy,” which Copeland sees as the first in a series of muckraking nonfiction movies about issues with global impact.