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Article: UK’s collusion with Islamists ‘catastrophic’

Article - Media, Publications

UK’s collusion with Islamists ‘catastrophic’

Richard Norton-Taylor, 05 July 2010

British collusion with radical Islamist forces, including extremists who provided training camps for the leader of the 7/7 London suicide bombers and who are fomenting the insurgency in Afghanistan, has had a catastrophic impact, according to an account of British policy in the Middle East and central Asia.

Writing in the Guardian, Mark Curtis, author of Secret Affairs, says: “The terrorist threat to Britain is partly ‘blowback’, resulting from a web of British covert operations with militant Islamic groups stretching back decades. And while terrorism is upheld as the country’s biggest security challenge, Whitehall’s collusion with radical Islam is continuing.”” Continue reading “Article: UK’s collusion with Islamists ‘catastrophic’”

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Article: Notes on David Einhorn: The Predator in a Cute T-Shirt

Article - Media

Notes on David Einhorn: The Predator in a Cute T-Shirt

Mark Mitchell

DeepCapture, 10 June 2010

I received an email a while back from Jim Brickman, a crony of short selling hedge fund manager David Einhorn, demanding that I post the Securities and Exchange Commission inspector general’s report on the commission’s investigation of Allied Capital. According to Brickman, the report proves that Einhorn was right about Allied being a massive fraud. Moreover, says Brickman, the report definitively establishes that Einhorn did not seek to drive down Allied’s stock price. The report, which I gladly post below, does nothing of the sort. I will discuss the report in further detail, but first a little history.

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Article: Goldman Sachs to pay $450,000 fine for illegal short-selling

Article - Media, Publications

Goldman Sachs to pay $450,000 fine for illegal short-selling

Mark Sands, 02 June 2010

NEW YORK – Goldman Sachs has been condemned by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and NYSE Regulation for failing to implement controls to comply with regulations against ‘naked’ short-selling between September 2008 and January 2009. Goldman was also fined over allegations that it took part in illegal naked shorting. Continue reading “Article: Goldman Sachs to pay $450,000 fine for illegal short-selling”

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Article: China INSOnline Corp. to Aggressively Combat Naked Short Sales of Company’s Common Stock

Article - Media, Publications

China INSOnline Corp. to Aggressively Combat Naked Short Sales of Company’s Common Stock

PRNewswire, 01 June 2010

China INSOnline Corp. (Nasdaq: CHIO), which operates http://www.soobao.cn , one of China’s leading insurance services web portals, today declares its intention to aggressively combat naked short selling of the Company’s common stock and protect its shareholder’s interests. This is expected to improve stability in the value of its stock and improve long-term investor confidence in the market.

Today the company’s suspicions were confirmed when NASDAQ OMX published the results on the short list under the regulation SHO Threshold Security List. Continue reading “Article: China INSOnline Corp. to Aggressively Combat Naked Short Sales of Company’s Common Stock”

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Article: Europe plans ban on naked short selling

Article - Media

Europe plans ban on naked short selling

Steve Johnson and Baptiste Aboulian

Financial Times, 23 May 2010

European politicians have proposed a complete ban on naked short selling, significantly widening the scope of the clampdown implemented last week by Angela Merkel, the German chancellor.

Naked shorting is already banned in the US, Hong Kong, Australia and Brazil, but the idea of a complete European-wide ban is likely to provoke controversy in some quarters.

Paywall Access to Article

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Article: Europe Comes to Terms With Market Manipulation; the SEC and the American Media Bury Heads in the Sand

Article - Media, Publications

Europe Comes to Terms With Market Manipulation; the SEC and the American Media Bury Heads in the Sand

Mark Mitchell, DeepCapture,  21 May 2010

Well, the current state of the global financial markets is certainly interesting. I mean, you have to be a bit sick in the head, but if you think about it the right way, it really is “interesting” — sort of like, oo-wee, look, the girl in the cute leotard is falling off the tightrope, there’s no net, and she’s going to go “splat” when she hits that pavement. How interesting! And check it out, the circus animals have gone berserk — the tigers are tearing the trainer into bloody shreds, the elephants are stampeding, the tent might very well collapse, maybe we’re doomed, and look at those clowns – they’re still smiling. How deliciously interesting! Continue reading “Article: Europe Comes to Terms With Market Manipulation; the SEC and the American Media Bury Heads in the Sand”

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Article: The Other Blumenthal Scandal

Article - Media, Publications

The Other Blumenthal Scandal

The Wall Street Journal, 21 May 2010

Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic Senatorial candidate from Connecticut, is in trouble this week for lying about having fought in Vietnam. The former Marine reservist admits he “misspoke” on several occasions about his military service and is otherwise unapologetic, but the revelation has thrown open a race that Mr. Blumenthal appeared to have in the bag. Continue reading “Article: The Other Blumenthal Scandal”

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Article: Germany bans naked short-selling, swaps speculation

Article - Media, Publications

Germany bans naked short-selling, swaps speculation

China Daily, 19 May 2010

Germany prohibited naked short-selling and speculating on European government bonds with credit-default swaps in an effort to calm the region’s financial markets, sparking investor anxiety about increasing regulation.

The ban, which took effect at the midnight of May 18 and lasts until March 31, 2011, also applies to the shares of 10 banks and insurers, German financial regulator BaFin said in an e-mailed statement. The step was needed because of “exceptional volatility” in euro-area bonds, BaFin said. Continue reading “Article: Germany bans naked short-selling, swaps speculation”

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Article: Germany bans naked short-selling

Article - Media

Germany bans naked short-selling

Holder Hansen, Andreas Rinke

Reuters, 18 May 2010

Germany, in an attack on the financial speculation on which it blames much of the euro zone’s debt crisis, on Tuesday announced a ban on some high-risk bets that prices of bonds and stocks will fall.

Analysts, however, were skeptical that Germany’s surprise move to ban some trades in a strategy known as naked short selling could be effective in taming market volatility, with one saying it suggested “desperation.”

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Fined: Deutsche Bank Fined by FINRA

Fined

FINRA Fines Deutsche Bank Securities, National Financial Services a Total of $925,000 for Systemic Short Sale Violations

13 May 2010

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced today that it has fined two broker-dealers a total of $925,000 for executing numerous short sale orders in violation of Regulation SHO and for related supervisory violations. FINRA fined New York’s Deutsche Bank Securities $575,000 and Boston’s National Financial Services (NFS) $350,000.

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Article: Some lawmakers also shorted stocks, congressional records show

Article - Media

Some lawmakers also shorted stocks, congressional records show

Robert O’Harrow Jr., Dan Keating

The Washington Post, 5 May 2010

As Congress criticized Wall Street for the proliferation of risky derivatives investments and short-selling practices in recent years, some lawmakers privately made highly speculative investments in derivatives funds that sometimes aimed to profit from a decline in the overall performance of the stock market or Treasury bonds, congressional financial disclosure forms show.

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Article: Goldman to pay $450,000 over short-selling

Article - Media

Goldman to pay $450,000 over short-selling

March Gordon

Associated Press, 4 May 2010

Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay $450,000 to settle regulators’ allegations that it violated a rule related to short-selling of stocks in 2008-2009, it was announced Tuesday.

The banking company did not admit or deny wrongdoing in paying the civil penalties in agreements with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York Stock Exchange’s regulatory arm.

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Filing: SEC v Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing, L.P.

Filing

SEC v Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing, L.P.

4 May 2010

These proceedings relate to GSEC’s response to the Commission’s September 17, 2008 emergency order enacting temporary Rule 204T to Regulation SHO (“Rule 204T” or the “Rule”). That Rule was an important part of the Commission’s response to concerns about the effects of “naked” short selling upon securities prices.

PDF (8 pages): SEC v Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing, L.P.

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Article: Goldman Sachs settles short-sales allegations

Article - Media, Publications

Goldman Sachs settles short-sales allegations

Associated Press business staff, 04 May 2010

WASHINGTON — Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay $450,000 to settle regulators’ allegations that it violated a rule related to short-selling of stocks in 2008-2009, it was announced Tuesday.

The banking company did not admit or deny wrongdoing in paying the civil penalties in agreements with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York Stock Exchange’s regulatory arm.

The case involving Goldman’s stock-trading business is unrelated to the SEC’s civil fraud charges filed against the firm last month over mortgage securities transactions it arranged. Goldman has denied the allegations in that case and said it will contest the charges in court. Continue reading “Article: Goldman Sachs settles short-sales allegations”