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Letter: NASAA Letter to SEC on Proposed Amendments to Regulation SHO

Letter

NASAA Letter to SEC on Proposed Amendments to Regulation SHO

Joseph P. Borg

NASAA, 4 October 2006

NASAA offers its support of the proposed amendments to Regulation SHO. While we are encouraged that the Commission is adopting a more proactive stance in this area, we believe that much more is necessary in order to regain public confidence in the integrity of U.S. capital markets and protect both the investing public and our nation’s small business interests. NASAA strongly urges the Commission to take all necessary steps to eliminate abusive short selling, and the corrosive practices that surround it, consistent with the Commission’s mission to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation.

PDF (22 pages): NASAA Letter to SEC on Proposed Amendments to Regulation SHO

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Testimony: Rule Number S7-12-06 Comments on Proposed Amendments to Regulation SHO

Testimony

Rule Number S7-12-06: Comments on Proposed Amendments to Regulation SHO

Robert Shapiro

14 September 2006

I am Robert J. Shapiro, chairman of Sonecon, LLC, an economic analysis and advisory firm in Washington, D.C. From 1998 to 2001, I was Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs. Prior to that, I was Vice President and co-founder of the Progressive Policy Institute and Vice President of the Progressive Foundation and continue to be a Senior Fellow of the Progressive Policy Institute. I also served as the principal economic advisor to Governor William J. Clinton in his 1991-1992 presidential campaign, senior economic advisor to Vice President Albert Gore, Jr. in his presidential campaign, Legislative Director and Economic Counsel for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and Associate Editor of U.S. News & World Report. I have been a fellow of Harvard University, the National Bureau of Economic Research, and the Brookings Institution. I hold a Ph.D. and M.A. from Harvard University, a M.Sc. from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and an A.B. from the University of Chicago.

PDF (16 pages): Rule Number S7-12-06: Comments on Proposed Amendments to Regulation SHO

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Article: Naked Fines

Article - Media

Naked Fines

Liz Moyer

Forbes, 13 September 2006

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has received a deluge of requests to amend short-selling rules it enacted just two years ago as the New York Stock Exchange continues its efforts to enforce existing regulations.

JPMorgan Chase has become the fifth bank to be censured and fined by the NYSE’s regulatory division for violations of trading rules meant to curb abusive short-selling.

Read full article.

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Article: NYSE fines five firms for rule violations

Article - Media

NYSE fines five firms for rule violations

James Langton

Investment Executive, 13 September 2006

NYSE Regulation announced that it has disciplined five firms for a variety of rule violations.

J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. was disciplined for violation of SEC rules on short sales, NYSE order rules and supervisory violations. It consented without admitting or denying guilt to findings of operational deficiencies concerning Regulation SHO, violating NYSE order rules, and books and records and supervisory violations.

Read full article.

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Letter: Research Capital Corporation to SEC on Proposed Amendments to Regulation SHO

Letter

Research Capital Corporation to SEC on Proposed Amendments to Regulation SHO

Geoffrey G. Whitlam, Vanessa M. Gardiner

6 September 2006

Research Capital Corporation (“RCC”) and Research Capital USA Inc. (“RECA”) have reviewed both the existing regulation and the proposed amendments and we have the following submission regarding the proposed changes to Regulation SHO and the problems created by naked short sales.

RCC is a Canadian Investment Dealer that is registered with the Investment Dealers Association of Canada (“IDA”). RCC is a full service brokerage firm that provides selfclearing for both RCC and RECA. RECA is a U.S. Broker Dealer registered with the NASD. Both organizations are headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

PDF (4 pages): Research Capital Corporation to SEC on Proposed Amendments to Regulation SHO

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Letter: National Coalition Against Naked Short Selling – Failing to Deliver Securities

Letter

National Coalition Against Naked Short Selling – Failing to Deliver Securities

NCANS

Letter to SEC, 5 September 2006

NCANS is a grassroots organization born of necessity. We are supported by and composed of investors on the receiving end of the negative consequences of naked short selling, long-term unsettled trades, and failed securities entitlements.

In addition to investors and participants, our members include corporate executives concerned about the deleterious effect these practices have on their companies, employees and investors, and their negative impact on corporate governance issues like shareholder votes.

Read full letter.

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Letter: Susanne Trimbath to SEC on Proposed Amendments to Regulation SHO

Letter

Susanne Trimbath to SEC on Proposed Amendments to Regulation SHO

Susanne Trimbath

STP Advisory Services, LLC, 29 August 2006

I am a Ph.D. economist doing research and consulting in finance and economics. I am formerly Director of Transfer Agent Services for Depository Trust Company in New York, and Operations Manager for Pacific Depository Trust Company and Pacific Securities Clearing Corporation in San Francisco. I also was Senior Advisor for KPMG on the USAID Capital Markets Project to design and implement trade clearing and settlement operations during privatization in Russia. Over the last three years I have been a paid advisor to companies, investors and law firms on the issues addressed by Regulation SHO. My comments will reflect my expertise in economic analysis of law and market efficiency, plus securities processing operations.

PDF (14 pages): Susanne Trimbath to SEC on Proposed Amendments to Regulation SHO

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Article: Naked Justice?

Article - Media, Publications

Naked Justice?

Liz Moyer, 29 August 2006

Louisiana State Attorney General Charles Foti is trying to force UBS, the Wall Street investment bank, to turn over vast quantities of information on its trading, stock lending and other activities related to shares of software firm Sedona.

The Louisiana Department of Justice filed documents in a state court Tuesday to compel UBS to hand over the information in ten days.

The state is probing naked short-selling, which is the practice of selling shares short without borrowing them. It is an issue that has already been raised in reference to Sedona Sedona. in an ongoing civil lawsuit against a number of brokers and hedge funds and in a Securities and Exchange Commission federal court case filed in April in New York against one brokerage and several individuals. Continue reading “Article: Naked Justice?”

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Article: Naked [Short Selling] Horror

Uncategorized

Naked Horror

Liz Moyer

Forbes, 25 August 2006

Suspicious trading last year in shares of Global Links, a small Nevada real estate holding company, was far more intense than previously thought.

Data released to Patch earlier this month had shown trade fails of 10 million shares starting in mid-April, a time when 4 million shares of Global Links were issued and outstanding.

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Web: Lies, Invention, Journalists, and the SEC

Web

Lies, Invention, Journalists, and the SEC

Bob O’Brien

Yahoo as cited by Sanity Check via Wayback, 21 August 2006

The subject matter, Mark Cuban’s ill-conceived stock bashing website that’s nothing more than a foil to slam his short positions, is the ostensible topic. I haven’t even bothered commenting on the site, as it’s pretty obvious to most upright bipeds what is being done there.

But this article is astounding – I literally thought that the guy who emailed me the link was making it up.

Access archived page.

 

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Web: NY Press Dead Silent on SEC Cover-Up, Except For Forbes’ Liz Moyer

Web

NY Press Dead Silent on SEC Cover-Up, Except For Forbes’ Liz Moyer

Bob O’Brien

Sanity Check, 21 August 2006

Maybe if we don’t talk about the SEC cover-up, it never happened?

That seems to be the way our venerated NY press corps is treating the FOIA data on Global Links – the topic of the last two blogs, and of a Forbes article on Friday.

This is playing out like the Dan Rather incident, but times ten. Bloggers and a few mainstream pubs get it and break the story, while the media circles its wagons and goes into denial mode.

Anyone surprised? Note that there is nothing from the WSJ, nothing from the NY Times, nothing from Barron’s, nothing from the NY Sun, nothing from TheStreet.com or Marketwatch, nothing from CNBC, nor Bloomberg, nor AP, nor Reuters…not even from the Post.

Access archived page.

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Memorandum: Fails to Deliver Pre- and Post-Regulation SHO

Memorandum

Fails to Deliver Pre- and Post-Regulation SHO

21 August 2006

Office of Economic Analysis

This memorandum provides summary data on fails to deliver through May 2006. It examines fails to deliver before and after the implementation of the Rule 203 of Regulation SHO. The data, as reported by NSCC, cover all stocks with aggregate fails to deliver of 10,000 shares or more.

PDF (6 pages): Fails to Deliver Pre- and Post-Regulation SHO

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Article: ‘Not MY Stock’: The Latest Way To Fight Shorts

Article - Media

‘Not MY Stock’: The Latest Way To Fight Shorts

Kara Scannell

The Wall Street Journal, 2 August 2006

Some executives are reaching for an odd tactic in an expanding battle against short sellers, who profit when share prices fall.

The executives — at smaller companies that often don’t trade on big exchanges — are pushing shareholders to lock away their physical stock certificates so the short sellers can’t get their hands on the shares.

Paywall Access to Full Article

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Article: Sell-out: Why hedge funds will destroy the world

Article - Media

Sell-out: Why hedge funds will destroy the world

Janet Bush

NewStatesman, 31 July 2006

Something ominous is going on in world finance – again. On 11 May, the US Federal Reserve, America’s central bank, raised rates and hinted that it might do so again. Wall Street wobbled but stock markets in the emerging economies fell through the floor. Since that day, Colombia’s stock market has slumped by 42 per cent; Turkey’s by 38 per cent; Pakistan and Egypt by 28 per cent; India by 25 per cent; the Czech Republic by 22 per cent.

Read full article.