SEC Chair Gary Gensler @PiperSandler Exchange Conf:
We now have the technology to further shorten the settlement cycles, not only to T+1, but even to same-day settlement — T+0 or “T+evening. Shortening the settlement cycle could reduce costs and risks.
@SEC_News @CNBC— Bob Pisani (@BobPisani) June 9, 2021
Letter: SEC Issues New Rules to Protect Investors Against Naked Short Selling Abuses
LetterSEC Issues New Rules to Protect Investors Against Naked Short Selling Abuses
Alert Reader Comment:
And yesterday they said they will protect investors. Its 2021 this is from 2008. People ask me all the time. Stop the fraud.
This is the Police of the stock market. They protect the crooks NOT anymore everyone knows the game will end fast now for BAD GUYS
Mirror: The corruption of the SEC, over decades and till today, Lucy Komisar
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Article: GWFS Equities Fined $1.5M For Failure To Report Suspicious Activity On Accounts
Article - MediaGWFS Equities Fined $1.5M For Failure To Report Suspicious Activity On Accounts
Harion Camargo, 08 June 2021
Thanks to its ‘significant’ cooperation with investigating authorities, and subsequent implementation of remedial measures, GWFS Equities Inc. (GWFS) appears to have been spared some embarrassment and possibly stiffer penalties as the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) accepted its offer of a settlement.
Colorado-based GWFS is a subsidiary of Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company and services retirement plans sponsored by employers. It has been under investigation for violation of federal securities laws related to filing reports of suspicious activities. Continue reading “Article: GWFS Equities Fined $1.5M For Failure To Report Suspicious Activity On Accounts”
Mirror: SEC charges trading firm with naked short selling
Video
Article: “Get Shorty” – FINRA Requests Comment on Proposed Significant Changes to Short Position and Stock Loan Reporting
Article - MediaSidley Austin LLP, 07 June 2021
On June 4, 2021, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) published Regulatory Notice 21-19 (the Notice), which requests comment on certain significant proposed changes to short position and stock loan reporting. Currently, FINRA Rule 4560 generally requires clearing firms/prime brokers that are FINRA members to report to FINRA twice per month aggregate settled short positions in firm and customer accounts, subject to certain exceptions. The short interest data collected by FINRA includes the reporting firm’s current aggregate settled short positions for each security and any short position changes at the firm since the prior reporting period. FINRA has requested comment on proposals that would, among other things, (i) increase the frequency of short interest reporting from twice per month to weekly or even daily; (ii) require clearing firms to report synthetic short exposure (e.g., long puts/short calls) in firm and customer accounts; (iii) require clearing firms to report loan obligations resulting from arranged financing and enhanced lending programs; (iv) require clearing firms to report to FINRA for regulatory purposes a report of daily allocations of fail to deliver positions under Rule 204(d) of Regulation SHO; and (v) consider requiring FINRA member firms to report to FINRA (for regulatory purposes but with an eye toward eventual public dissemination) certain information on stock loans.
Article: The corruption of the SEC, over decades and till today
Article - Media, VideoThe corruption of the SEC, over decades and till today
Lucy Komisar, 06 June 2021
The Securities and Exchange Commission, set up after the 1929 stock market crash, has been a corrupt operation captured by the stock brokers and Wall Street actors it was supposed to regulate. Here is the history, told in a video I did for Superstonk.
Continue reading “Article: The corruption of the SEC, over decades and till today”
Article: SEC plans to go after market manipulation on social media, executive insider trading, Gensler says
Article - MediaSEC plans to go after market manipulation on social media, executive insider trading, Gensler says
Chris Matthews, 07 June 2021
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler said Monday that his agency is focused on adopting new rules to guard against company executives using private information to opportunistically sell shares of companies they oversee, while acknowledging that the SEC must come up with new strategies to guard against market manipulation on social media.
The SEC adopted regulations about 20 years ago, called 10b5-1 plans, that enable company insiders to buy and sell securities in their own company if those transactions are made by a third party who is not aware of material, non-public information.
“In my view, these plans have led to real cracks in our insider trading regime,” Gensler said at the Wall Street Journal’s CFO Network Summit Monday.
One concern Gensler has is that there is no “cooling off period” mandated by the SEC for when a 10b5-1 plan is adopted and when it can start trading, though research shows that 40% of such plans begin trading within just two months after they are opened, while 14% start trading within a month.
Futhermore, there is no limitation as to how many 10b5-1 plans insiders can open, making it easier for an insider to shut down one or many plans if he has public information that suggests that it would be profitable to do so.
“Insiders can cancel a plan when they do have material non-public information. This seems upside-down to me. It also may undermine investor confidence,” Gensler said. “In my view, canceling a plan may be as economically significant as carrying out an actual transaction,” he added. “Thus, I’ve asked staff to consider limitations on when and how plans can be canceled.”
Article: Elon Musk is still facing SEC acting as Twitter police over his Tesla (TSLA) tweets
Article - Media, PublicationsElon Musk is still facing SEC acting as Twitter police over his Tesla (TSLA) tweets
Fred Lambert, 01 June 2021
ew information is revealing that Elon Musk still has the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on his behind acting like Twitter police over his tweets about Tesla.
Tesla, Elon Musk, and the SEC
Musk and the SEC have had a few run-ins with each other, and it was rarely with a good outcome. Most famously, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Musk over his infamous “funding secured” comment regarding his failed attempt to take Tesla private back in 2018. The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) judged that Musk exaggerated when saying that the funding was “secured”: Continue reading “Article: Elon Musk is still facing SEC acting as Twitter police over his Tesla (TSLA) tweets”
Article: No closure yet for BW scandal
Article - Media, PublicationsRaul J. Palabrica , 25 May 2021
Finally, after more than two decades, a trial court has rendered a decision on a scandal that almost caused the collapse of the Philippine stock market in 1999.
The court found Johnny Yap, then president of Solar Securities Inc., a stockbroker, guilty of stock manipulation of the shares of BW Resources Corp., a listed gaming company, and sentenced him to 14 years in prison and to pay a fine of P1 million.
The evidence presented showed that Yap engaged in the sale and purchase of BW stocks 142 times through parties with common owners. Continue reading “Article: No closure yet for BW scandal”
Article: What is market manipulation?
Article - Media, PublicationsThomas Dixon, 25 May 2021
“The market is manipulated by big sharks.”
“The price isn’t moving when it should be.”
And a lot more. That’s how people on the internet speak about stock manipulation or market manipulation. But, what is it, really?
What is manipulation?
Psychologically speaking, manipulation is a form of social control that uses indirect, misleading, or underhanded techniques to alter the behavior or opinion of others. Such tactics could be called exploitative and devious since they further the manipulator’s objectives at the cost of others. Continue reading “Article: What is market manipulation?”
Article: Stock broker gets 14 years jail time for BW stock price manipulation
Article - Media, PublicationsStock broker gets 14 years jail time for BW stock price manipulation
Doris Dumlao-Abadilla, 22 May 2021
MANILA, Philippines – The Pasig Regional Trial Court has convicted a local stock broker of illegal stock trading in relation to the BW Resources stock price manipulation scandal 22 years ago.
Johnny Yap, then president, sales manager and director of Solar Securities Inc., was sentenced to 14 years in jail and ordered to pay a fine of P1 million for illegal trades that led to a 1,462-percent surge in the stock price of BW, a loss-making gaming stock.kIn a decision dated May 7, Pasig RTC Branch 67 found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violation of Section 26(a)(I)(1) of the Revised Securities Act, now Section 24.1(a)(i) of the Securities Regulation Code (SRC). Continue reading “Article: Stock broker gets 14 years jail time for BW stock price manipulation”
Article: SEC chair Gensler says agency will enforce rules ‘aggressively’ against bad actors
Article - Media, Publications
SEC chair Gensler says agency will enforce rules ‘aggressively’ against bad actors
Bob Pisani, 20 May 2021
Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler said he would be aggressively pursuing bad financial actors who were “playing with working families’ savings.”
Gensler made his remarks at a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority conference with Robert Cook, president and CEO of FINRA. FINRA is the agency that regulates broker-dealers and exchanges.
As he did in his recent Congressional testimony, Gensler emphasized that enforcement would be a key part of protecting the public.
Article: US Treasury Plans to Raise Additional $700B Through New Tax Compliance Measures
Article - Media, PublicationsUS Treasury Plans to Raise Additional $700B Through New Tax Compliance Measures
Matthew De Saro, 20 May 2021
The United States Treasury Department released a statement on Thursday announcing their plans to crack down on tax evasion using cryptocurrency. The Treasury Department plans to raise an additional $700 billion through the new tax compliance measures.
In the 22-page report, officials highlighted a number of policies to grow enforcement aimed at combating the expanding tax gap. The tax gap is the calculated difference between what taxpayers are paying and what they actually owe. Currently, the tax gap is around $600 billion annually.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) commissioner, however, believes the number could exceed $1 trillion when cryptocurrencies are taken into account. The policies identified include increased reporting requirements, new auditor tools, and new rules specific to cryptocurrencies.
Closing the gap
The plan will require any transfer of $10,000 or more will be reported to the IRS and could raise as much as $2 trillion over the next 20 years. Just getting close to closing that gap could be a huge step in funding President Biden’s multi-trillion-dollar spending proposals. Proposals aimed at bettering childcare, manufacturing, and other domestic priorities.
Article: S&P Settles SEC’s Stale Valuation Charges
Article - Media, PublicationsS&P Settles SEC’s Stale
Valuation Charges
Credit Suisse
Alicia McElhaney, 17 May 2021
S&P Dow Jones Indices has settled with the SEC over charges that it published stale valuations of a volatility-related index.
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Monday that S&P had agreed to pay a $9 million fine without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings.
The regulator’s charges had centered on the S&P 500 VIX Short Term Futures Index ER, a volatility-tracking product that S&P licensed to certain issuers, including Credit Suisse, which used the S&P product for an exchange-traded note that tracked the index. Continue reading “Article: S&P Settles SEC’s Stale Valuation Charges”
