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Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn

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Posted by:   bobo 9/6/2006 10:39 AM

Dum dum deee dum.

Did you hear the one about the massive broker who paid the equivalent of cigarette change for violating a host of anti-NSS rules, for years?

Check this out.

My favorite:

"...executed thousands of short sales transactions without ensuring that the firm could deliver or arrange to borrow the securities by the settlement date;"

Sort of says it all, no?

But apologists say this isn't a big problem. Never mind that the fines are anemic. Wonder why all the actions? Could it be that the civil suits against the prime brokers are going to turn up massive manipulation, and the regulators want to appear to have done something now that it is inevitable that it will all become known? Just how many billions in lost market cap and failed trades is Morgan alone responsible for?

-----------------------

This should send a chill through you, if you think that the markets are in any way safe, or that the SEC is in any way a regulatory deterrent to massive larceny.

Read this comment letter.

So, did you lose your money, or was it stolen from you by miscreants gaming the system from every angle?

I personally don't mind taking the hit for bad bets, but I object to my worth being reduced due to illegal manipulation. One is a failure to do diligence or pay attention, the other is robbery by fraudsters. I know the difference. I have a feeling that the next round of suits are going to core Wall Street's biggest names a new one, as the discovery will show a willful and systematic theft of billions of investors' dollars - with complete premeditation.

----------------------

Speaking of comment letters, please check out the latest revision of the NCANS Comment Letter to the SEC on Reg SHO.

I have asked that concerned investors fax or email me a signature with address and contact info, to demonstrate support for the position taken in the letter, and to add weight to the proposals. I'd like to affix hundreds to the letter when I send it to the SEC - a demonstration of solidarity and resolve.

The fax number earmarked for this is 702 946-0934. Here's a sample signature form for you to fill out.

Please encourage everyone interested in this topic to read the letter and take out a minute to fax or email us with their signature support.

It is one of the few times that we can demonstrate a coherent stance, and support a common set of unified solutions.
Copyright ©2006 Bob O'Brien
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Comments (64)
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By davidn on 9/6/2006 11:55 AM
"...failed to execute hundreds of customer trades at the best available price, and will make nearly $5,000 in restitution payments to affected customers;"

Wow, $5 grand - how are they going to come up with the money?
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By Bruce Thompson on 9/6/2006 12:38 PM
Someone needs to C&P that release to theReg SHO comments.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By piddly_sum on 9/8/2006 7:29 AM
For Immediate Release:
Thursday, September 7, 2006 Contacts:
Peggy Peterson
(202) 226-0471

Marisol Garibay
(202) 226-0471


Oxley Urges SEC Cooperation In Aguirre Matter

Today, in a letter to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael G. Oxley (OH) requested that the Commission cooperate in the investigations currently underway with regard to allegations made by Mr. Gary J. Aguirre.


http://financialservices.house.gov/media/pdf/09-07-06%20Oxley%20Letter.pdf

Now does this mean that Piggy Cox is still dragging his feet? Come to Jesus already, before the folks with handcuffs come a knockin'.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By piddly_sum on 9/8/2006 7:32 AM
Experts agree: Cox is a Pig

I really hope this pig does hard time.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By clearing on 9/8/2006 7:38 AM
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/investors/microcap97/report97d.html#collapse
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By clearing on 9/8/2006 7:42 AM
From the last link "In sum, it appears that the clearing firm stole customer property, billed them for trades they did not make and took money or other securities from their accounts to pay for the phony trades."

Since 1997, MJK Clearing failed, for exactly the same reasons. It didn't occur to the SEC to rectify a well known problem.

Counterfeiting can happen at the level of the brokerage, clearing house or depository. In this case it happened at the clearing house.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By davidn on 9/8/2006 7:47 AM
If you have a certificate, you have zero risk. Since the cert. is registered to your name and address, it can be easily replaced if lost or stolen.

In the case of stock at a brokerage, you at the mercy of SIPF and the brokerages and chain of clearing houses and depositories between you and Cede & Co., the actual registered owner of your shares.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By Jumbo on 9/8/2006 9:38 AM
Bob,

Anyone on this panel backing our reform movement?

Commission Announces Panelists for the SEC Roundtable on Regulation SHO Pilot
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2006-148
Washington, D.C., Sept. 5, 2006 - The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today the participants for its upcoming roundtable on the efficacy of rules that limit the execution prices of short sales, such as the Tick Test (Rule 10a-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) and the Bid Test (former NASD Rule 3350) and the Commission's pilot program suspending operation of these rules for certain securities. The roundtable will take place on Sept. 15, 2006, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Commission's headquarters in Washington, D.C. An agenda for the meeting is available on the Commission's website (http://www.sec.gov/about/economic/shopilotagenda091506.htm).

The Regulation SHO Pilot suspends the provisions of Rule 10a-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and any short sale price test of any exchange or national securities association for a subset of stocks. The pilot is intended to provide empirical data to help assess whether short sale price restrictions should be removed, in part or in whole, for U.S. securities, or if retained, should be applied to additional securities. More information on the Regulation SHO Pilot can be found at http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/shortsales.htm.

The morning session of the roundtable will consist of distinguished academic researchers presenting the findings of their empirical studies. In particular, we expect the presentations to focus on how the price tests such as Exchange Act Rule 10a-1 and former NASD Rule 3350 affect liquidity, volatility, and market efficiency. Other researchers will follow each paper presentation with a short critical discussion of the work.

The afternoon session will be a panel session focusing on the perspectives of leading scholars from academia and industry regarding the practical application of economic evidence on short selling. For example, do the panelists believe that the evidence suggests changes to Exchange Act Rule 10a-1 or former NASD rule 3350? Do price tests impose costs that are justified by their benefits? Should price tests apply only to smaller stocks, to all stocks, or to no stocks? What other evidence should be considered?

The participants for the morning session include:

Gordon J. Alexander, John Spooner Chair in Investment Management and Professor of Finance, Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota
Frank Hatheway, Chief Economist, The NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc.
Charles Jones, Professor of Finance, Graduate School of Business, Columbia University
Paul J. Irvine, Assistant Professor, Terry College of Business, University of Georgia
Adam Reed, Assistant Professor of Finance, Kenan-Flagler Business School, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Ingrid Werner, Martin and Andrew Murrer Professor of Finance, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University
The participants for the afternoon session include:

Larry Harris, Fred V. Keenan Chair in Finance, USC Marshall School of Business
Albert S. "Pete" Kyle, Charles E. Smith Professor of Finance, Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland
Owen Lamont, Professor of Finance, Yale School of Management, and Portfolio Manager, DKR Fusion
Bruce N. Lehmann, Professor of Economics and Finance, Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, University of California at San Diego
Richard R. Lindsey, President, Bear Stearns Securities Corp.
George Sofianos, Vice President, Equity Execution Strategies, Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Moderators of the roundtable include:

Chester Spatt, Chief Economist, Office of Economic Analysis, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Amy K. Edwards, Financial Economist, Office of Economic Analysis, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Bob Colby, Deputy Director, Division of Market Regulation, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
James Brigagliano, Acting Associate Director, Division of Market Regulation, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
The roundtable will be held in the Auditorium at the Commission's headquarters at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C., and will be open to the public. Doors will open at 8:00 a.m. Visitors will be subject to security checks. For planning purposes, members of the public wishing to attend are asked to notify the Commission by sending an e-mail to RegSHOPilot@sec.gov. This will allow us to provide sufficient copies of handouts and to facilitate security screening.

The Commission welcomes feedback on the Regulation SHO Pilot. Submissions to the Commission may be provided by any of the following methods:

Electronic submissions:

Use the Commission's Internet submission form at www.sec.gov/news/press.shtml; or

Send an e-mail to rule-comments@sec.gov. Please include File Number 4-520 on the subject line.
Paper submissions:

Send paper submissions in triplicate to Nancy M. Morris, Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street, NE, Washington, DC 20549-1090.
All submissions should refer to File Number 4-520. This file number should be included on the subject line if e-mail is used. To help us process and review your submissions more efficiently, please use only one method. The Commission will post all submissions on the Commission's Internet Web site (http://www.sec.gov/comments/4-520/4-520.shtml). All submissions received will be posted without change; we do not edit personal identifying information from submissions. You should submit only information that you wish to make available publicly.



http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2006/2006-148.htm



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Home | Previous Page Modified: 09/05/2006
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By here's a plan on 9/8/2006 10:37 AM
"The roundtable will be held in the Auditorium at the Commission's headquarters at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C., and will be open to the public. Doors will open at 8:00 a.m. Visitors will be subject to security checks. For planning purposes, members of the public wishing to attend are asked to notify the Commission by sending an e-mail to RegSHOPilot@sec.gov"

it COULD be open to ALL THE PUBLIC ALL THE PEOPLE if they would broadcast it so those of us who have previous committments-LIKE WORKING FOR A LIVING! - could hear it 1st hand or have direct contact with those who can.
step up C-SPAN. here's a chance to show some value to us.
so for planning purposes...how about we email them to televise it. why limit it to a select few?
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By picket on 9/8/2006 11:38 AM
It would be nice if someone in the area could show up out front with picket signs.

I like this "visitors will be subject to security checks"

I guess the scum realize that we are getting really peeved.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By Jumbo on 9/8/2006 11:45 AM
GenesisIntermedia and Ramy El-Batrawi Attacked By Illegal Shorters and the SEC Fails to Take Action
Friday September 8, 9:00 am ET


LOS ANGELES, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- From mid 2000 till the end of 2001, GenesisIntermedia (OTC: GENI - News) and Ramy El-Batrawi attracted the attention of a group of aggressive short sellers intent upon artificially depressing GENI's stock price. These short sellers hoped to reap tremendous profits by shorting increasingly larger amounts of GENI stock without first borrowing it, an illegal practice commonly called "naked shorting", states Mr. El-Batrawi.


The SEC has been aware of naked short selling and has failed to adequately respond to investor and Company complaints alike. As a result of the lack of diligent enforcement of their own trading rules by the SEC, every private investor who owns common shares has had their financial integrity jeopardized.

Since the SEC has failed to take adequate counter measures to stop illegal short selling and trading, as with GENI, by members of the financial investment industry, there should be an independent examination by the United States Congress or Senate as to the reasons for their years of inaction.

The most pressing issue affecting the stock market is naked short selling. This is a cancer -- a malignancy that threatens popular faith in the integrity of the entire system.

The practice of defrauding investors by taking their money and refusing to deliver the product they paid for has many names. Some call it market manipulation, some call it naked short selling, others call it failing to deliver, still others refer to it as stock counterfeiting; many call it fraudulent stock trades.

Whatever the vernacular, it is the processing of a stock sale transaction in order to depress the price of the stock, with no subsequent delivery of the stock -- the buyer doesn't get what he paid for. Non-delivery of stock is expressly forbidden by Section 9 of the Securities Exchange Act, and yet that is precisely what is occurring. The practice as described is illegal, and likely represents the single greatest threat to the US equity market, as well as the US financial system, and the engine of American prosperity that is the ability of smaller, early stage companies to access the capital markets, in order to develop and grow their businesses. Naked Short Selling is widespread, malevolent, and is at its essence, simple fraud -- money is exchanged, but no product is ever delivered.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: GenesisIntermedia
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By virakiller on 9/8/2006 11:51 AM
can we start to warm up in the "batting cages"

just pretend their heads are hardballs and swing for the fences
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By newspaper on 9/8/2006 12:04 PM
Take a Look at the Depository Trust Company


The Depository Trust Company declares itself as "a member of the U.S. Federal Reserve System, a limited-purpose trust company under New York State banking law and a registered clearing agency with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The depository brings efficiency to the securities industry by retaining custody of some 2 million securities issues, effectively "dematerializing" most of them so that they exist only as electronic files rather than as countless pieces of paper. The depository also provides the services necessary for the maintenance of the securities it has in custody."

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) provides for clearance and settlement of equities, bonds, and various securities. The DTC is response for the custody of more than two million securities issues from the United States and elsewhere throughout the globe.

One of its main functions is when there is a stock transaction. The DTC is instructed to move securities from the selling broker's account to a NSCC (National Securities Clearing Corporation) account, and then from the NSCC's account to the buying broker's account. National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) is the oldest and, in terms of the transaction volumes it processes, by far the largest of the clearing corporations. NSCC provides clearing and settlement, risk management, central counterparty services and a guarantee of completion for trades involving equities, corporate and municipal debt, money market instruments, American depositary receipts, exchange-traded funds, unit investment trusts, mutual funds, insurance products and other securities. NSCC also nets trades and payments among its participants, reducing the volume and securities and payment that need to be exchanged by an average of 97% each day. NSCC generally clears and settles trades on a T+3 basis. This is part of how a financial settlement is completed and how shares are accounted for.

In comments to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regarding Regulation SHO in January, the 50 state regulators, through their association, the North American Association of Securities Administrators (NASAA) issued what many consider to be a strong warning that if the DTC is not dealt with in the final regulations, state regulators such as New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer may step to the plate.

Read more at

http://www.antandsons.com/takesalook/depositorytrustcompany/
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By another central bank video on 9/8/2006 12:57 PM
http://wakeupfromyourslumber.blogspot.com/2006/09/can-you-say-kuhn-spir-uh-see_08.html
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By InTheKnow on 9/8/2006 3:09 PM
My buddy bought some Jag Media Holdings in his account at Morgan Stanley yesterday at 16-19 cents, He tried to buy more JAGH Media today in his account at Morgan Stanley between 21 and 25 cents and they refused to take the trades saying they don't trade in penny stocks.

They got you coming and going! Only they can make a buck.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By jag on 9/8/2006 3:38 PM
Try pulling a cert. in a stock like JAGH. They will give you a song and dance that pulling the certificate renders the stock worthless as they won't accept the stock for redeposit. I've had to get in screaming matches with the brokerage as they tell me how dumb I am to ask for my cert.

Another trick is that rather than allow the share price of the stock to rise, they will dub it "sell only". You can sell, but you can't buy.

A common scenario even if the brokerage allows you to place the trade is that the market maker refuses to fill you when you bid the ask. If you phone your brokerage to complain, the market maker will finally move the ask up .005, but still refuse to fill if you hit the higher level.

The whole thing is a criminal fraud.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By Jumbo on 9/8/2006 4:03 PM
jag, if the whole thing is a criminal fraud as you say why do you invest at all?
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By Wicked World on 9/8/2006 4:18 PM
I just read Oxley's letter to the SEC requesting they cooperate with the investigation.

Folks, these are Senators and Congressmen who are powerful, elected, INSIDERS writing the SEC now for weeks to get some action going towards a matter triggered by an insider from within the *SEC*. And nothing!

Let's step back. A veteran SEC lawyer is fired. He writes to Cox stating his firing may have been due to him exposing misconduct in the market, he's ignored by Cox, he writes the Senate Judicial, they're told by Schumer to screw off, the SEC censures Aguirre's testimony, Senators and Congressmen implore the SEC to cooperate......and nothin'

Too bad Shelby can't see something is broken. He could get the ball rollin'...LOL

Oh well, I'm not very confident the SEC will respond to my letter now. Hell I'm not even a Senator.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By Patchie on 9/8/2006 4:27 PM
You guys ain't seen nothing yet. Soon you will hear a story that will shock you. This has gotten so far out of control it is unbelieveable.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By InTheKnow on 9/8/2006 4:32 PM
I heard that one investors account was hacked into and the hacker sold 80,000 shares of Jag Media that knocked it down to 5 cents last week.

Now that is a desperate act by the scumbags who are stuck!
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By OUTTA CONTROL on 9/8/2006 5:18 PM


Patchie,

Will it be hard to miss?
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By kevin on 9/8/2006 7:25 PM
Patchie, now I'm curious - what's up?

I doubt you could shock us. We know the inmates are running the asylum.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By Wonder Boy on 9/8/2006 7:39 PM
SEC Denies Politics Played Role In Pequot Probe
Friday September 8th, 2006 / 3h43


By Judith Burns
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The Securities and Exchange Commission denied Friday that the "political clout" of a prominent Wall Street investment banker shielded him from questioning in an insider-trading investigation, and it rejected arguments to turn over documents sought by fired former staff attorney Gary Aguirre.
In a legal document filed late Friday with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the SEC said it doesn't believe it should have to turn over documents sought by Aguirre under the Freedom of Information Act.
Aguirre, who was fired last September, said the records will prove politics played a role in the SEC's decision not to subpoena Morgan Stanley (MS) chief executive John Mack in connection with a probe of possible insider trading in 2001 by Pequot Capital Management, a large hedge fund. Mack, a major fund-raiser for U.S. President George W. Bush, headed Credit Suisse First Boston at the time and had close ties to Pequot's founder.
According to the SEC, Aguirre's supervisor did say that Mack's lawyer had "juice," but the agency denied any discussion about Mack's "political clout." It concedes that Mack wasn't subpoenaed to testify in the summer of 2005, but rejected Aguirre's claims that senior SEC enforcement officials blocked the investigation and that his supervisors directed a cover-up about his sudden firing.
The SEC also denied Aguirre's accusations that it provided misleading statements to the media and threatened Aguirre through the press.
However, the SEC affirmed some of Aguirre's assertions, including the fact that he was given a merit-pay raise shortly before being fired, and confirmed that after his performance review, his supervisor gave him a picture of Raymond Burr, the actor who played the role of lawyer Perry Mason in a television show.
The SEC typically refuses to release documents under the Freedom of Information Act while an investigation is pending, but Aguirre argued that he should be given access to e-mail and other records given the intense public interest in his case.
The SEC disagreed in the legal brief, saying Aguirre's request is overbroad and that he isn't entitled to the materials.
An SEC spokesman declined to comment on the matter except to say the agency's investigation into Aguirre's complaints is continuing "with an open mind, and no final conclusions have been drawn."
Aguirre's attorney wasn't immediately available to comment.
-By Judith Burns, Dow Jones Newswires, 202-862-6692; Judith.Burns@dowjones.com
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By kevin on 9/8/2006 7:51 PM
The SEC is like the DTCC's PR firm, running interference to protect this privately owned, provably duplicitous lying organization from the light of day, which would reveal massive criminal fraud.

They only have one job - to ensure trades settle. Any first year computer student could write a secure database system that moves book entry ownership from seller to buyer, but for some reason, the world's largest private company can't make it so.

http://www.cfoss.com/Wealthbeyondbelief.html

Who does it benefit when the DTCC group, who's sub., the NSCC brags that they guarantee trades will settle, refuses to make them settle?
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By kevin on 9/8/2006 7:56 PM
In one of the DTCC's disclosures, they referenced failure to deliver debt instruments. What exactly does that mean for debt to fail?

"Any kind of detailed breakdown of this turnover figure is a closely guarded secret but DTCC’s 2002 Annual Accounts highlights showed that of the $917 trillion dollars in DTCC transactions that year, $540 trillion were government securities, representing massive interest-bearing debts incurred at taxpayers’ expense by federal, provincial/state and municipal governments."
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By piddly_sum on 9/9/2006 4:54 AM
The Pequot and Aguirre investigations are now begging for a Special Prosecutor and grand jury. That will be much harder for the SEC to quash.

Hopefully, Aguirre is safe and sound somewhere under DOJ protection.

This whole thing really highlights the question, "just whose side is the SEC on?"

I am surprised all the Bush haters out there have not jumped on this one.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By gregcable2002 on 9/9/2006 5:05 AM
Mr Mack and Bush in bed together,to bad the condom broke and we are now getting a glimpse of the offspring,ugly ugly ugly.TIC TOC TIC TOC,time is running out on these fools.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By InTheKnow on 9/9/2006 6:04 AM
How stupid does the SEC think we are? By refusing to release any information just shows what arrogant SOB's they really are. What exactly are they trying to hide?

What do they know and when did they know it?

Isn't it time we found out who is really running this agency and for whose benefit?
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By gregcable2002 on 9/9/2006 7:07 AM
We the people of these United States of America need to form a commission of our own to investigate the sec and wallstreet.We have gathered enough information now and it's time we go above our elected officials heads and take matters into our own hands.Let me also remind washington that we the people are YOUR bosses,you work for us,the citizens of the UNITED STATES.We are not a dictatorship YET.You who are robbing the American people better take notice,the grassroot revolution has already begun.TIC TOC TIC TOC time is running out for those who have stolen our future.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By sec paper on 9/9/2006 7:48 AM
Nice paper by a Mr. Cox.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=429140

"We find that the volume of SEC enforcement proceedings is relatively modest."

Rather than target cases causing the most harm, the SEC targets small companies the counterfeiters can push into bankruptcy, saving them from honoring outstanding IOU's and allowing them to keep 100% of our investment money.

"Our empirical results highlight the importance of financial distress as a selection
criterion in the SEC’s filing of enforcement actions. The SEC appears to be targeting
these companies because any fraud that has occurred is accompanied by the threat of
bankruptcy. These must be high visibility cases due to the potential serious harm to the
companies’ investors. It also appears that the SEC considers the size of the potential
harm to investors in other companies, although our results indicate this is a less important
determinate of the filing decision."
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By harken on 9/9/2006 7:55 AM
This is the president you are asking to fix the SEC mess. It's not a Republican / Democrat thing - Shelby was a democrat, but self interest seems to ride higher than public interest.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20020722/leopold20020718

- John Heine, a spokesman for the SEC, said the agency has never prosecuted anyone for missing the deadline to file insider-transaction forms with the agency. In fact, Heine said, insiders routinely miss the deadline.

- Bruce Hiler, the associate director of the SEC's enforcement division, who wrote a letter to Bush's attorney saying the investigation was being terminated, now represents former Enron president Jeff Skilling in matters before the government.

I get it. The SEC lawyers do dick while employed at the agency, then get cushy insider jobs when they leave.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By wikipedia on 9/9/2006 8:04 AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Naked_short_selling/Archive2

Funny the pro counterfeiting forces are spending so much time on a little wiki article.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By wikipedia on 9/9/2006 8:08 AM
You can edit a paragraph by clicking on edit, editing the text, then clicking save.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_short_selling
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By gregcable2002 on 9/9/2006 8:33 AM
One more thing before I go,I really don't know who reads this blog but to those of you who do that are a part of the problem you can fool some of the people some of the time but you can't fool all the people all the time,there are some really intelligent people who know how the system works and are fighting for what is right and not all people who work in our government are bad,the bad apples will be rooted out,not only in washington but wall street also.HANGMANS COMING,and it won't be long.TIC TOC TIC TOC
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By they call me Brigi on 9/9/2006 8:51 AM
James has this strange conspiracy theory that although it is legal for market makers to counterfeit on behalf of hedge funds for up to thirty days, that it almost never happens and 99% of trades settle. According to James, counterfeiters refuse to take advantage of abritrage loopholes and foreign jurisdictions even though there is no enforcement.

James Brigagliano is part of that tin hat crowd that can't look to the facts to back an argument.

"99% of all trades in dollar value settle on time without incident," said James Brigagliano

I have some questions for you, Jamie, ol' boy:

- are you including debt securities, which dwarf equities in dollar value in your 99% figure? Are you valuing the counterfeited securities pre or post them being attacked? Are you including delisted securities that have been counterfeited into bankruptcy?

- can we see the data you used to form this opinion? Why not? How did you get data from foreign jurisdictions and foreign clearing brokerages? Can we see copies of your letters to foreign governments to get this data?

- why does the SEC try to stall FOIA requests?

- what is the consequence to you personally if it turns out you are a weasel, lying through your teeth? You have lied in the past and it seems that was with impunity.

Jamie, you may be a little slow on the uptake, but there are some smart people / potential whistle blowers in the next cubical at the SEC who wonder why you would spew such BS. Are you going to be the sacrificial lamb when the crap hits the fan?
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By Sean on 9/9/2006 10:21 AM
Patchie, did you and all hear about the Journalists that have been arrested for receiving payments from the Government? It is all over CNN!!!
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By Jumbo on 9/9/2006 4:43 PM
NASD Notice to Members 06-50 - September 2006
NASD Reminds Members of Their Obligation to Provide Accurate Information to Services that Disseminate Trading Volume and Trading Interest
Executive Summary

NASD is publishing this Notice to remind members of their obligation to communicate accurate information when using services to communicate trading volume and trading interest to the marketplace.

Questions concerning this Notice should be directed to Peter Santori, Chief Counsel, Market Regulation, at (240) 386-5098; David Chapman, Deputy Director, Market Regulation, at (240) 386-4995; or the Office of General Counsel, at (202) 728-8071.


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http://www.nasd.com/RulesRegulation/NoticestoMembers/2006NoticestoMembers/NASDW_017361
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By nTheKnow on 9/9/2006 6:05 PM
and if you don't oblige you get two lashes behind the ear with a wet noodle!
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By Wonder Boy on 9/9/2006 6:59 PM
Just some venting, encouragement, and random thoughts!



The SEC is little more than a roost for political appointees and political failures that have been loyal 'party' members. They have done nothing to protect investors-----just the opposite-----they protect Wall Street as loyal 'party members' so that the funds keep flowing into the reelection campaigns.

At present, they are being attacked by Hedge Funds saying that the Broker/Dealers have not been producing the shares they have paid to borrow. They have been caught in lie after lie over how 'effecitive' Reg SHO has been, but that is like shooting an arrow and then drawing the target around it! Companies are attacking because they have 5 times (or more) of the share entitlements trading than there are shares issued ! States are beginning to attack, but they have been threatened and they had little backbone.

The SEC is supposed to operate under the oversight of Congress, yet they attempt to refuse to provide Congress with the information they seek.

I encourage anyone who has a Congressional Representative up for re/election to write them NOW and ask what their position is on this naked shorting, failure to deliver, etc. situation. Then you can make a more enlightened voting decision. If they say they are unaware of the situation, then you can say, as I told my Senator and Representative that are up for reelection, that if they are not aware of something this major and this important, they are not representing me very well and a vote for them is highly questionable.

While I am a basic optomist, I have a bad feeling in my gut that little will actually come of all this protest. As I look around, over 80% of the population is in favor of no amnesty for those that have broken the laws of our country and we cannot get a vote! The laws have not been enforced. Repeat child molesters get minor or no sentences. The list is long, but all it amounts to is 2 little children on a playground playing their silly games----in this case it just happens to be the leaders of our Country!

Congress CAN act quickly---a la the Terry Schiavo case, the horse meat situation , etc.---IF they WANT to. We have no better opportunity than NOW---before the elections. Heck, I find myself agreeing with Chris Byron when he says that the Enforcement Division of the SEC should be eliminated and turned over the the FBI, the DOJ, and the IRS! Scares me because, coming from him, it makes too much sense!
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By bobo on 9/9/2006 7:57 PM
Read the next blog. 'lilGW is thought to be big as a Wike editor - one of the IDs that edits his entry, and this one, and Byrne's, is also big on racial/religious stuff too.

Quite a picture we are getting.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By virakiller on 9/6/2006 12:41 PM
get the bats children

violence is the only chance we have left
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By davidn on 9/6/2006 1:11 PM
"created locked and crossed market conditions in hundreds of instances."

I find this one is quite common. You place a large order to take out the offer on an illiquid stock and they refuse to fill you, show your bid or move the offer.

Usually, I have to phone the brokerage, who phones the market maker. The market maker moves out of the way by .005 without filling anything and just says it was a computer glitch.

If you increase the bid by .005, they still refuse to fill and you have to repeat the complaint process.

Remind me again why the trading involves a parasitic middle person like a market maker? Why can't it be computerized to match real bids to real offers? Why should some manipulative slime always get a half cent?
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By Jumbo on 9/6/2006 1:25 PM
Does Patrick Byrne still have his account at Morgan Stanley Bob?

That was the firm that could not deliver his shares of Overstock when he purchased them in the open market..
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By Bobo on 9/6/2006 3:23 PM
Actually, I believe it was a different firm where he has his account. The contra party was either Lehman or Morgan - I don't recall now, but he said it in a conference call, so it should be available online.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By InTheKnow on 9/6/2006 3:24 PM
Desperate people do desperate things.

My, my, how the naked shorters are becoming desperate!
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By clearthinker on 9/6/2006 3:28 PM
it's time to boycott Wall Street. No more investment dollars until they stop the crimes and the fraud. We need to take out large full page ads letting the public know that the system is completely compromised and that they should put all of their money other investment instruments, real estate, other assets....until the mess is cleaned up.....which will be NEVER.

O'quinn was right...this is bigger than tobacco and worse than a cancer....They should have an awards show an have the CEO's of the brokerages come up on TV and receive a statuette shaped like a broom handle as an a award for sticking it up the average Amercian's you know what
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By davidn on 9/6/2006 3:41 PM
Clearthinker:

I didn't want to strike completely, so I just don't trade on Monday's. If everyone did that, it would cut their volume, liquidity and commissions by 20%.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By jUMBO on 9/6/2006 4:34 PM
Unfortunately, the Auctioning off of excess shares in Overstock.com is not limited to Jack Byrne and the 70,000 shares. There was also a significant delay in the 129,900 shares purchased as part of the 199,900 share order [almost 2 months] and a 2-month delay in 25,000 shares purchased by Dr. Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com.

With these delays we know took place, the entire 22 Million shares auctioned off by Wall Street now come into question.

If Morgan Stanley could not get the shares to make available on these trades because – none were available – what pedigree did those 22 Million shares traded have? What exactly was it Morgan Stanley and the other Institutions dumping shares into the market were selling?

It is reported by the Broker-Dealers of Patrick Byrne that Morgan Stanley was the seller delinquent in the delivery of 25,000 of Dr. Patrick Byrne’s shares. The firm went into the auction house with inventory they did not have available to sell and sold the inventory any way. The firm had subsequently waited until they could go back to the auction site and re-purchase cheaper inventory to make good on delivery. There is no hurry. Or is there?
http://www.faulkingtruth.com/Articles/CommentaryToo/1047.html
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By mhelburn on 9/7/2006 12:13 AM
These frauds are apparent to us. Are the Commissioners blind, lazy, arrogant, stupid, corrupt? What excuse can they give for grandfathering fails? Either the problem was so large, they expected a meltdown, or they were helping Wall Street continue the fraud. Why is any company that has been fined over and over for violations still able to do business? Where is there any accountability? Firing Aquirre makes Linda Thomson look like she is on the take. She was the person ultimately responsible for that. If her subordinates convinced her that Aquirre was a loose cannon, why didn't she investigate? Why did he get two merit increases immediately before his firing? Did they try to buy him off? He just wasn't corrupt enough to get the wink, wink. Any managers that are capable of what they did to him are incompetent. You don't give someone bravo reviews and then can him.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By richard on 9/7/2006 4:15 AM
We've said this isn't about politics. I notice that Senator Shelby was both a Democrat and a Republican. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Shelby

One of four SEC commissioners used to be on his chief of staff and advised the Whitewater investigation.

__

From 1996-2003, Commissioner Casey served as Legislative Director and Chief of Staff, respectively, for Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL). As Legislative Director, Commissioner Casey was instrumental in the drafting and passage of several laws. She developed, managed, and coordinated all aspects of legislative operations with a key focus on the appropriations process. In her capacity as Chief of Staff, Ms. Casey acted as key advisor on all policy and political matters.

From 1994-1996, Ms. Casey served as Staff Director of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Regulatory Relief, Senate Banking Committee. She was responsible for advising and staffing the Senator on all committee issues, including Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, Whitewater special investigation, and financial services regulatory relief legislation. Commissioner Casey also served Senator Shelby as Legislative Assistant from 1993-1994, during which she was responsible for handling all tax, budget, and finance policy matters.

Ms. Casey was born in Tripoli, Libya.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By gregcable2002 on 9/7/2006 4:18 AM
WOW WOW WOW,they convieniently left out the total dollar amount of the theft this time,let me take a wild guess,morgan got fined 2.9 mil so that means they stole around 100 million dollars or more,my guess it's more because they didn't report it and if they did it would really cause a stir,these crooks have no where else to hide,American investors are getting educated and were not taking it anymore.TIC TOC TIC TOC
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By richard on 9/7/2006 4:23 AM
Could we come up with $14,125 (one quarter of $56,500) to bribe Richard Shelby to investigate share counterfeiting?

___

The latest ugly incident involves a Kansas corporation called Westar Energy Inc. and four top congressional leaders. We only know about this because some Westar executives were caught this year in a mess of criminal activity, and the subsequent investigation turned up a most interesting email from a Westar vice-president to the other executives.

The company wanted an exemption from a federal regulation and hoped to have its exemption slipped into an energy bill. "We have a plan for participation to get a seat at the table," says the email, which then bluntly names the price: "The total package will be $31,500 in hard money (individual) and $25,000 in soft money (corporate)."

It then names the four congress critters who named the price -- Reps. Tom DeLay, Joe Barton, Billy Tauzin and Sen. Richard Shelby. The money was paid -- and sure enough, Rep. Barton slipped Westar's exemption into the bill.

When the email became public, all four of these congressional squirmies feigned outrage that anyone could even think they would trade legislative favors for campaign cash. But there it was -- they admit they took the cash... and promptly did the deed, all behind what they thought at the time were securely closed doors.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By gregcable2002 on 9/7/2006 4:35 AM
Richard,these people are selling out america at an alarming rate now,let me ask them where on earth are they going to go after they collapse our country?? I'll tell you where,they'll be living in a grass hut in a south american prison camp run by Hugo.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By newspaper on 9/7/2006 5:46 AM
Remember how the energy trading sector fell apart?

Remember they caught those guys driving power prices up in cali? How they shut down plants to drive the price of electricity up?

We need a smoking gun like that. Do we have it yet?

And whats funny is they were supported by banks as well. Banks were trading energy and they were dirty there too.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Letter; Tooting Our Horn By jojo on 9/7/2006 6:10 AM
"...When the email became public, all four of these congressional squirmies feigned outrage that anyone could even think they would trade legislative favors for campaign cash. But there it was -- they admit they took the cash... and promptly did the deed, all behind what they thought at the time were securely closed doors."

WOW!
we need massive changes. but how do we stop "those in control" from covering up their tracks. we must be alert to any covert actions to hide emails since this often seems to be only way to get evidence to reform this mess.'
because of all this I would say our whole legal and regulatory systems are now on trial. if they can't do the job of adequate oversite & protections for the people, then the state of our nation is in decline.
Re: Morgan Stanley Fined Pennies For Rampant NSS Abuse; Good Comment Lett