July 8, 2008
I support the Commissions proposed elimination of Regulation SHOs options market maker exception and encourage the Commission to complete the administrative steps to accomplish this change as quickly as possible (e.g., by years end). The options market maker exception has been a well known tool of manipulation and must be eliminated promptly to ensure a level playing field for public companies and shareholders.
I commend the Commissions recent action to strengthen Regulation SHO through the elimination of Regulation SHO's grandfather provision. I am also pleased that over the past several months that Chairman Cox has personally spoken about the abuses of naked short selling and the need to end this manipulative practice. However, I remain concerned that, despite the Commissions recent efforts and Chairman Cox's public comments, these abuses continue.
While the elimination of the options market maker exception and the grandfather provision will significantly strengthen Regulation SHO, these changes alone will not adequately solve the problem that results in continued naked short selling and failures-to-deliver. I request that the Commission (1) impose in Regulation SHO a requirement of a firm location of shares to be borrowed before a short sale can be executed, and (2) enable transparency by requiring timely disclosure of the volume of failures-to-deliver shares of companies on the Regulation SHO threshold list. The Commission should issue and complete promptly a notice of proposed rulemaking to implement these two critical components of effective Regulation SHO reform. Clearing unmatched trades is illegal and detrimental to many companies, shareholders and only beneficial to the market makers and brokers who utilize this trading scheme that is allowed to persist by the SEC enforcement division under existing laws not enforced.
I am a CMKX shareholder. I am also an American citizen. I am aware that the SEC is delaying release of trust funds that are intended for distribution to the shareholders of CMKX. I respectfully request that you release these funds that have been wrongfully withheld from us for the past 16 months. Should the funds not be released in a timely fashion, I intend to contact my Senators and Congressmen, about this issue and if the problem remains unresolved, I intend to participate in a march on Washington DC and in particular the SEC offices to publicly address this injustice. I will also start documenting this abuse in every public venue I can afford without exception.
When the general public realizes how their retirement monies are abused and how the enforcement division of the SEC allows this market abuse to continue, there will a hue and cry for heads and accountability. You now further delay enforcement of existing laws and closing loopholes used by the counterfeiting brokers and market makers for more input? You've got to be kidding me. Whether 1 person replies or 50,000 reply, the laws are being broken consistently to this day with unmatched trade settlements. What does it take to do the right thing, what you are charged with. More 'comments time' will allow millions more in unmatched trades to be made they will not change or enforce the law. Only you can do that and right now you are doing a piss-poor job. Not very respectful of your performance to date using my tax dollars. Jeff Thompson