SEC OIG Investigating SEC Complicity in Naked Short Selling of Dendre... -12/01/09 at 6:35 PM CSTby Mark Mitchell

The Office of the Inspector General of the Securities and Exchange Commission not long ago submitted a semi-annual report to Congress. There are two items in the report of interest to those of us who have argued that the SEC has turned a blind eye towards, or even assisted, unscrupulous hedge funds that make their fortunes destroying public companies for ...

Goldman Pillages, Goldman Steals, Goldman Sachs -08/19/09 at 11:07 AM CDTby Judd Bagley

Consider below a simple timeline from one of the strangest periods our financial markets had ever experienced. As you read it, keep in mind that following the demise of Bear Stearns, the strictest interpretation of the so-called investment bank “Bulge Bracket” included just four entities: Goldman Sachs (GS), Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and ...

Short Selling Implicated in the Greatest Market Cataclysm Since 1929 -11/25/08 at 10:21 PM CSTby Perry Rod

Investigative Reporter Mark Mitchell responded today to a Wall Street Journal article uncovering the fact that short selling played a major role in the current global crisis: Journalists who write about short selling hedge funds fall into three categories. The first category is comprised of a very small number of journalists who have deliberately whitewas...

Banks Eating Each Other Alive -11/24/08 at 1:32 PM CSTby Perry Rod

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that major Wall Street firms placed large bets against Morgan Stanley (MS) using credit-default swaps, two days after Lehman Brothers sought bankruptcy protection. The firms included Merrill Lynch , Citigroup (C) , Deutsche Bank (DB) and UBS, according to the paper. The paper said that a close examination of the ...

Naked Short Sellers Attack Citigroup -11/21/08 at 7:22 PM CSTby Reggie Abaca

America's financial system is a mess and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is to blame. Short sellers, in a concerted effort to defend themselves and abuse the lack of regulation by the SEC, are now targeting Citigroup (C) while our financial journalists, analysts and government regulators continue to do nothing. At Market Rap we've pointed out...

Mark Cuban Charged With Insider Trading - So Are Things Back To Norma... -11/18/08 at 6:55 PM CSTby Perry Rod

For a moment yesterday it felt like things were getting back to normal.  A bulletin hit the wire saying that Dallas Maverick owner Mark Cuban was being charged by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission with insider trading.  Even the stock market went up for a good twenty minutes after the wire hit. But it soon hit me right back - ...

Another Day Another Rumor -10/28/08 at 2:00 PM CDTby Reggie Abaca

Hedge funds are starting up another rumor now that Morgan Stanley (MS) and two other firms were being "short squeezed" with their investment into Volkswagen. Goldman Sachs, one of the named, declined to comment, but people inside the company said it had no Volkswagen losses. Morgan Stanley spokesman Mark Lake said frankly that company has no exp...

Deutsche Bank Sold Massive Amounts of Phantom Stock -10/16/08 at 7:54 PM CDTby Perry Rod

Mark Mitchell is reporting over at DeepCapture.com that the New York Stock Exchange has handed Deutsche Bank Securities the largest fine in history for violations of SEC rules designed to prevent the creation of what the chairman of the SEC has called “phantom stock.”  Mitchell goes on to report: The NYSE’s disciplinary order states...

Short Squeeze: Morgan Stanley Leads the Market Higher - Largest One D... -10/13/08 at 2:48 PM CDTby Perry Rod

An epic rise in the stock market following the worst week ever in the stock market.  That is the story here on Monday, October 13th 2008.  Many short sellers, betting that Morgan Stanley would not even make it over the weekend, were forced to cover their bets as Morgan Stanley rose 87%, in what is commonly referred to as a "short squeeze".&nbsp...