March 9, 2009
I would like to urge the Commission to re-establish the "uptick rule" in short sales, and to investigate allegations of "naked" short sales in the stock of General Growth Properties (GGP), in particular. I have seen stocks such as GGP come under coordinated attack by short sellers, thereby forcing lower equity prices. I have also seen evidence of numerous "failure to deliver" notices, indicating to me that short sellers may have been selling shares they had failed to borrow. This has the effect of trading in counterfeit shares, further depressing equity prices.