August 17, 2005 |
Dear Sir: There is a crisis facing the OTC market today in the lack of short sale position reporting and disclosure for OTC issues. This lack of transparency regarding short selling in the OTC market allows fraudulent acts to go undiscovered and manipulative short sellers to hide. I believe regulators should fix the problem. Small issuers traded on the Pink Sheets and the OTCBB deserve the same transparency and regulatory oversight of short selling as those listed on Exchanges or NASDAQ. I strongly urge you to amend Rule 3360, so that short selling reporting rules also apply to OTC equity securities. NASD broker dealers to maintain a record of total "short" positions in all customer and proprietary firm accounts in all publicly traded equity securities as well as report this information to the NASD for public dissemination of the short positions by security. The SEC's action is urgently needed to prevent fraudulent acts, expose market manipulation, promote fair principles of trade and protect investors. Thank you. Bernie Hendricks, South Dakota |