July 29, 2008
I believe current rules to prevent naked shorting should be stringently enforced against both traders and broker dealers involved in such actirvities.
Furthermore, I feel additional harsh penalties should be implemented to dissuade such activities.
In the past, shorts implemented an organized attack against a security I owned call Polymedica (PLMD). This cabal included David Rocker, Herb Greenburg, Jim Cramer and David Einhorn’s wife, Cheryl Strauss Einhorn as well as many paid posters and last but not least, Manuel Asensio, broker dealer I’m sure you are already familiar with.
Their attempts to destroy PLMD failed when Merck bought the company for $53 per share which refutes the accusations by the list of characters above that PLMD was guilty of all sorts of nefarious and illegal deeds. By the way, at one time, 67% of PLMD’s float was short.
Currently, I own shares in American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC). This company is on the reg SHO list and currently 38% of the float is shorted. I’ll be many of those are naked shorts.
I wouldn’t be surprised to find out many of the same characters listed above are involved in the AMSC shorting.
I individuals and institutions are forced to bear the expenses resulting from proper shorting activities they will be less inclined to do so. This will result in a decrease in organized attacks on good companys whose sole purpose is to drive down the share price without regard to whether the company is reporting it’s activities accurately or not.
Additional reporting rules and expenses with regard to shorting would also be beneficial.
Steve Sloan