February 6, 2022
On behalf of myself, my friends, my family, and my country, I ask that the SEC uses its influence, reputation, and resources to bring confidence back to Main Street by bringing meaningful regulation of dark markets like swaps and manipulative practices like naked short selling, share creation through ETFs, dark pool abuse, order internalization, and anything many of us are left intentionally ignorant of to the front steps of Wall Street. Many of us still have yet to recover from the global financial crisis of 2008 and never saw justice to those that prayed on the American people and profited on both sides of the collapse, then being subsequently bailed out with taxpayer funds and paid themselves huge bonuses. I am a GameStop investor, and although I know there are some conspiracy theories surrounding the stock on curtains subreddits, there are real people with real knowledge and real evidence that shows market manipulation is occurring on a grand scale and retail investors are being cheated out of their investments and companies are being unfairly bankrupted for the benefit of already wealthy institutions. This country was founded on freedom, opportunity, and the pursuit of happiness equally for all. Since the onset of the internet and the expanding amount of information becoming available to the public it has become clear that Main Street does not have the same opportunities as Wall Street and our jobs, our portfolios, our retirement investment accounts and our mortgages are exposed to the risk that comes with the bets financial institutions make. Mr. Gensler has stated that the plumbing of the system needs fixing. And while I agree, and as glad I am to see some level of commitment to change that plumbing, the public needs to see action and criminal punishment to those that profit from illegal and manipulative practices in order to believe that change is truly occurring.
The deregulation of Wall Street has shown time and time again how much damage can be done when left unchecked. The processes in which fraud and manipulation can be hidden are vast and the abuse of those processes having little to no recourse other than minute fines which incentivizes these financial institutions to profit greatly and with minor consequence. This needs to change so another 2008 event does not happen and unfortunately, it may already be too late. The swaps market had a huge impact on the events that lead to 2008 and it is unsettling to see these same instruments being used again. I hope that the Securities and Exchange Commission along with the Department of Justice make meaningful progress to address these issues on behalf of the people of the United States of America whom they represent. I thank you for your time.