FFGO......... It is very interesting that PENSON was using a internal tracking# on this security, long before it was even revoked. It really makes you think about what was really going on with that. Were they in fact circumventing REG SHO by using this internal tracker? It appears so. How many other securities in fact had this same issue arise with PENSON using non-valid CUSIP #'s? I don't know and we may never know. One thing is for certain though, THE SEC KNOWS!!! Will they arise to the occasion and set things right for companies that has fell victim to these shenanigans? I guess we will have to wait and see, however the SEC has moved in:
SEC Announces Charges Against Four Former Officials at Clearing Firm Penson Financial Services for Regulation SHO Violations
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2014-101
Washington D.C., May 19, 2014 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against four former officials at clearing firm Penson Financial Services for their roles in Regulation SHO violations.
An SEC investigation found that Penson’s securities lending practices intentionally and systematically violated Rule 204 under Reg. SHO. The SEC’s Enforcement Division alleges that Penson’s chief compliance officer Thomas R. Delaney II had direct knowledge that the firm’s procedures for sales of customer margin securities were resulting in rule violations, yet he didn’t take steps to bring Penson into compliance and instead affirmatively assisted the violations. Penson’s president and CEO Charles W. Yancey ignored significant red flags about Delaney’s involvement in the violations and the fact that he was concealing them from FINRA and the SEC. Penson has since filed for bankruptcy.
Two former Penson securities lending officials – Michael H. Johnson and Lindsey A. Wetzig – were charged in administrative proceedings and agreed to settle the charges. The SEC Enforcement Division will litigate the charges against Delaney and Yancey in a separate proceeding.
“This enforcement action seeks to hold Penson executives responsible for choosing profits over compliance with Reg. SHO,” said Andrew J. Ceresney, director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division. “We will aggressively pursue those who disregard this important rule, especially when they take affirmative steps to mislead regulators.”
Daniel M. Hawke, chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Market Abuse Unit, added, “Compliance officers are a critical line of defense against violations of the securities laws, and we rely on them to help prevent infractions from happening in the first place. Delaney, however, crossed the line when he participated in the firm’s Reg. SHO violations and affirmatively acted to perpetuate or conceal them.”
The SEC adopted Rule 204 in response to the 2008 financial crisis in order to address the negative effects that fails to deliver have on the markets. The SEC’s Enforcement Division alleges that when Penson loaned securities held in customer margin accounts to third parties and the margin customers sold those securities, Penson waited until settlement date (T+3) to recall the stock loans. This practice resulted in serial failures to deliver at the firm level. Rule 204 required Penson to purchase or borrow sufficient shares to close out those failures to deliver no later than the beginning of regular market hours on the sixth business day after the sale (T+6).
According to the SEC’s orders instituting administrative proceedings, Penson’s securities lending personnel including Johnson and Wetzig knew about Reg. SHO’s close-out requirements, but determined not to comply with them. Instead, they allowed the firm-level failures to deliver to persist until the borrowers returned the recalled shares, which often did not happen until the close of business on T+6. In some circumstances, Penson’s securities lending personnel allowed the failures to deliver to persistbeyondthe close of business on T+6.
The SEC Enforcement Division alleges that Delaney discussed Penson’s non-compliant procedures with Johnson and learned that the firm’s non-compliance with the regulation was intentional. He then agreed with Johnson not to change the procedures to bring Penson into compliance with Rule 204 because they did not want the firm to incur the costs of doing so. Delaney also approved written supervisory policies and procedures (WSPs) that he knew concealed the non-compliant procedures at the firm, and then he further concealed the violations in numerous communications with the SEC and FINRA. Meanwhile, Yancey failed reasonably to supervise Delaney and Johnson. He ignored Delaney’s efforts to conceal the violations from regulators. And despite being designated as Johnson’s direct supervisor, Yancey exercised no supervision over Johnson whatsoever.
Johnson consented to an SEC order finding that he willfully aided-and-abetted and caused Penson’s violations. He agreed to pay a $125,000 penalty and be barred from the securities industry for at least five years. He must cease and desist from committing or causing violations of Rule 204. Wetzig consented to an order finding that he caused Penson’s violations. He agreed to be censured and must cease and desist from committing or causing violations of Rule 204(a). Johnson and Wetzig neither admitted nor denied the findings.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Jonathan Warner and Jay Scoggins of the Market Abuse Unit and Denver Regional Office. The case was supervised by Mr. Hawke. The SEC’s litigation will be led by Polly Atkinson and Nicholas Heinke of the Denver office.
Company Overview of Penson Financial Services, Inc.
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People
Company Overview
On August 15, 2013, Penson Financial Services, Inc. went out of business as per its Chapter 11 liquidation filing under bankruptcy. Penson Financial Services, Inc., a securities services company, provides online processing solutions for the execution, clearing, custody, and settlement of securities transactions in the United States and internationally. It offers clearing, settlement, and custody services; brokerage services, such as securities lending, reporting options, financing, foreign currency execution and settlement capacity, Web-based daily account information, notification of corporate actions, personalized service for various prime brokerage accounts, and trading technologies; and investment manager/advisor services. The company also provides futures clearing/reporting services; securities lending services for access to the market place to assist in financing, settlements, short sales, arbitrage, derivatives, and program trading; individual retirement accounts and employer-sponsored retirement plans services; electronic statements and confirms; and services to institutional equity and FX traders. In addition, it offers a platform for registered investment advisors, and provides brokerage services to hedge funds and other institutional investors. The company was founded in 1989 and is based in Dallas, Texas. Penson Financial Services, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of SAI Holdings, Inc. On January 11, 2013, Penson Financial Services, Inc., filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. It is in joint administration with Penson Worldwide Inc. Later on, the plan of liquidation under Chapter 11 liquidation got approved on July 31, 2013.
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1700 Pacific Avenue
Suite 1400
Dallas, TX 75201
United States
Founded in 1989
Penson Worldwide, Inc. (Penson) is a provider of a range of critical securities and futures processing infrastructure products and services to the global financial services industry.
The Company’s products and services include securities and futures clearing and execution, financing and cash management technology and other related offerings, and it provides tools and services to support trading in multiple markets, asset classes and currencies.
The Company supplies a flexible offering of infrastructure and related products and services to its clients, available both on an unbundled basis and as a fully-integrated platform encompassing all of its products and services. The Company has operations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Asia. The Company conducts business through its wholly owned subsidiary SAI Holdings, Inc. (SAI).
ALSO, LETS NOT FORGET ABOUT THIS LITTLE MATTER EITHER... Was this connected to the use of Internal tracking #'s by PENSON? Once again, we may never know the answers to this question but THE SEC KNOWS!!!
Great West Gold, Inc. to Demand Immediate Delisting From Berlin Bremen Stock Exchange — Great West Gold, Inc. (OTC BB: GWGO) announces that it has just come to the Company's attention that the Company's shares have been listed on the Berlin-Bremen Stock Exchange without the knowledge, approval or cooperation of the Company. After further investigation, we discovered that in fact our shares had been listed without any contact with the Company whatsoever. The Company and our securities attorneys are to demand an immediate cease and desist in trading and the immediate delisting of our shares from their exchange. We have taken this action because they have never asked for any information or contacted our Company in any regard, and therefore our assumption is that someone other than our Company had an interest to have our shares traded on this exchange. We have deemed this to not be in the best interest of our Company and our shareholders.
AND
SOURCE: Great West Gold, Inc.
April 27, 2005 12:47 ET
Great West Gold, Inc. Update on Delisting From Berlin Bremen Stock Exchange
Company Has Demanded an Immediate Delisting From Berlin Bremen Stock Exchange
NEW YORK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- April 27, 2005 -- Great West Gold, Inc. (OTC BB: GWGO) confirms that its Corporate Counsel has demanded that the company's shares be delisted from the Berlin-Bremen Stock Exchange with immediate effect.
The Company's shares were admitted for trading on this exchange by a Broker without the knowledge, approval or cooperation of the Company. We have taken this action because they have never asked for any information or contacted our Company in any regard and therefore we are convinced that someone other than our Company had an interest to have our shares traded on this exchange. We have deemed this to not be in the best interest of our Company and our shareholders as this abuse is now very widespread and is used only for the purposes of the short selling of Company's stock, a practice which is illegal.
The rash of naked shorting is rumored to now being orchestrated through this unregulated exchange. We are now very sure that the constant selling pressure on our shares in the market for some time, despite positive news, is linked to this unauthorized listing. We have no direct evidence of this at this time but are now determined to end this activity which is not only of tremendous detriment to the Company but to our stockholders.
About Great West Gold, Inc.
Great West Gold, Inc. (www.greatwestgold.com) is a gold exploration company that has acquired certain rights to mine for minerals, primarily gold, in Arizona.
Statements contained in this press release, which are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the Company's expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties beyond the Company's control, including but not limited to economic, competitive and other factors affecting the Company's operations, management team effectiveness, expansion strategies, available financing, market prices and recovery costs, government regulations involving the Company, facts and events not known at the time of this release, and other factors discussed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
These statements are not guarantees of future performance and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements
Which leads me to wonder, What was PENSON doing using INTERNAL TRACKING #'s of this companies securities before it was even revoked or suspended in its trading? How did this company's stock trade at 90%+ short per REG SHO for over 2 years, EVERY SINGLE DAY? Valid question IMO that should be answered. Will "WE" the "SHAREHOLDERS" ever have our answers to this question? Nobody knows, but THE SEC KNOWS! We shall see.
FINRA short sale numbers for November 2010 for FFGO!!!
2010 short sale totals: 440,808,079. out of a total volume of 565,573,215 or 78% shares sold short. Note well the SEC only started publishing FINRA's daily short sale numbers in Nov. of 2010. CRISIS FOR SHORTY!!!!! FFGO FINRA SHORT NUMBERS!!!!
JAN 110,228,197/ 135,899,376 FEB 603,499,999/ 665,528,957 MAR 42,086,299/ 47,619,537 APR 55,046,743/ 57,719,305 MAY 71,734,677/ 77,653,022 JUN 49,116,056/ 49,366,056 JLY 189,497,794/ 191,797,794 AUG 168,375,995/ 188,509,493 SEP 20,197,000/ 20,996,700 OCT 23,659,999/28,329,999 Year to date totals
1,333,442.759/ 1,453,420,239 91.7% SHORT VOLUME for shares sold in 2011
regsho.finra.org/FORFshvol20110324.txt Total short volume since FINRA began publishing records in Nov. 2010: 1,774,250,838 short shares sold out of total volume of 2,018,993,454 or 87.9% of all shares sold were sold short!
FFGO IS DEAD AND GONE!!! But we are still owed divies and we are still owed answers as to why our company was listed on a foreign exchange without the company's knowledge BY A BROKER, why PENSON has been using INTERNAL TRACKING #'s before the company was revoked, why we had a 90% short Vol per REG SHO for 2 years+, and why we haven't been issued our divies (both historical and liquidating) for the sale of assets to NMGL for $258,000,000 in preferred A and B shares of NMGL to be paid to FFGO shareholders @ .003495 per common share held, and why were these things ALLOWED to happen by regulators! Will we ever find out the answers to these questions? Nobody knows, but THE SEC KNOWS!!!
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