Marani Brands Inc. (MRIB)

[Matthew Berg]

Percival, If there are any truly naked plays on MRIB why has there never been any FTD? There would have to be such on the SHO reports. You can't conceal actual trades and if there were some phantom sales which is highly unlikely, they would be known and would not have any effect on PPS.

While you give a good layman's description of what a naked short sale is you have failed to to deliver the mechanics of selling MRIB short and the regulations SHO requires. And to say it's market maker manipulation that's quite impossible in reality. In theory sure but it comes with such astronomical cost to do it legally and at equally astronomical risk to attempt such by skirting the regulations that it's not even close to worth trying. And add to that MRIBs market cap and SS offers little to no profit as a short play. Even if 10% of all MRIB was held in a short position the most profit anyone could have made in the last 8 months might be $5-$10K. Now would one tale the risk legally, put up the $250 million (yes, that's million) in cash or $500 million in securities required to make a profit of $10,000 at most if they're lucky? Or as you suggest, would a market maker/broker dealer with a successful business, cash and assets, etc. conceal reporting to SHO a short position in MRIB and risk, huge punitive fines, possible loss of their license, many times any profits in disgorgement penalties and even possible jail time just to make $10K?

Neither scenario is even remotely possible for MRIB and it's not happening as the SHO reports show. No one is borrowing shares without "reasonable expectation of location and delivery of the shares by settlement deadline." That's why there are no FTDs. All shares have been covered for as long as MRIB has been traded. What has brought MRIB PPS to where it is today is a simple combination of massive dilution, toxic financing, a miserable management team and CEO, broken promises and outright lies and abysmal sales. Nothing else.