EZ Traders Forum

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USXP turns up the heat..
Universal Express Continues Naked Short Selling Dialogue
NEW YORK, Oct 2, 2003 (BUSINESS WIRE) --

On September 23, Universal Express, Inc. (OTCBB: USXP) urged shareholders to contact their Representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate to request the Securities and Exchange Commission to put an immediate end to "naked short selling". Universal Express describes "naked short selling" as the electronic churning downward of the shares of small developing OTCBB companies without actually trading the shares.

Richard A. Altomare, President & CEO of Universal Express noted, "When you never intend or fail to cover short sales, you are counterfeiting stock. Counterfeit stock added to a float drives prices down. This abuse of short selling by the broker dealers and the market makers who conspire with them devastates small emerging companies."

In what appears to be the first admission by an SEC regulator that naked short selling is occurring, SEC market regulation division director Annette Nazareth disclosed in a recent Dow Jones interview that the SEC would consider changes to short-selling rules this fall: "It's expected that the commission will consider short selling reforms in the next few months." To combat such abuses, the SEC will look to increase borrowing requirements for some short sales and call for stronger enforcement including late charges or other financial penalties for short sellers who fail to cover short positions by the settlement date, noted Dow Jones.

Altomare continues, "Naked short selling is nothing more than economic terrorism. It hurts job creation by small emerging firms; small emerging firms are the engines for new jobs. It is a national scandal that has cost us, along with other small companies and their shareholders, hundreds of millions of dollars in dramatically reduced share prices. Once the stock price drops, the next step for most small public companies is to cut back and start laying off. That is where the economic terrorism unfolds. Up to now, the SEC has done little to stop this activity. The SEC has not prevented illegal short selling in the OTCBB market, where the newer smaller emerging firms find themselves. The SEC's complex regulations are focused on the more established companies, the more established capital markets. Maintaining a small public company under these conditions is costly and sometimes not worthwhile. The SEC should not condone this economic terrorism. It should move forward with meaningful changes. We encourage our shareholders to contact their Representatives in the House and Senate about this short selling abuse. Changes are needed. All of us in the smaller business community want to grow. We want and look forward to working with the SEC's new leadership to restore integrity to the OTCBB markets."