NorthWest Biotherapeutics Inc (NWBO)

[exwannabe]

Serious questions: how does one "buy" from a naked short seller? How does one ever know if one bought from a naked short seller? I always buy through Schwab. How do I know if any shares I have bought are illegitimate?

First of all, there are no such thing as "illegitimate" shares (unless the company/registrar are doing it).

There are is small possibility any time you buy shares there is a failure to deliver. In that case the broker does not have the shares your account asserts. The broker though actually has them in a pool, so unless you are the only owner at that broker the shortage is not "yours". But those almost all get delivered with a few days.

And even if the shares are not there when some event happens, it does not matter. The system, is designed with make good process in place. For these to fail you would need a failure by all of:
. The party who failed to deliver.
. The DTC who banks almost all US trades
. Your Broker
. And for some amount, the US FDIC.

if those faile, you are best invested in physical stocks of food, ammo, gasoline and such.