I have a question for you on the transverse side of this equation: what requirement of disclosure, if any, does the SEC or any governing authority require of those who receive compensation to bash a stock?
I realize that this sort of question is scoffed at by many prominent posters, but you seem to hold a great deal of knowledge about SEC violations and FINRA rules, so I'm hoping to receive an honest reply to my inquiry without scoffing at the notion of "do paid bashers really exist?"
A second follow up question is what about when a highly intelligent individual undertakes to utilize multiple aliases on multiple message boards in order to garner the influence to manipulate a stocks share price by using some of his aliases to pump a stock on false hopes, then bash the stock through other aliases to create panic loss selling creating volatility in both directions? While I'm pretty sure the undertaking is illegal, to whom would I report such suspected activity?
