Replies to post #21 on NAKED SHORTING...MUST READ!!

[Stock Lobster]

The thinly traded OTCB and pinksheets are prime targets for manipulation by crooked CEOs, trading groups, and shorters as well.

When I think about it, given the high probability that most companies around here are scams of some kind, or at the least woefully underfunded, you can hardly blame shorters for taking the easy route. After all, if 90% of pennies are destined to collapse, their odds of their making a profit on any given trade are much higher than ours as longs.

Penny stock longs must be the real lunatic risk takers. On some days it feels like fewer than 1 in 10 trades held for more than three days turns out profitably. Dilution is another risk for anyone holding a pennystock even overnight..

Scalping and trading for a few hours is, imho, starting to look more and more attractive.

[Stock Lobster]

fyi: SEC Shorting Target was Served by Canadian Broker

by Stockwatch Business Reporter
Canada StockWatch
March 14, 2006

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has settled with three New York hedge funds that nearly had the Holy Grail of hedge fund management -- a shorting recipe with guaranteed profits. The funds allegedly made $7-million as they funnelled two years of naked shorting through a Canadian brokerage. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.)

It seems the shorting was only profitable until the SEC came along. In a simultaneous lawsuit and settlement filed Tuesday, the SEC sued the hedge funds, Langley Partners LP, North Olmsted Partners LP and Quantico Partners LP, and their portfolio manager, Jeffery Thorp.

The SEC says the hedge funds shorted 23 stocks between August, 2000, and March, 2002, and covered with restricted shares bought at a discount in so-called PIPE offerings. (PIPE stands for private investment in public equity.) The PIPE shares were discounted to compensate for trading restrictions, typically a hold period of two to four months.

"[The] strategy was simple: to short sell Langley Partners' entire restricted PIPE allocation as quickly as possible ... then to close out those short positions using the PIPE shares," the SEC says.

For example, the SEC says Langley Partners invested $1.1-million in 100,000 restricted shares of MGI Pharma Inc., a Minneapolis pharmaceutical company, and immediately sold 100,000 shares short for $1,335,500. By doing so, Langley was guaranteed a $235,500 profit.

The SEC says Langley could not short MGI or any of the other companies in a conventional manner because they were too thinly traded. The SEC says the hedge funds repeated this profitable formula with 23 companies, mostly Nasdaq-listed small-caps.

To mask the shorting, the SEC says Mr. Thorp would cover by selling the PIPE shares into the Canadian account in wash trades. "Thorp would call or instant message his Canadian broker to inform him that Langley Partners intended to sell a certain number of its PIPE shares ... at a particular time and price using a particular exchange, and would instruct the broker to enter a buy order," the SEC says.

In some instances the SEC says Mr. Thorp would also cover the short by "closing the box."

"To close the box, Langley Partners simply journaled its PIPE shares from its cash account to its short account," the SEC says.

Unlike prior SEC cases that include Canadian firms, the SEC will not identify the Canadian brokerage. "We are still investigating," says SEC lawyer Daniel Chaudoin. It is believed the brokerage is a Toronto-area firm, but Mr. Chaudoin would not confirm this.

The SEC credits the Investment Dealers Association with helping in the investigation. IDA investigators in Toronto were not available for comment.

$15.8-million in fines

The hedge funds have agreed to pay $13.5-million to settle the allegations, without admitting any wrongdoing. The portfolio manager, Mr. Thorp, has agreed to pay $2.3-million, also without admitting he did anything wrong. The funds' lawyer did not return calls.

Hedge fund shorting made headlines last month when Toronto Stock Exchange listing Biovail Corp. filed a $4.6-billion market manipulation lawsuit against billionaire hedge fund manager Steven Cohen and his SAC Capital funds. In that case, Biovail says SAC Capital carried out co-ordinated attacks on the stock while holding short positions.

That case has yet to go to court, and SAC Capital denies any wrongdoing.

http://www.rgm.com/articles/stockwatch.html

[Stock Lobster]

I think people entering this market should be aware of all the risks facing them.

Yes, hedge funds may short the stocks they've just helped finance, but this wouldn't even be possible if the CEOs weren't usually collaborating to one degree or another. It's not necessarily a black and white picture of good versus evil.

The only thing that seems clear to me is that penny traders need to discount 90% of what they hear from the company, and hold the other 10% to extreme scrutiny. The game is rigged, but maybe the smarter traders don't take it on as a crusade, but rather make it their primary mission to emerge intact from their trading experience.

But it certainly helps to know where the landmines are buried ahead of time. I like to collect all this information simply so I can have a clearer idea of the odds that are stacked against me. It reminds me to stay humble and grab reasonable profits when they present themselves.