Replies to post #227 on The Truth About

[Jim Bishop]

The federal securities laws prohibit the manipulation of securities. Specifically, manipulation is intentional conduct designed to deceive investors by controlling or artificially affecting the market for a security. Manipulation can involve a number of techniques to affect the supply of, or demand for, a stock. They include: spreading false or misleading information about a company; improperly limiting the number of publicly-available shares; or rigging quotes, prices or trades to create a
false or deceptive picture of the demand for a security.

While the First Amendment protects freedom of speech, a charge of slander may be brought against someone who knowingly makes a false statement. Please note that this is a civil matter, not a matter under the federal securities laws.

If you want to provide us specific details of persons being paid to bash a company, we would appreciate your letting us know. You can do this by filing a complaint at http://www.sec.gov/complaint.shtml.

Sincerely,

ROBERT T GREENE
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
[phone]

[janice shell]

I suspect that "directly or indirectly" would cover practically any contingency.

After all, many hedge funds are also MMs, and those that are strictly buy side need to use traders.