On the other issue addressing how certs can be removed from someone's account. Here is where I was referring to another method how illegal shares can get in the brokers hand without the exchange of funds thru a typical buy order with a broker. That is, someone can give a person shares/certificates for whatever reason, such as inheritance where stocks/certs are in the possession of the deceased. The recipient of shares/certs can then walk into a broker and open an account with the shares/certificates. No cash exchanged hands. Very simple. That is what I was trying to explain, but some on this board apparently did not like this explanation of how the shares of someone can be removed from their account. I was not accusing anyone of anything, but making reference to explain the possibility of how shares/certs, not IOUs, can be removed from an account. If the shares/certs deposited at broker account are found to be invalid, they can be removed from the account by the broker and returned to the DTCC and/or SEC.
To my knowledge, noone on this board has disputed that this type of event can occur.