SEC CHARGES TWO BROTHERS WITH NAKED SHORT SELLING

The following excerpt is from a Securities and Exchange Commission e-mail:

"Washington, D.C., Jan. 31, 2012 – The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged two brothers living in Chicago and New York with naked short selling for failing to locate and deliver shares involved in short sales to broker-dealers.

Short sellers sell borrowed shares in hopes of profiting from declining prices. While short selling is legal, SEC rules require short sellers to locate shares to borrow before selling them short, and they must deliver the borrowed securities by a specified date. Market makers are excepted from the locate requirement when selling short in connection with bona-fide market making activities in the security for which the exception is claimed. Naked short selling occurs without having borrowed the securities to make delivery.

According to the SEC’s order instituting administrative proceedings against Jeffrey A. Wolfson and Robert A. Wolfson, they generated more than $17 million in ill-gotten gains from naked short selling transactions involving such stocks as Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., Novastar Financial Inc., and NYSE Group. As Jeffrey Wolfson stated in a recorded telephone conversation, “What I sell them is not guaranteed, it never gets delivered, it’s funny paper.”

The SEC’s Division of Enforcement alleges that Jeffrey Wolfson engaged in illegal naked short sales while working as a broker-dealer himself and later as the principal trader at a Chicago-based broker-dealer that is no longer in business. He also taught his brother and others how to do it. Robert Wolfson conducted illegal naked short sales while trading through an account at New York-based broker-dealer Golden Anchor Trading II LLC, which also has been charged in the SEC’s enforcement action. The firm has changed its name to Barabino Trading LLC.

“By engaging in naked short selling, the Wolfsons had a major advantage over competitors who complied with the law and incurred the costs associated with actually borrowing the securities,” said George S. Canellos, Director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office. “The SEC is committed to recovering substantial ill-gotten proceeds made by traders who seek to circumvent important short selling regulations.”

According to the SEC’s order, the Wolfsons engaged in two types of transactions from July 2006 to July 2007 in violation of Regulation SHO. The first type of transaction – a “reverse conversion” or “reversal” – involves selling stock short and simultaneously selling a put option and buying a call option on the stock. The Wolfsons did not locate the stock before the sale, nor did they deliver the shares when sold or make a bona fide purchase of the stock when required to close out their resulting fail-to-deliver position. They were not entitled to the market maker exception to Regulation SHO because the short sales were not made in connection with bona-fide market making activities.

The SEC's order states that the second type of transaction was a stock and option combination that created the illusion that the party subject to a close-out obligation had satisfied that obligation by buying the same kind and quantity of securities it had sold short. However, the stock was always sold back either the next day or within several days, and the Wolfsons knew or had reason to know that the shares ostensibly purchased in these sham transactions would never be delivered because they were purchased from another naked short seller who did not have the stock either. The Wolfsons entered into a significant number of these sham "reset" transactions with each other and also took the other side of the "reset" trades done by each other as well those done by other market participants.

The SEC's Division of Enforcement alleges that by engaging in the misconduct described in the order, Jeffrey Wolfson willfully violated and willfully aided and abetted and caused BMR's violations of Rule 203(b)(1) of Regulation SHO, and willfully violated and willfully aided and abetted and caused others' violations of Rule 203(b)(3) of Regulation SHO. It further alleges that Golden Anchor willfully violated, and Robert Wolfson willfully aided and abetted and caused Golden Anchor's violations of Rules 203(b)(1) and 203(b)(3) of Regulation SHO. The administrative proceedings will determine what relief, if any, is in the public interest against Jeffrey Wolfson, Robert Wolfson and Golden Anchor, including disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, prejudgment interest, financial penalties, a censure or a suspension or bar from association with any broker-dealer.

The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Steven Rawlings, Peter Altenbach, Daniel Marcus and Layla Mayer and the litigation effort will be led by Kevin McGrath. They work in the New York Regional Office. The SEC’s investigation into violations of Regulation SHO is continuing.

The SEC acknowledges the assistance of the Chicago Board Options Exchange and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in this matter."

OPTIONS TRADER GETS CHARGED BY SEC WITH FAILURE TO DELIVER SHORT SALES SHARES

The following excerpt is from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website: “Washington, D.C., Dec. 13, 2011 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged an options trader in the Chicago area with violating short selling restrictions when he failed to locate and deliver the shares involved in short sales to broker-dealers and their institutional customers. The trader agreed to pay more than $2 million to settle the SEC’s charges. According to the SEC’s order instituting administrative proceedings, Gary S. Bell violated the “locate” and “close out” requirements of Regulation SHO, which require market participants to locate a source of borrowable shares prior to selling short and to deliver those securities by a specified date. Market makers who ensure liquidity in the market are excepted from these requirements if they are engaged in bona-fide market making activities in the security for which the exception is claimed. The SEC’s order finds that Bell improperly relied on the market maker exception in his line of business that essentially loaned large amounts of hard-to-borrow stock to broker-dealers, who then provided their customers with locates on those shares and lucrative stock loans of those shares. The customers then sold short certain securities that they may not have otherwise been able to without Bell’s participation. However, because the stock being provided by Bell was not truly available for delivery to the broker-dealers or their short selling customers, Bell actually was effecting illegal “naked” short sales. “Bell avoided the cost of borrowing shares while engaging in complex short selling transactions, thus earning significant profits with minimal risk and gaining an advantage over legitimate participants in the market,” said George S. Canellos, Director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office. “We’ll continue aggressively to pursue and punish abusive short sellers who attempt to circumvent regulatory requirements to make more money.” According to the SEC’s order, Bell effected naked short sales from December 2006 to June 2007 while working as a broker-dealer himself and then later as the principal trader at Chicago-based broker-dealer GAS I LLC, which is no longer in business. Bell and GAS engaged in two specific types of transactions that violated the locate and close-out requirements of Regulation SHO. The first type of transaction — a “reverse conversion” or “reversal” — involves selling stock short and simultaneously selling a put option and buying a call option on the stock. The second type of transaction is a combined stock-and-option transaction that is essentially a sham and creates the illusion that the party subject to a close-out obligation has satisfied that obligation by buying the same kind and quantity of securities it has sold short. The SEC’s order finds that Bell’s and GAS’s transactions created the false appearance of compliance with the requirements of Regulation SHO. The shares that were apparently purchased in the transactions were never actually delivered because they were purchased from a “naked” short seller, and left Bell and GAS with persistent “fail-to-deliver” positions, meaning that they did not deliver shares to make good on their sales of stock. The market maker exception to Regulation SHO was not available to either Bell or GAS because they were not engaging in bona-fide market making activities in these securities. As a result of his short selling violations, Bell received ill-gotten gains of at least $1.5 million. Bell settled the SEC’s administrative proceedings without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings. The Commission’s order requires Bell to cease and desist from committing or causing violations of Rules 203(b)(1) and 203(b)(3) of Regulation SHO, and suspends Bell from association with any broker, dealer, investment adviser, municipal securities dealer, municipal advisor, transfer agent, or nationally recognized statistical rating organization for a period of nine months. Bell is required to pay $1.5 million in disgorgement, $336,094 in prejudgment interest, and a $250,000 penalty. The SEC acknowledges the assistance of the Chicago Board Options Exchange in this matter. The SEC’s investigation into violations of Regulation SHO is continuing.”