Stock market

Washington, D.C., Feb. 24, 2010 -- The Securities and Exchange Commission today adopted a new rule to place certain restrictions on short selling when a stock is experiencing significant downward price pressure. The measure is intended to promote market stability and preserve investor confidence.

This alternative uptick rule is designed to restrict short selling from further driving down the price of a stock that has dropped more than 10 percent in one day. It will enable long sellers to stand in the front of the line and sell their shares before any short sellers once the circuit breaker is triggered.    » read more »

Say SEC Action a “Step Forward” But Fails to Solve Naked Short Selling Concerns; Delaware, Georgia Senators dismayed SEC never sought comments on “hard locate” requirement

February 24, 2010 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Senators Ted Kaufman (D-DE) and Johnny Isakson (R-GA) released the following statement after the Securities and Exchange Commission voted 3-2 Wednesday to require short sellers – if a company’s shares fall 10 percent in one day – to exceed the prevailing “bid” for the remainder of the trading day and the following day in short sales of that security.    » read more »

Kaufman Calls Decline in IPOs “Choke Point” to Job Creation, Economic Recovery

December 16, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday Senator Ted Kaufman (D-DE) discussed how the severe decline in IPOs has contributed to the nation’s jobs crisis. Kaufman spoke just a day after the research firm Dealogic reported that Chinese and Hong Kong exchanges had raised some $52 billion this year from initial public offerings (IPOs), nearly twice as much as American IPOs.

According to an Associated Press report on the Dealogic study, in 2007, the amount of money raised from IPOs in Hong Kong and the mainland also exceeded the U.S. total.    » read more »

Washington, Dec 8 -- Congresswoman Kathy Castor released the following statement today regarding the comprehensive Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act:

“We must quickly and comprehensively reform Wall Street so that the economic collapse we experienced never happens again. We need more accountability and more oversight to rein in the free-dealing that has plagued Wall Street for far too long.

“Last year, I voted against the Wall Street bailout bill because it did not address the root causes of the economic crisis. It gave too much money and attention to help Wall Street rather than the hard-working middle-class families across America and in the Tampa Bay area.    » read more »

In Letter to Sen. Kaufman, SEC Chairman Says Commission Wants Input on Possible Special Trading Advantage, Including Co-location

December 8, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D. C. – The Securities and Exchange Commission expects to seek public comment in January on a host of issues connected to so-called 'dark liquidity' — orders executed away from public view — as well as high frequency trading strategies which might provide unfair pricing advantages.

In a Dec. 3 letter to Senator Ted Kaufman (D-DE), SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro also said she expects the Commission to consider two proposed rulemakings next month: implementing a 'large trader' reporting authority and addressing the risk of sponsored access.    » read more »

Aims To Provide Expanded Tax And Retirement Relief To Small Investors Who Invested All And Have Nothing Left Because Of Convicted Scam Artist

December 7, 2009 -- Joined by middle class New York City residents who lost everything they had at the hands of convicted scam artist Bernie Madoff, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today unveiled the Madoff Investors’ Bill of Rights that would dramatically expand federal tax benefits aimed at helping devastated smaller investors recoup some of their losses.

Many of Madoff’s victims were older and retired and don’t have a monthly income to rely on day to day. The largest Ponzi scheme, run by disgraced financier Bernie Madoff, cost thousands of investors more than $60 billion.    » read more »

$75 Million Offering Fraud

Washington, D.C., Dec. 2, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it has filed fraud charges against a Chicago-based health care financial services company and has frozen the assets of its co-founder who allegedly provided investors with forged financial statements to lure them into a $75 million investment scheme.    » read more »

Treasury Department Announces Pricing of Public Offering of Warrants to Purchase Common stock of Capital One Financial Corporation

December 4, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced today that it priced a secondary public offering of 12,657,960 warrants to purchase common stock of Capital One Financial Corporation (the "Company") at $11.75 per warrant.

The net proceeds to Treasury from the offering are expected to be approximately $146,500,064.55. These proceeds provide an additional return to the American taxpayer from Treasury's investment in the Company beyond the dividend payments it received on the related preferred stock.

The warrants have been authorized for listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "COF WS."    » read more »

Washington, D.C., Nov. 30, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a Dallas and New Orleans-based hurricane restoration company and several executives for lying about non-existent business deals in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and fraudulently inflating the company's stock price before the company's CEO sold millions of dollars in company shares.    » read more »

November 23, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- Four individuals were sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Marianne O. Battani in federal court in Detroit for their roles in a wide-ranging international stock fraud scheme involving the illegal use of bulk commercial e-mails, or “spamming,” announced Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Terrence Berg.    » read more »

December 1, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced that it has commenced a secondary public offering of approximately 12,657,960 warrants to purchase the common stock of Capital One Financial Corporation (the "Company"). The proceeds of this sale will provide an additional return to the American taxpayer from Treasury´s investment in the Company beyond the dividend payments it received on the related preferred stock.    » read more »

In letter to SEC Chairman Schapiro, Senator outlines dangers of manipulative algorithms and systemic risk

November 20, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Ted Kaufman (D-DE) today urged Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Mary Schapiro to take immediate steps to combat manipulative high frequency trading algorithms and end so-called “sponsored access,” which Kaufman and many market experts believe exposes the U.S. capital markets to systemic risk.

Sponsored access permits traders – many of which are unregulated hedge funds – to trade directly on an exchange, circumventing risk checks that apply to broker-dealer trades.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., Nov. 10, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged the former chief financial officer of a New York-based hedge fund with securities fraud for arranging secret sales of securities from his personal trading account to the hedge fund accounts at inflated prices to generate his own illicit profits.    » read more »

Cantwell Introduces Legislation to Help Stop Abusive Speculation Practices

November 10,2009 -- WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), together with Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), proposed legislation empowering state gambling regulators and attorneys general to examine unregulated derivatives trading and take appropriate action to protect citizens from practices which can harm the foundations of our economy. As part of a broader effort by Congress to pass comprehensive financial regulatory reform, Cantwell’s proposal treats derivatives trading for what it is: a sophisticated form of gambling.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., Nov. 5, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a pair of lawyers for tipping inside information in exchange for kickbacks as well as six Wall Street traders and a proprietary trading firm involved in a $20 million insider trading scheme.    » read more »