June 26th, 2009
Stock Shock the movie is breaking new ground. The movie that promises to shed light on illegal naked short selling has actually caught the eye of the United States Securities & Exchange Commission. Stock Shock is a documentary that educates viewers about illegal trading practices, through the stories of Sirius XM (SIRI) investors who believe they were the victims of naked short selling, and the victims of hedge funds who were possibly trading on the inside information that the company would be driven to bankruptcy this past February by certain bondholders. Unfortunately for those that participated, their plan failed and now the SEC is involved.
Satwaves has learned that several days ago, an agent for the SEC contacted a representative of Stock Shock, as that agent had been alerted to the allegations of hedge fund wrongdoings that were made in the film. A copy of the movie was sent to the agent, who then called back the movie’s representative to get more details, yesterday. The second phone call from the SEC lasted for 20 minutes, and included talk of media collusion as well.
Coming on the heels of the Obama administration’s announcements of sweeping reforms, it seems the SEC is now taking its position a bit more seriously. The agency has taken a lot of heat for ignoring claims regarding Bernard Madoff that fell on deaf ears until an unthinkable amount of damage could be done.
In the movie, Jim Cramer in a Mad Money clip calls on the SEC to make just one arrest, and that would end the game of naked short selling. Thus far, the problem has been the collapse of any company that fell victim to the game. The fact that Sirius XM not only survived but now thrives may prove to lead to the paper trail that can put an end finally to these illegal trading practices.
It will only take one person to confess to their part, no matter how small to create a landslide effect in the investigation and bring these people to justice. In my own interview in the film, I called for an SEC investigation also. Others did as well. This was my personal goal in agreeing to participate in the movie.