Naked shorting is definitely illegal, but still rampant. The SEC hasn't done much in the past to pursue it, but it just might in the future as it's a widely agreed upon fact in the business world that it often hurts more than helps our economy by trashing products and/or services of what would likely have been great companies. The funding they should have received was manipulated for the gains of assholes that neither produce nor contribute anything of value, and most often don't even pay their fair share of taxes when compared to the working class.