Unrelated to RFMK but posting activity here seems to be light so thought this was interesting.
It appears it is business as usual with the retail brokerages, as in taking small slaps on the wrist (fines) for BREAKING THE LAW and violating regulations by not properly providing all required trading activity reports.
The ongoing problem with this type of scenario is that if it is solely up to the private brokerage firms to follow the law and if they do not follow the law and instead simply siphon money out of the markets via manipulative practices and not report all trading activity (short sales, etc) then it creates a situation wherein the brokerages have a financial incentive to break the law to reap the rewards of massive profits only to turn around and provide the SEC with their "cut" (a small tip otherwise called a "fine" for allowing their firm to conduct business as usual, typically without having to admit or deny guilt). The fines are typically a fraction of the monetary value these firms could have siphoned from the market in their manipulative trading practices . So for the crony firms, it's worth it to just break the law and maximize profit and then just wait for the SEC to come around eventually begging for their "cut" of the "action". It's a sad state of affairs.
The dark side clouds everything.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/scottrade-to...atest_news
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Retail broker Scottrade has been charged for failing to provide to the Securities and Exchange Commission complete and accurate information about trades by the firm and its customers, the regulator said in Wednesday. The St. Louis-based firm has agreed to settle the charges by paying a $2.5 million penalty and admitting to violating record keeping provisions as part of federal securities laws. Broker-dealers like Scottrade are required to provide what is commonly known as "blue sheet" data to the regulator to help the agency identify and analyze trades in the course of investigations and other work. "Blue sheet information is the lifeblood of many SEC investigations and examinations," said Andrew J. Ceresney, director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement. "When firms fail to provide us with accurate or complete trade data, it risks compromising our ability to detect and investigate securities law violations."
It appears it is business as usual with the retail brokerages, as in taking small slaps on the wrist (fines) for BREAKING THE LAW and violating regulations by not properly providing all required trading activity reports.
The ongoing problem with this type of scenario is that if it is solely up to the private brokerage firms to follow the law and if they do not follow the law and instead simply siphon money out of the markets via manipulative practices and not report all trading activity (short sales, etc) then it creates a situation wherein the brokerages have a financial incentive to break the law to reap the rewards of massive profits only to turn around and provide the SEC with their "cut" (a small tip otherwise called a "fine" for allowing their firm to conduct business as usual, typically without having to admit or deny guilt). The fines are typically a fraction of the monetary value these firms could have siphoned from the market in their manipulative trading practices . So for the crony firms, it's worth it to just break the law and maximize profit and then just wait for the SEC to come around eventually begging for their "cut" of the "action". It's a sad state of affairs.
The dark side clouds everything.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/scottrade-to...atest_news
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Retail broker Scottrade has been charged for failing to provide to the Securities and Exchange Commission complete and accurate information about trades by the firm and its customers, the regulator said in Wednesday. The St. Louis-based firm has agreed to settle the charges by paying a $2.5 million penalty and admitting to violating record keeping provisions as part of federal securities laws. Broker-dealers like Scottrade are required to provide what is commonly known as "blue sheet" data to the regulator to help the agency identify and analyze trades in the course of investigations and other work. "Blue sheet information is the lifeblood of many SEC investigations and examinations," said Andrew J. Ceresney, director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement. "When firms fail to provide us with accurate or complete trade data, it risks compromising our ability to detect and investigate securities law violations."
