Re: "...it actually is fair that the SEC can shut
Post# of 36728
As its name implies, the Securities and Exchange Commission was established on 06/06/1934 to be, among other things, a watchdog of the public securities markets in the US. Arguably, for much of their history, the SEC focused upon the exchange or trading of securities of listed companies (i.e., companies whose stock trades on SRO stock exchanges like NYSE, NYSE-AMEX, and Nasdaq). Over-the-counter stocks were more or less an afterthought until the internet became available for commerce and online trading in over-the-counter penny stocks flourished. From a field which had been left fallow for years sprang many noxious weeds. With the appointment of a new SEC chair in April,2013, the SEC put life and teeth into the Microcap Fraud Task Force, and the hunt was on for the fraudsters.
Playing fair implies playing by the rules. But in the case of suspended stocks, what are the rules? The SEC could better fend off criticism, born of the anger of shareholders of suspended penny stocks (notwithstanding deserving suspension), by codifying the rules of the game post suspension. Temporary suspension is the virtual imposition of a life sentence in the Grey Sheets dungeon. There's no established timeframe for SEC litigation followed by adjudication. Arrested persons have the right to due process of law, defined and codified. It's only fair that companies whose stock is suspended be given due process that is a mite better than throwing away the key to the jail cell in most cases.