Shorts & Wire Wire fraud... GREAT post from the CPST board.
Naked Shorting Is Wire Fraud
Chris
We need someone else to decipher the law but I don't see how counterfeiting stock shares and then selling them through a wire transaction (even a telephone call) could not be wire fraud as described in the article. If Naked Shorting is wire fraud, then shouldn't the US Justice Department file criminal charges against anybody caught naked shorting? You could probably drive a bus down wallstreet and a few other places and just throw tons of these criminals in the back of the wagon. Maybe that's why they don't file criminal charges - there wouldn't be anybody left!
This seems to be exactly what you are talking about. Which part doesn't describe naked shorting?
en.wikipedia.org
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wire fraud is a legal concept in the United States Code which provides for enhanced penalty of any criminally fraudulent activity if it is determined that the activity involved electronic communications of any kind, at any phase of the event.
The crime of wire fraud is codified at 18 U.S.C. § 1343, and reads as follows:
Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If the violation affects a financial institution, such person shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.
Thus, the essential elements of the crime of wire fraud are:
(1) Devise or intend to devise a scheme or artifice to defraud another person based on a material representation; (2) With the intent to defraud; (3) through the use of interstate wire facilities (e.g. telecommunications of any kind).
A fourth element will be included where the alleged victim is a financial institution, to enhance sentencing as provided in the statute. |
