Aug. 16, 2023
Good evening! Due to the hidden nature of swaps and derivatives from legal authorities such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), more enforcement and oversight is needed over these financial tools. Archegos was one company that fraudulently used this financial tool with extreme leverage. Loopholes created by these unregulated financial instruments have allowed fraud to create idiosyncratic risks throughout capital markets, and have aided in the failure to deliver shares (FTDs). In the past, the SEC and FINRA have acknowledged that swaps are being used to hide FTDs. When criminals can dilute share ownership through unregulated financial instruments (such as SWAPs, and using naked short sales and swaps without a long position per Dr. Susanne Trimbath's research), and force these phantom shares into the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation's obligation warehouse, I believe this fraud to be a national security issue requiring urgent attention. Due to the counterfeiting potential of these crimes I believe more oversight is needed to aid in investigations for not only the SEC, but the Department of Justice and Secret Service. True price discovery cannot happen when the fraudulent few counterfeit rightful ownership with hidden (at at times, criminal) leverage. I fully support the SEC's regulation and enforcement of SWAPs. v/r a concerned citizen