Two brothers living in Chicago and New York were charged by the SEC with naked short selling for failing to locate and deliver shares involved in short sales to broker-dealers. The brothers generated more than $17 million in ill-gotten gains from naked short selling transactions involving such stocks as Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., Novastar Financial Inc., and NYSE Group. As one of the brothers stated in a recorded telephone conversation, “What I sell them is not guaranteed, it never gets delivered, it’s funny paper.”
SEC Charges Brothers With Short Selling Violations
