pelican

Is the SEC 'Rumorgate' Push a Waste of Time?

You sound like an apologist for people who knowingly spread false rumors. Indeed, you almost seem to applaud the whole idea of rumors..."currency of mankind for thousands of years..." and don't seem too concerned about whether the law is being broken. This is not about spreading a rumor you may have heard so please don't try to obfuscate the issue. This is about going after those people who knowingly spread false rumors for the purpose of financial gain. Surely, you must agree that people do that sometimes, right? If you answer is yes, then surely you must agree they should be held accountable.

You wrote: "For the life of me, I can’t imagine how the SEC will be able to prove that an individual knowingly spread a false rumor unless an email trail is discovered where Trader X told Institutional Salesman Y last week...I can't imagine how the SEC can get a conviction." Well, guess what. It's not always about getting a conviction, although that happens from time to time. Like going after insider traders, its often about penalizing the perpetrators financially, often heavily. I just spent maybe 12 seconds doing a quick google search after typing in a few keywords and the first story that came up was this.

dealbook.blogs.nytimes.../

I get the impression you are mocking the SEC but they are doing the right thing by pursuing this. Its too bad you don't agree.