Tag: FINRA Fraud (Page 1 of 4)

“The Game is Rigged”, Says Ex-Citadel Data Scientist

Ex-Citadel employee Patrick McConlogue says the market is rigged.
Market News Daily: Ex-Citadel employee Patrick McConlogue says the market is rigged.

Patrick McConlogue, an ex-Citadel Data Scientist said during the ‘meme stock’ frenzy that the stock market is rigged, claiming he helped design it.

“The game is not fair and it never has been. Individual investors, even when operating in a swarm, are destined to lose. How do I know? I helped design the game.”

Not many investors know this, but Patrick actually breaks down how Citadel and other hedge funds were able to make billions back in only weeks from halts.

In this article, I’m going to share his words and knowledge in the industry directly with you.

Share this article to raise awareness of the market injustices ‘experts’ have claimed were never true.

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Ex-Citadel Employee Reveals Rigged Trading Game

Ex-Citadel employee Patrick McConlogue says the market is rigged.

Patrick McConlogue appeared on Fox Business during the ‘meme stock’ frenzy of 2021 when retail investors created one of the biggest scares in Wall Street history.

GameStop and AMC shareholders were able to create panic on Wall Street by heavily buying shares of the overleveraged shorted stocks.

As share prices soared, short sellers experienced massive losses.

GameStop was able to put Melvin Capital out of business, but Patrick McConlogue says other hedge funds were able to make back billions in losses during the halt.

The halts allowed hedge funds to enter AMC and GameStop knowing shares would plummet, allowing them to capitalize on the deflation of the price.

Patrick says the rules of the game also heavily favor hedge funds, something retail investors have urged SEC Chairman Gary Gensler for years to change.

“I respect many of my colleagues, the problem isn’t the people, it’s the rules of the game which heavily favor the funds.”

Below is ex-Citadel Data Scientist Patrick McConlogue’s story.

AMC Stock: The SEC Has Now Violated Threshold Rule

Patrick McConlogue Says the Stock Market is Rigged

Ex-Citadel employee Patrick McConlogue says the market is rigged.
Ex-Citadel employee Patrick McConlogue says the market is rigged.

“The game is not fair and it never has been. Individual investors, even when operating in a swarm, are destined to lose.

How do I know? I helped design the game.

A few years ago, I worked at the massive hedge fund Citadel. The multi-billion dollar fund was caught up in this week’s scandal for bailing out hedge fund Melvin Capital after everyday traders on Robinhood appeared close to liquidating the fund through mass buying of the GameStop stock $GME.

My role at Citadel was as an engineer in Long Term Quantitative Strategies. The entire department, filled with programmers and compliance officers, is dedicated to something called ‘alpha’ which determines the buying strategy of the fund.

I was responsible for innovative proprietary technology that capitalizes on public data faster than any other hedge fund. It’s a classic situation of machines against humans. I respect many of my colleagues, the problem isn’t the people, it’s the rules of the game which heavily favor the funds.

A group of traders on the r/WallStreetBets Reddit thread, now consisting of over 8.6M members, noticed that someone had overly “shorted” the GameStop $GME stock.

They decided it was the perfect time to buy. It was only around $18 per share and easily affordable for the common investor who kept buying, driving up the price of the stock.

As the buying frenzy continued the hedge funds who had taken the opposite position started to hemorrhage money.. BIG money.

The small investors celebrated their success online as news broke that the hedge fund Melvin Capital Management had lost so much on the $GME short position that they had to be bailed out by bigger hedge funds.

While the markets were closed Melvin Capital’s sinking battleship received an emergency infusion of $2.75 billion from Citadel and Point72.”

‘Meme Stock’ Halts

Ex-Citadel employee Patrick McConlogue says the market is rigged.

“On Thursday morning, Robinhood — the commission-free stock trading app used by small investors — suddenly shut down buys on $GME and a few other stocks that were under siege.

Only sell orders went through, reversing the trend, driving the stock prices back down and shoring up the hedge funds’ sinking ships. Remember, when the stock price goes down, the people who hold the “shorts” make money.

This started a chain reaction. Other retail trading platforms like E*Trade and TD AmeriTrade began freezing the stock for individual investors. But hedge funds own supercomputers.

They have direct access to stock markets. While small investors were frozen the hedge funds traded massive positions and quickly earned back the billions in losses from the past few days.

The rules of the game had been exposed, in broad daylight no less.

Robinhood users, when signing up for the popular trading app that offered “free trading” were likely unaware of their role in the hedge funds’ ability to reap huge profits.

The system is broken.”

Patrick McConlogue left Citadel for decentralized finance and co-founded a new technology called Overline that takes the philosophy of DeFi to the extreme.

Not only is Overline unable to freeze any of your assets but it can’t even turn off the exchange; it’s not possible.

You can read Patrick’s full write-up here.

Related: Ken Griffin Thanks Redditors for ‘Meme Stocks’

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Market News Today - Ex-Citadel data scientist says the market is rigged.
Market News Today – Ex-Citadel Data Scientist says the market is rigged.

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Why Did FINRA Halt the Trading of MMTLP?

Why Did FINRA halt trading of Meta Materials?
Market News: Why Did FINRA halt MMTLP?

FINRA halted $MMTLP in December without notice leaving investors confused and angry.

The regulator blatantly proved to be one of the biggest obstructions in the market when it also failed to deliver investors with Meta Materials’ planned distribution of its preferred stock.

Now shareholders are demanding FINRA release a statement regarding the events that occurred with MMTLP.

The last day to purchase shares (and be eligible for their dividend) was Dec. 8, 2022.

Meta Material’s final trading day was Dec. 12, 2022.

The distribution date of the private Next Bridge Hydrocarbon shares was Dec. 14, 2022.

Shareholders never received the proposed preferred shares.

So, why did FINRA halt the trading of Meta Materials / MMTLP and delist the security leaving several investors questioning the integrity of our regulators?

Here’s what the regulator said.

FINRA Comments on MMTLP Halts

Meta Materials
Why did FINRA halt Meta Materials?

“Effective Friday, December 09, 2022, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) halted trading and quoting in the Series A preferred shares of Meta Materials Inc. (OTC Symbol: MMTLP).

Pursuant to Rule 6440(a)(3), FINRA has determined that an extraordinary event has occurred or is ongoing that has caused or has the potential to cause significant uncertainty in the settlement and clearance process for shares in MMTLP and that, therefore, halting trading and quoting in MMTLP is necessary to protect investors and the public interest.

The trading and quoting halt will end concurrent with the deletion of the symbol effective Tuesday, December 13, 2022.”

“See also Form S1 Registration Statement for Next Bridge Hydrocarbons, Inc. stating that…immediately after the Spin-Off, all shares of Series A Non-Voting Preferred Stock of Meta shall be cancelled. Available here.”

In simple terms, FINRA’s only explanation was that the halt was due to ‘uncertainty’ in the settlement process which could harm investors and public interest.

And perhaps that’s true — though I don’t think they were referring to retail investors at all, but rather FINRA’s private investors and partners.

Tinfoil hat on, you tell me.

Related: The Retail Community Says FINRA is Corrupt

Who is FINRA?

Why did FINRA halt MMTLP? Why did FINRA halt Meta Materials?
Why did FINRA halt MMTLP? Why did FINRA halt Meta Materials?

FINRA stands for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and is a self-regulatory government organization that oversees U.S. broker-dealers.

The organization contains records of every trade made available intraday, including that of naked short sales.

FINRA requires firms to be able to meet their short sale requirements as well as have a process to close out fails to deliver within their required timeframes.

However, they’re the open window that allows these manipulative strategies to occur in the market.

FTDS (fails-to-deliver) are mounting up every month according to SEC data, and FINRA is unable to get firms to close out these obligations.

The retail community is calling it foul play, alleging the possibility of lobbying within the self-regulated organization.

FINRA’s mission statement:

At FINRA, our mission is clear—to protect investors and promote market integrity. At FINRA, our mission is clear—to protect investors and promote market integrity. Each year, we conduct thousands of investigations of potential violations of securities industry rules, regulations and U.S. securities laws.

So, who’s watching FINRA?

Justice for the MMTLP community must be served.

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Transcripts Now Reveal Big MMTLP Fraud Investigations

FINRA MMTLP Investigations
Market News Daily – Transcripts Now Reveal Big MMTLP Fraud Investigations.

Transcripts were released revealing a big MMTLP fraud investigation as well as other sensitive information.

Below will be a summary of the events that occurred with MMTLP to give new readers a better understanding of the situation and ongoing investigation at hand.

Investors who held shares of MMTLP stock on the record date of December 12 would receive a preferred dividend of Next Bridge Hydrocarbon on Wednesday, December the 14th.

Investors anticipated a long-awaited MMTLP short squeeze during the last few trading days prior to the spinoff — primarily due to big buying volume flooding the market to receive Next Bridge Hydrocarbon shares.

However, MMTLP stock stopped trading on Thursday, December 8 after FINRA delisted the security without notice or warning.

FINRA responded to investors affected by the aftermath in March, but the retail community has not seen any real justice from regulators.

Now transcripts have surfaced revealing conversations between FINRA and the SEC.

“Looks like this MMAT/MMTLP matter has now hit my Fraud team’s radar screen (and seemingly a lot of other radar screens as well). I know you have spoken to Patti Casimates and our General Council’s office — but was wondering if it made sense for my Fraud team to have a conversation directly with you and your folks working on the matter so we are not duplicating efforts.

We are looking at the two issuers from a fraud/manipulation angle and, in fact, bluesheeting both MMAT and MMTLP as we speak,” said Sam Draddy to the SEC on December 5th, 2022 — just days prior the U3 halt and delisting of MMTLP.

MMTLP Sam Draddy FINRA

FINRA Knew of Manipulation Prior to Halts and Delisting

Sam Draddy

Sam Draddy is the Senior Vice President in FINRA’s National Cause and Financial Crimes Detection Programs, Market Investigations Team and head of FINRA’s Insider Trading, Market Fraud and Offering Investigations Units.

Transcripts insinuate that regulators knew manipulation was happening in MMTLP more than a year prior to the events that occurred in December of 2022.

“I believe it was Patti Casimates from our Market Ops group who reached out to (omitted). I have included her on the email so you can reach out to her directly,” said Sam Draddy to the SEC on November 29, 2021.

Patricia Casimates is the Vice President of Market Operations for FINRA Transparency Services. 

Her responsibilities include FINRA’s TRACE, Alternative Display Facility (ADF), and the OTC trade reporting facility. 

In addition, she also manages OTC corporate action and dividend announcements. 

Prior to Market Operations, Ms. Casimates was Deputy Director, in FINRA’s Market Regulation Department, overseeing surveillance for trade reporting, order handling, best execution, FIPS (Fixed Income Pricing System) as well as the real-time surveillance area, handling backing away complaints, and locked/crossed market issues. 

Transcripts show that on December 2nd FINRA’s Market Fraud Investigations team received several tips that were also sent out to the SEC.

Both the SEC and FINRA were aware of the manipulation of MMTLP prior to investors losing everything.

In other words, notices could have been sent out warning MMTLP investors of the events that would occur on December 8, when MMTLP was halted and later delisted, freezing investor’s money in the process.

FINRA Received Complaints and Threats

Transcripts have also been released confirming reports of large amounts of complaints related to the U3 halt.

“You may be already, but we have received a large number of complaints (on social media and directly to FINRA) related to a trade halt that we have issued on Friday.

Some of these communications have included threats related to FINRA in general, as well as to certain of our employees.

Out of an abundance of caution, we are asking our team to work from home tomorrow and the rest of the week, unless there is a particular business need to be in the office,” said FINRA CEO Robert Cook on December 11, 2022.

The fact is that the aftermath left many real people with nothing.

Investors had their retirement and savings funds in MMTLP, only to lose it all without warning from the regulatory bodies who knew this would happen to investors.

#FacesofMMTLP shows us who the investors affected are — everyone has a story.

faces of mmtlp

How Will Regulators Proceed Moving Forward?

John Brda said this is not something regulators will be able to sweep under the carpet, the proof is all there.

The question now is how will regulators proceed moving forward?

Investors are disheartened to learn that regulators were aware of the manipulation of MMTLP for over a year and took no action to correct it.

Now investors are encouraging FINRA employees to blow the whistle and come forward.

FINRA whistleblower

“What’s interesting is that we’re going to find out one way or another, whether we have to do it through the court system or whether congress is going to effectuate change in a way that they can.

We’re going to find out, we’re not gonna stop in this effort so, we have what we believe are, if we end up filing suit in that manner, we have what we believe are basically bulletproof items that will survive motion to dismiss, and then the discovery process starts.

And then discovery is a wide-open door for us to understand actually who all the bad actors are, you know broker dealers involved, market makers, hedge funds, FINRA, DTCC, everybody; everybody’s gonna get subpoenaed for their information.

So, no I don’t believe it’s gonna go away and no I don’t believe it’s gonna be swept under the rug.

We’re hitting this from both angles, through congress and through the court system and we’re not going away — it’s just not gonna happen”, said John Brda.

MMTLP Activism Today

The MMTLP community has reached out to the Oversight Committee, sent out letters to congress, and have demanded FINRA to release the blue sheets and give investors their two trading days back.

The Oversight Committee made it known to investors that they were aware of the events that occurred with MMTLP.

These transcripts now reveal big MMTLP fraud investigations have been taking place.

It’s only a matter of time before investigations shed more light on the situation.

This is a developing story – be sure to join the newsletter below for more updates.

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Market News Today - Transcripts Now Reveal Big MMTLP Fraud Investigations.
Market News Today – Transcripts Now Reveal Big MMTLP Fraud Investigations.

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MMTLP Injustice Is Now Spreading Like Wildfire

Market News Daily - MMTLP Injustice Is Now Spreading Like Wildfire.
Market News Daily – MMTLP Injustice Is Now Spreading Like Wildfire.

The MMTLP injustice is now being heard worldwide.

What started as an injustice that only investors affected felt, is now growing into a global activist movement to hold regulators and Wall Street culprits accountable.

Many powers are now getting involved after the retail community has reached out to several branches in government, including Congress, the FBI, and the Oversight Committee, with evidence of fraud in MMTLP.

The story expands beyond MMTLP as fraud within the financial system is experienced through a variety of companies and stock tickers every day.

And now larger investigations are going out as the MMTLP story gets picked up by larger media and news platforms.

FOX Business has spoken with a community member and has received the FOIA documents detailing FINRA and the SEC were aware of the fraud occurring in MMTLP prior to the U3 halt.

James O’Keef, founder of Project Veritas, has also reached out to the community requesting more information on the events.

Investors have also given Charles Payne the latest news and updates in efforts to expand the story’s reach.

This is a big step forward for MMTLP investors and the retail community as an entirety.

Brief Overview of What’s Happened with MMTLP

Investors who held shares of MMTLP stock on the record date of December 12 were going to receive a preferred dividend of Next Bridge Hydrocarbon on Wednesday, December the 14th.

However, MMTLP stock stopped trading on Thursday, December 8 after FINRA delisted the security without notice or warning.

It’s been more than 100 days since investors’ money was frozen and now inaccessible since the delisting of MMTLP.

Transcripts between FINRA and the SEC revealed that regulators were aware of fraud happening in MMTLP at least a year prior to the U3 halt.

There were investigations happening behind the scenes, yet FINRA failed to warn shareholders of what was about to occur.

Now the retail community is calling for the resignation of FINRA CEO Robert W. Cook.

Nearly 6,000 investors have signed the petition at the time of this publication.

There’s also an action pending in Federal Court in the state of California.

Full details and the latest updates coming very soon.

Latest MMTLP News and Updates

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Market News Today - MMTLP Injustice Is Now Spreading Like Wildfire.
Market News Today – MMTLP Injustice Is Now Spreading Like Wildfire.

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