Topical online commentary from someone who appears to have some legal training:
Actually I was not implying what the Hedge funds were doing was legal - it is just far more likely the SEC will go after the small investors using Reddit, because they have posted the details of their conspiracy online. Prosecutors tend to go after the low hanging fruit - where the targets have made the evidence available, do not have the resources to mount a defense, and will likely plead guilty. That is how the US justice system works - prosecutors indict the people most likely to plead guilty because they do not have the money to hire expensive attorneys (hat is how all DAs and other government prosecutors get a 98% conviction rate - they simply do not go after anyone who can defend themselves). Alternatively, private civil attorneys tend to go after large well funded corporations because they can pay settlements. It all ends up being about money and who has it. If you are vunerable you are far more likely ending up as a target of criminal or civil prosecution by government than the executive of a large corporation that has big law firms and deep pockets. Whether or not the SEC goes after the small investors will depend far more on how much money they make, then on the letter of the law. If they end up losing money - they will very likely get a pass, if they actually make a lot of money - they will become a prime target. I know that sounds backwards, but it is the reality of the justice system - the little guys have the money to pay fines, but not defend.
Oh and by the way - there is no sush thing as a class action defense. Class action suits are civil suits brought by plantiffs. Defenses from a single law firm will depend on whether the firm sees some form of conflict of interest in defending multiple clients - this is why almost all conspiracy charges that involve multiple accused end up with everyone having their own lawyer.
I think you need to look up the definition of conspiracy in federal statutes. If a group gets to gether and discusses some illegal action (such as market manipulation) and then that action is actually taken and ends up being an illegal action - all the members of the discussion are potentially guilty of conspiracy for the actual illegal action - even if they did not do anything further to implement the illegal activity. Conspiracy is the legal basis for almost all federal prosecutions. Just like when a group gets together and discusses moving drugs across the border, but only one of the folks actually carries out the action - everyone in the original discussion can be prosecuted under conspiracy charges. See 18 U.S.C. 371 which outlaws conspiracy to commit some other federal crime not covered by specific criminal statues such as drug crimes. This law is intended to create a very wide net for anyone participating in illegal activity even when they take no overt action to further the illegal action. I agree, it is not likely the SEC/Justice will pursue everyone on the Reddit boards, unless they make a lot of money - then the $250,000 to $500,000 applicable fines plus confiscation of all ill gotten goods will start looking very attractive to federal prosecutors.]
So when hedge fund managers get together and make their short sell evaluations and plans, is that conspiracy?
No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe as long as court is in session ~ Mark Twain, paraphrased...
-——Class action suits are civil suits brought by plantiffs.——
Class action civil suits are brought by whore monger lawyers that develop the action and then seek clients. Presently, they get a judgement that produces a big pot of money judgement and they then they go fishing for plaintiffs on Tv. They have run out of plaintiff claimees for the mesothelioma pot with money still there. They are looking for army plaintiffs for the 3M ear plug pot and the weed killer cancer pot.
Such lawyers and all their employees should be drug through the streets until they are pink goo
As I understand it, (and I’m not a lawyer!) If a bunch of guys at the bar are sitting around a table a little bit tipsy and come to the drunken conclusion that Congresscritter Ima Scumm should be shot, and ONE of them goes home and googles Ima Scumm’s address, at that point some action has been taken, moving the whole BS session out of the realm of free speech and firmly into the realm of conspiracy.
In the eyes of the law, that makes everyone at the table a co-conspirator.
Even if Congresscritter Scumm was never, and never actually would be, in any danger from a bunch guys letting off steam in a bar.
Perhaps someone can reaffirm this take or set me straight? Wait. I’m already straight...
> “If a group gets to gether and discusses some illegal action (such as market manipulation) ...”
Getting together to buy a stock is a long held practice of investment clubs. Whoever wrote this garbage is proposing assault under color of law.
What is ‘market manipulation’?
“Market manipulation is a type of market abuse where there is a deliberate attempt to interfere with the free and fair operation of the market; the most blatant of cases involve creating false or misleading appearances with respect to the price of, or market for, a product, security or commodity.”
WSB is NOT interfering in the free and fair operation of any market operation.