SEC Continues Fight Against E-Mail Spam

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

09 October 2007

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has continued its assault on stock market e-mail spam by suspending trading in the securities of three companies that haven't provided adequate and accurate information about themselves to the investing public.

The trading suspensions are part of the Commission's Anti-Spam Initiative announced earlier this year, which aims to cut the profit potential for stock-touting spam, and is credited with a significant worldwide reduction of financial spam.

A report recently published by internet security firm, Symantec stated that a 30% decrease in stock market spam "was triggered by actions taken by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which limited the profitability of this type of spam".

SEC Chairman Christopher Cox confirmed that: "The SEC is moving aggressively against stock market spam that has been clogging our e-mail inboxes for too long, because of our aggressive enforcement efforts, there has been a reported 30 percent drop in financial spam, and that means fewer investors are getting ripped off."

Since the March 8, 2007 launch of its Anti-Spam Initiative to combat spam-driven stock market manipulations, the Commission has suspended trading in the securities of 39 companies, and has brought several spam-related enforcement actions.

Mark K. Schonfeld, Director of the Commission's New York Regional Office, announced that: "The trading suspensions exemplify our firm commitment to protecting investors from stock fraud and spam e-mail. Investors are entitled to accurate and adequate information about public companies, and we will take strong action promptly when companies fail to fulfill this obligation."

The trading suspensions will last for 10 business days, terminating at 11:59 p.m. EDT on Oct. 17, 2007.

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