New York A.G. Targets Short-Sellers
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is launching a probe into short selling in the financial market, which many have blamed for steep stock losses at
Morgan Stanley
(MS) - Get Report
and
Goldman Sachs
(GS) - Get Report
this week, he said Thursday.
Cuomo said in a conference call that while short-selling is legal, his office had received complaints about false rumors being spread -- which is not. He said the
Securities and Exchange Commission's
ban on
does not go far enough, advocating a ban on short-selling of financial stocks altogether during the crisis.
The U.K.'s top financial regulator on Thursday did issue a temporary ban on shorting financial stocks, which will run through Jan. 16.
Cuomo also said he would look into possible illegal short-selling that may have played a part in
Lehman Brothers'
and
American International Group's
(AIG) - Get Report
collapses this week.
(LEH)
filed for bankruptcy Monday, while
(AIG) - Get Report
agreed to a
Federal Reserve
-led bailout.
This article was written by a staff member of TheStreet.com.
