Opes Prime: Collapse Down Under
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis : "The Australian is reporting Opes 'share manipulation' probe. The collapse of stockbroking firm Opes Prime has widened into a full-scale investigation of false accounting and manipulation of six key accounts worth $200 million to help clients to avoid margin calls. It is alleged that Opes staff moved shares between the accounts of clients with margin loans in a 'round robin' fashion. By moving shares, or by changing loan-to-valuation ratios, accounts could be made to look healthier, avoiding margin calls that could have forced the clients to dump shares or inject extra cash."