Ann: Becoming a substantial holder, page-46

"buying the same shares being shorted and then lending out those same shares once "owned" by a different entity?
then do it all again."

Interesting point. Without controls there is no limit to how many times a share may loop back to the market via lending and short selling. The proportion of reported shorted WBT shares is currently running at about 6%. So how many of these are already on their second time around? third time?

How long can these positions remain open? What happens if someone goes bust? Is there an indemnity fund? Or could innocent retail buyers suddenly find themselves out of pocket when their shares are returned to the original lender? If so, anyone who buys shares could be exposed to this risk for months, perhaps years, before all the short positions in the chain have been closed out. If you think about it, in many cases it would be impossible to unscramble the egg anyway, so the only realistic solution is to place the onus on the lenders, to shoulder any losses when a short seller defaults.

Perhaps someone with expertise on the subject could help us out here. Cheers.

All IMO.