The real problem however is that Opes' business model, while I don't agree with it (allowing people to go long on margin loans, then lending their stock to shorters to trigger said margin loans), was sound. There was enough equity in the company and client stocks that if margin calls were exercised the company would still be functioning.
The bear market was an impetus for the problems, the root cause however was mismanagement by the CEO and others.
If the company hadn't failed, no matter whether people understood their contracts or not, people would still have their shares.
