Although obviously intended to reassure shareholders traumatized by last week's manipulations, I hope that it was a wise decision from a legal standpoint. Venable would have vetted the press release but I'm concerned that the subliminal message was to reassure panicked sellers and I'm not sure how that plays with the spirit of the '34 Act which strictly scrutinizes any communication that would tend to make an investor buy, sell, or hold a security.
I am not a securities lawyer, but if I were Venable I would have told the EC not to worry about shareholder panic (we've been panicked before and WAMUQ has been as low as $.015), but to consider the benefits of issuing such a release balanced against the chance the SEC could complain.
As a practical matter the SEC has done nothing in connection about the flagrant manipulation of WMI issues, so it should not matter. My guess is the EC was very upset that Venable didn't see last Friday coming and maybe Venable acquiesced to mollify the EC.
The EC is incensed and frustrated by the constraints of exclusivity (i.e., only WMI can propose a plan and has 60 days from 3/26 to get it confirmed). Unless there's an emergency hearing on the proposed shareholder meeting request, the EC will be able to influence nothing in the debtors' first plan draft. It's my belief that a shareholders' meeting will be permitted, and I'm wondering why we haven't heard more of this as I would think Venable would be pressing for an expedited hearing on this matter