> Bribing politicians to try and force a stock to collapse is market manipulation and is illegal. I really don't want to get into a flame war, but can you plea

> Bribing politicians to try and force a stock to collapse is market manipulation and is illegal. I really don't want to get into a flame war, but can you please explain where you got the impression that politicians were bribed by Ackman? Lobbying != Bribing. > If I were to open a betting pool in vegas on what hedge funds were going to be shut down and the partners put in prison, and then bribed the SEC to investigate to make sure I win am I in the wrong? Firstly I'm not really sure whether you are being serious, because the SEC isn't an organization that you can just "BRIBE". I'm not talking about the past but the current day, and nothing remotely suggests that you can bribe the SEC. Believe me with the amount of money at play, bad actors in the SEC would be soon found out. Besides it is more lucrative for lawyers/accountants of the SEC to join the dark side (corporate law & accounting firms) instead of accepting bribes while at the SEC. You have the right to state / make your complaints to the SEC (with evidence) and it is up to them to investigate whatever they deem investigation worthy. Also, I feel that that talking about Wendy's or attacking Ackman's profession adds nothing to this discussion. Dumping stock is quite similar to early engineers of a IPO'ed startup cashing out. That is what you (mostly) do when you want to capture the upside of your position; you close it down when the upside is still there.