FINRA Must Respond to MMTLP Lawsuit by May 19

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Meta Materials Preferred Shares, or MMTLP stock, has been left in limbo since the U3 halt imposed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) on Dec. 9. On the bright side, shareholders should expect to hear some answers soon. In April, a shareholder filed a petition for pre-action disclosure against FINRA, asking the regulatory organization for blue sheet information related to the trading of MMTLP stock and Meta Materials (NASDAQ:MMAT) stock.

Blue sheet information contains data such as trading records and account holder information. The petitioner believes that receipt of this data could lead to evidence of “stock spoofing, naked short selling, market manipulation, and fraud” in MMTLP and MMAT.

Per the court document:

“The information Petitioner seeks is readily available to Respondent, and would impose essentially no burden on Respondent. Indeed, Respondent only needs to check its records for the Blue Sheets on MMAT and MMTLP, and turn the relevant information over to Petitioner’s legal counsel.”

FINRA Must Respond to MMTLP Lawsuit by May 19

FINRA has previously acknowledged that it possesses the blue sheet information from “unknown and unidentified brokers securities transactions in MMAT and MMTLP.” As a result, all the agency has to do to satisfy the petition is to turn over the information.

May 19 is a key date, as that is the deadline for FINRA to file its opposition to the petition. According to Civil Law Self-Help Center:

“If a motion is filed against you and you do not file a written opposition with the court, the judge could grant the other side’s motion automatically. That means the other side could get whatever she is asking for in the motion. It also might mean you lose the case, depending on the motion that was filed.”

FINRA will also have until May 26 to file a “reply, if any.” On May 30, FINRA is also scheduled to make an appearance at the New York County courthouse. On that date, FINRA will show cause as to why it should not release the blue sheet data.

According to the court documents, more than 65,000 shareholders have been affected by the events related to MMTLP stock. Many of these shareholders also believe that MMTLP was unjustly halted in order to protect short sellers from selling their positions.

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On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.

Eddie Pan specializes in institutional investments and insider activity. He writes for InvestorPlace’s Today’s Market team, which centers on the latest news involving popular stocks.

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