The SEC’s ban on short selling the 799 listed financial firms has not been as affective as they intended it to be.  It may be illegal to sell short those firms, but it is certainly not illegal to sell them outright.  And that is exactly what the institutions holding those shares did since the ban went into place.  Marketwatch reported that since the ban took place, those 799 listed stocks were down an average of 5.5%.  Much bigger losses were seen from Wachovia, down 87% and Washington Mutual, essentially insolvent and dead.