SD Rep. Auch, who sponsored the bill and worked to educate legislators about it, said powerful forces worked behind the scenes to stop the effort to protect investors and their property rights.

The scheme Rep. Auch was seeking to address is known as "The Great Taking." It was exposed by former investment banker David Webb. Through changes quietly made to the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) in the 1990s, shareholders and security holders were stripped of their property rights over their securities. And now, those assets have been used as collateral for the colossal derivatives complex.