SEC charges taxicab lender Medallion Financial with fraud

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Medallion Financial and its chief operating officer with scheming to fraudulently inflate the stock price of the lender to taxicab medallion buyers, amid competition from ridesharing companies Uber and Lyft.

Shares of Medallion plunged 57% to $3.65 in premarket trading.

According to a complaint filed on Wednesday in Manhattan federal court, Medallion and COO Andrew Murstein paid a California media strategist to place positive stories about Medallion on various websites and create fake identities to make the opinion pieces appear credible to investors.

The SEC said Medallion and Murstein separately and fraudulently inflated the value of the company's banking unit to offset losses from taxicab loans, and that Murstein fired a valuation firm when it refused to vet the scheme.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/sec-charges-taxicab-lender-medallion-financial-with-fraud/ar-AASeXDT

[Budi]

1. BFD this is!

Medallion and COO Andrew Murstein paid a California media strategist to place positive stories about Medallion on various websites and create fake identities to make the opinion pieces appear credible to investors.

This is a story that goes back a ways. I 1st read of it in the early Trump campaign days.

Wonder who the CA media strategist was.
Do they have Silicon Valley ties?
Just curious.

[brush]

2. Sad. NYC cab medallions used to worth a small fortune and owners...

depended on them for retirement someday. Can't stop progress though as uber and lyft have knocked the bottom out from under those investments.

Any idea what medallions are worth now compared to 15-20 years ago?