U.S. authorities charge 8 social media influencers in securities fraud scheme

[jgo]

Source: Reuters

U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday said they have charged eight individuals in a securities fraud scheme, alleging they reaped about $114 million from by using Twitter and Discord to manipulate stocks.

The eight men allegedly purported to be successful traders on the social media platforms and then engaged in a so-called "pump and dump" scheme by hyping particular stocks to their followers with the intent to dump them once prices had risen, according to prosecutors in the Southern District of Texas.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-sec-charges-8-influencers-100-mln-stock-fraud-scheme-2022-12-14/

[Eugene]

1. From the SEC...

SEC Charges Eight Social Media Influencers in $100 Million Stock Manipulation Scheme Promoted on Discord and Twitter (Securities and Exchange Commission)

"As our complaint states, the defendants used social media to amass a large following of novice investors and then took advantage of their followers by repeatedly feeding them a steady diet of misinformation, which resulted in fraudulent profits of approximately $100 million," said Joseph Sansone, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Market Abuse Unit. "Today’s action exposes the true motivation of these alleged fraudsters and serves as another warning that investors should be wary of unsolicited advice they encounter online."

-snip-

The complaint further charges Daniel Knight (Twitter Handle @DipDeity), of Texas, with aiding and abetting the alleged scheme by, among other things, co-hosting a podcast in which he promoted many of the other individuals as expert traders and provided them with a forum for their manipulative statements. Knight also traded in concert with the other defendants and regularly generated profits from the manipulation.

The SEC's complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, seeks permanent injunctions, disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties against each defendant, as well as a penny stock bar against Hrvatin. Criminal charges against all eight individuals also were filed in a parallel action brought by the Department of Justice’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.

https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2022-221

[Ford_Prefect]

2. Big fans of Eloon, no doubt.

[FredGarvin]

3. Meanwhile...everyone on MSM TeeVee Financial shows do the exact same thing

CNBC, Fox Business Channel all do the exact same thing.

Pump stocks and manipulate markets.

[calimary]

4. Something to do with proverbial rapid birth rates and gullible people.

[FredGarvin]

7. Back in the 2007/2008 timeframe CNBC was planting rumors to jack the markets

Many were false. But there were billions won and lost on their reporting.

The SEC was nowhere to be found

[CloudWatcher]

6. Jim Cramer?

Indeed. Wake me up when Cramer is arrested. For context, he famously bragged about manipulating Apple stock and was never charged.

[FredGarvin]

9. CNBC and FOX Business sucker millions of their watchers out of billions

On a daily basis.

The CNBC pump-job of financial stocks during the 07/08 meltdown is legendary.

Just buy....

And, its gone!

[ProfessorGAC]

12. While I Loathe Him Too...

...his statements about Apple stock were BS.
The fine he paid to the SEC were about false statements in promoting his financial advice.
He bragged about manipulating APL, but what he did was a 1" diameter ripple in the Pacific.
It's more about him being a braggart & liar than a securities manipulator.
I think he's a complete fake.

[oldsoftie]

8. People on those channels dont recommend penny stocks.

They also have to disclose if they, their families or their companies own the stock.
These people arrested, and TONS of others like them, will usually push stocks that are a nickel & ditch them when they get to .40.
Short traders do even worse; they'll take a short position & THEN announce that the stock is "Over bought"; which starts selling off & then stop-losses kick in; dropping the price even MORE; and THEN they cover their shorts
Institutional short selling & short selling of low volume stocks should be OUTLAWED.

[FredGarvin]

11. Next time a stock unexpectantly tanks on earnings

Take a look at the consensus listings of major "investment firms" projections.
Almost always a buy.

Really bad advice. And of course the firms get a payout for their glowing reviews.

[Rebl2]

16. Yep they

do and don’t understand why they get away with it.

[Permanut]

5. I'm glad I didn't get caught in that scam..

All my money is safely invested in Bitcoin

[yankee87]

10. Lol

Thanks for the laugh

[ProfessorGAC]

13. Whew!

You dodged a bullet by jumping onto the train tracks. You're so fortunate!

[PSPS]

14. Gamestop

[RussBLib]

15. Scams everywhere

I imagine the US must lead the world in scams and scammers.

USA!! USA!!