Hello Dex Lovers, when there is news from the SEC, it turns out that the SEC is starting to look at Influencers playing around with Stock Investments, does this continue to Crypto Influencers?
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against eight people in a $100 million securities fraud scheme in which they used the social media platforms Twitter and Discord to manipulate exchange-traded stock.
According to the SEC, since at least January 2020, the seven defendants have promoted themselves as successful traders and cultivated hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter and in stock trading chat rooms on Discord. The seven defendants allegedly purchased certain shares and then encouraged their substantial social media followers to purchase those preferred shares by posting price targets or indicating that they were buying, holding, or increasing their share positions.
However, as the complaint alleges, when share prices and/or trading volume increased in the promoted securities, these individuals regularly sold their shares without ever disclosing their plans to dispose of the securities while they were promoting them.
"As stated in our complaint, the defendants used social media to amass a large following of first-time investors and then took advantage of their followers by repeatedly feeding them the wrong food, which resulted in fraudulent profits of approximately $100 million," said Joseph Sansone. , Head of the SEC Enforcement Division's Market Abuse Unit. "Today's action exposes the true motivations of these alleged fraudsters and serves as yet another warning that investors should be wary of the unsolicited advice they encounter online."
The following seven people were charged with securities fraud:
the Twitter handle's country of residence
Perry Matlock Texas @PJ_Matlock
Edward Constantin Texas @MrZackMorris
Thomas Cooperman California @ohheytommy
Gary Deel California @notoriousalerts
Mitchell Hennessey New @Hugh_Henne
Jersey Stefan Hrvatin Florida @LadeBackk
John Rybarcyzk Texas @Ultra_Calls
The complaint further charges Daniel Knight (Twitter Handle @DipDeity), from Texas, for aiding and abetting the alleged scheme, among other things, co-hosting a podcast in which he promotes many other individuals as expert traders and provides them with a forum for manipulative statements they. Knight also traded together with other defendants and regularly made a profit on such manipulations.
The SEC complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas, seeks permanent injunctions, repeal, prejudice interest, and civil penalties against each of the defendants, as well as penny stock bars against Hrvatin. Criminal charges against the eight individuals were also filed in parallel actions filed by the Department of Justice's Fraud Section and US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas.
The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Criminal Fraud Section of the US Department of Justice, the United States Attorney's Office for the District of South Texas, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.