The seven charged with securities fraud were also charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud by the DOJ. Authorities alleged the defendants used the social media platforms to manipulate exchange-traded stocks in a scheme going back to at least January 2020. Through widely followed Twitter accounts and stock trading chatrooms on Discord, these defendants allegedly “promoted themselves as successful traders,” according to an SEC press release, and encouraged followers to buy stocks that they also purchased.
But they did not disclose to their followers while promoting those stocks that they planned to sell shares once prices or trading volumes rose, the DOJ and SEC alleged. The influencers gained a profit by pumping the stock prices and then selling once they rose, earning about $100 million in total.
------------------ Let's go Brandon!
randye
DEC 14, 06:36 PM
Moral of the story: Nobody is allowed to play the pump & dump game unless they're a member of "the club".
