The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced it has filed charges against an individual who operated a $10M market manipulation scheme for several years. The report states that James David O’Brien ran the scheme using several trading accounts at different brokerage firms.
O’Brien opened the trading accounts using his name and his wife’s names. The scheme ran for around five years between 2015 and 2021.
Individual made over $9.6M in profits
The press release stated that the individual made more than 9.6 million from the fraudulent operations. Moreover, the SEC states that he ran the scheme by buying low stock and selling them at artificially high prices.
“Specifically, the complaint alleges that O’Brien accumulated larger stock positions in one or more “winner” accounts at one brokerage firm, while at or around the same time placing smaller orders in the same securities on the opposite side of the market in one or more “helper” accounts at a different brokerage firm,” the press release states.
The authorities involved in this case stated that he carried out more than 18,000 trades during the entire operation. Three-quarters of the trade resulted in major net profits.
O’Brien was charged in a Manhattan court for operating this scheme, and the charges state that he was in violation of the SEC Act of 1934. The individual in question is facing civil penalties and a permanent injunction relief following the case.
SEC’s vigilance in battling similar schemes
This is not the first time that the SEC charges individuals running similar schemes in recent weeks. Recently, the regulator charged Sergei Polevikov, a former Quantitative analyst, was charged by the commission for running a similar scheme.
Under this scheme, Polevikov operated “two prominent asset management firms,” and this scheme led to profits of around $8.5 million. The individual ran the scheme from 2014 to 2019 and gained access to his employer’s securities orders and trades with the intention of trading for his own scheme.
According to the court charges, the individual made around 3000 stock trades similar to what the employers were trading, which led to him making the profits illegally.
