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Beware of “Pump and Dump” Stock Fraud

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A market manipulation stock scheme known as “pump and dump” creates artificial buying pressure for a targeted security. According to the FBI, the fraud perpetrators generally target a low-trading volume issuer in the over-the-counter (OTC) securities market.

This artificially increased trading volume has the effect of artificially increasing the price of the targeted security (i.e., the “pump”), which is rapidly sold off into the inflated market for the security by the fraud perpetrators (i.e., the “dump”); resulting in illicit gains to the perpetrators and losses to innocent third party investors.

Typically, the increased trading volume is generated by inducing unwitting investors to purchase shares of the targeted security through false or deceptive sales practices and/or public information releases.

A modern variation on this scheme involves largely foreign-based computer criminals gaining unauthorized access to the online brokerage accounts of unsuspecting victims in the U.S. These victim accounts are then utilized to engage in coordinated online purchases of the targeted security to affect the pump portion of a manipulation, while the fraud perpetrators sell their pre-existing holdings in the targeted security into the inflated market to complete the dump.

Tips for Avoiding Market Manipulation Fraud:

  • Don’t believe the hype
  • Find out where the stock trades
  • Independently verify claims
  • Research the opportunity
  • Beware of high-pressure pitches
  • Always be skeptical

Fort Lauderdale Securities Litigation and Arbitration Attorney

Contact Fort Lauderdale securities litigation and arbitration attorney Howard N. Kahn, Esq. if you or someone you know has a securities or broker dispute. He is an experienced securities litigation and arbitration attorney, and is available to assist individual investors, brokers, and brokerage firms involved in securities matters. You can reach him at 954-321-0176 or online.

SEC Suspends Trading in 379 Microcap Shell Companies

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Hijacking by securities fraudsters who scam investors through reverse mergers or pump-and-dump schemes was the reason given by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in an unusual one-day move to suspend tradingin the securities of 379 dormant companies.

The trading suspension marks the most companies ever suspended in a single day by the agency as it ramps up its crackdown against fraud involving microcap shell companies that are dormant and delinquent in their public disclosures.

Microcap companies typically have limited assets and low-priced stock that trades in low volumes. An initiative tabbed Operation Shell-Expel by the SEC’s Microcap Fraud Working Group utilized various agency resources including the enhanced intelligence technology of the Enforcement Division’s Office of Market Intelligence to scrutinize microcap stocks in the markets nationwide and identify clearly dormant shell companies in 32 states and six foreign countries that were ripe for potential fraud.

“Empty shell companies are to stock manipulators and pump-and-dump schemers what guns are to bank robbers — the tools by which they ply their illegal trade,” said Robert Khuzami, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “This massive trading suspension unmasks these empty shell companies and deprives unscrupulous scam artists of the opportunity to profit at the expense of unsuspecting retail investors.”

Thomas Sporkin, Director of the SEC’s Office of Market Intelligence, added, “It’s critical to assess risks to investors in the capital markets and, through strategic planning, develop ways to neutralize them. We were able to conduct a detailed review of the microcap issuers quoted in the over-the-counter market and cull out these high-risk shell companies.”

The SEC’s previously largest trading suspension was an order in September 2005 that involved 39 companies. The federal securities laws allow the SEC to suspend trading in any stock for up to 10 business days. Subject to certain exceptions and exemptions, once a company is suspended from trading, it cannot be quoted again until it provides updated information including accurate financial statements.

Pump-and-dump schemes are among the most common types of fraud involving microcap companies. Perpetrators will tout a thinly-traded microcap stock through false and misleading statements about the company to the marketplace. After purchasing low and pumping the stock price higher by creating the appearance of market activity, they dump the stock to make huge profits by selling it into the market at the higher price.

The existence of empty shell companies can be a financial boon to stock manipulators who will pay as much as $750,000 to assume control of the company in order to pump and dump the stock for illegal proceeds to the detriment of investors. But with this trading suspension’s obligation to provide updated financial information, these shell companies have been rendered essentially worthless and useless to scam artists.

Click on the link for the full list of 379 dormant microcap shell stocks subject to the SEC’s trading suspension.

Florida Securities Litigation and FINRA Arbitration

Contact Fort Lauderdale securities litigation attorney Howard N. Kahn, Esq. if you or someone you know has a securities dispute. In addition to being an experienced securities litigation attorney, Mr. Kahn also serves as a FINRA arbitrator for individual investors, brokers, and brokerage firms. You can reach him at 954-321-0176 or online.

Yitzchak Zigdon Settles SEC Charges in CO2 Tech Pump-and-Dump Scheme

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Yitzchak Zigdon is one of several defendants named in a 2011 SEC complaint relating to a $7 million alleged fraud scheme to sell CO2 Tech stock at artificially inflated prices.

In the original complaint, the Commission alleged that CO2 Tech Ltd. was a sham company without significant assets or operations whose stock prices were quoted in the Pink Sheets. According to the complaint, among other things, Zigdon provided the paper work necessary to establish the account that was used to dump the shares of CO2 Tech on to the market.

The complaint also stated that Zigdon caused materially false and misleading information about CO2 Tech to be disseminated in press releases and on its website. In particular, the complaint alleged that CO2 Tech falsely touted business relationships that the company had not formed, including a relationship with the Boeing Company when, in fact, there had been no communications, correspondence or understandings between CO2 Tech and Boeing.

On January 23, 2013, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida entered a final judgment by consent against Yitzchak Zigdon in the SEC’s enforcement action against seven defendants concerning the common stock of CO2 Tech Ltd.

The final judgment enjoins Zigdon from future violations of Sections 5(a), 5(c) and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The Court also ordered Zigdon to pay disgorgement of $260,000, prejudgment interest of $74,516 and a civil penalty in the amount of $130,000 for a total of $464,516 in monetary sanctions.

In addition, the Court barred Zigdon from participating in an offering of penny stock. Zigdon consented to the entry of the final judgment without admitting or denying any of the allegations of the Commission’s Complaint.

Fort Lauderdale Securities Litigation and Arbitration Attorney

Contact Fort Lauderdale securities litigation and arbitration attorney Howard N. Kahn, Esq. if you or someone you know has a securities or broker dispute. He is an experienced securities litigation and arbitration attorney, and is available to assist individual investors, brokers, and brokerage firms involved in securities matters. You can reach him at 954-321-0176 or online.