WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged a man with orchestrating a scheme to manipulate trading in at least 97 microcap stocks, according to a statement released by the SEC on Wednesday.
The microcap stock, known as penny stock, applies to companies with a market capitalization of less than 250 million or 300 million U.S. dollars, according to the SEC.
The SEC alleged that Eric Landis, a resident of Charlottesville, Virginia, placed thousands of manipulative trades over three years.
The SEC also accused Landis of trading thousands of microcap shares himself in the name of an entity that he controlled and several third parties, in order to generate trading volume and create a fake impression that he was successful in his business.
Additionally, according to the SEC, Landis claimed that tens of thousands of subscribers would receive his promotional materials for the stocks via email lists. However, such lists were faked as well.
The SEC said Landis and the entity he controlled violated the antifraud and market manipulation provisions of the federal securities laws.
"Microcap investors should know that sometimes market volume in a particular stock can be driven by a single fraudulent actor, as alleged here," said Paul Levenson, Director of the SEC's Boston Regional Office.
"Our thorough analysis allowed us to detect thousands of manipulative trades by Landis," said Levenson.
According to the SEC, Landis was previously convicted of criminal charges based on his role in a prior market manipulation scheme.
