James Alan Craig, of Dunragit, Scotland, allegedly made up Twitter accounts to replicate that of "well-known securities research firms," according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Then he made up information about stocks in order to manipulate their prices, said a complaint the regulator filed against the man in California.
In 2013, Craig allegedly used faked twitter profiles "that he deceptively created to look like" other known research firms' accounts to send tweets saying Sarepta Therapeutics was under investigation.
The company's stock price plummeted by 16% before recovering, the SEC said.
Additionally, also in 2013, the man allegedly did the same about Audience, which provides technology to smartphone makers. In that case, the company's share price dropped and trading in the stock was halted.
“As alleged in our complaint, Craig’s fraudulent tweets disrupted the markets for two public companies and caused significant financial losses for their investors,” said Jina L. Choi, Director of the SEC’s San Francisco Regional Office, via a statement.
“Craig also said in later tweets that the SEC would have a hard time catching the perpetrator. As today’s enforcement action demonstrates, those tweets turned out to be false as well.”
Be careful who you follow, guys.
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