The U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission filed parallel lawsuits against eight social media influencers, alleging they engaged in a pump-and-dump stock manipulation scheme that fleeced their followers out of $100 million.
The SEC announced fraud charges on Wednesday against seven self-proclaimed “FinTwit” financial gurus on Twitter: Perry Matlock a/k/a “PJ Matlock;” Edward Constantin a/k/a “Edward Constantinescu” and “MrZackMorris;” Thomas Cooperman a/k/a “Tommy Coops;” Gary Deel a/k/a “Mystic Mac;” Mitchell Hennessey a/k/a “Hugh Henne;” Stefan Hrvatin a/k/a “LadeBackk;” and John Rybarcyzk a/k/a “Ultra Calls,” a/k/a “The Stock Sniper.”
The agency said the influencers violated securities laws by secretly dumping exchange-traded stocks that they had earlier promoted to their followers on Twitter and Discord.
Another defendant named in the SEC’s action, podcaster Daniel Knight a/k/a “Deity of Dips,” was charged with aiding and abetting the alleged scheme. Knight, the co-host of a popular podcast, used the program to promote many of his co-defendants and profited off of their alleged fraud, the agency said.
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