The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed two litigation releases this week — charging three individuals with running a microcap pump-and-dump scam targeting retail investors, and levying a $15 million penalty on two others who operated an unregistered securities fraud scheme.
County Line Energy Microcap Fraud
On Tuesday this week, the SEC charged Jonathan Farber of New York, Aarif Jamani of British Columbia, Canada and Brian Keasberry of Nevada, with running a microcap fraud scheme.
The scheme allegedly involved the defendants gaining control of the shares of County Line Energy (OTC:CYLC), a small publicly-traded company based in California, and fraudulently created the appearance of active trading in the stock.
“In the first half of 2018, before the defendants allegedly launched their scheme, there was little (and sometimes no) trading in that stock,” the SEC said in Tuesday’s filing.
The SEC alleged Farber and Jamani gained control of County Line, buying and selling stock in accounts they controlled to give the appearance that it was being actively traded. They then promoted ...