U.S. SEC sues California trader for social media fraud scheme (updated)
15/03/2021 21:48
(Adds details throughout)
WASHINGTON, March 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission said on Monday it has charged a
California-based trader for an alleged fraud scheme in which he
spread false information about a defunct company on Twitter.
Andrew L. Fassari, or @OCMillionaire on Twitter, tweeted
false statements about Arcis Resources Corporation ARCS.PK
during December 2020, shortly after purchasing over 41 million
shares of the stock, the SEC said in a complaint that was
unsealed on Monday.
Fassari's attorney did not immediately respond to requests
for comment.
The trader made approximately 120 tweets from Dec. 9-21 with
false and misleading statements about the stock, causing its
price to surge over 4,000%, the SEC said. Fassari later sold all
his shares between Dec. 10 and 16, booking $929,000 in profits
from the scheme, according to the allegations.
The SEC suspended trading in Arcis on March 2. Since
February, the agency has suspended trading of more than a dozen
securities following volatile trading this year in GameStop Corp
GME.N and other darlings of social media that have seen a
surge in interest from retail investors.
The SEC said it obtained an emergency asset freeze and other
emergency relief against Fassari.
(Reporting by Chris Prentice;
Editing by Chris Reese and Dan Grebler)
((christine.prentice@thomsonreuters.com; +1 (202) 843-6464;))