Security News > 2022 > August > SEC says brokerage accounts hijacked for $1.3m pump-and-dump scam

America's financial watchdog has accused 18 individuals and shell companies of using compromised brokerage accounts to manipulate stock prices to rake in $1.3 million in illicit profits.

According to the SEC complaint, fraudsters in the US, Canada, and the Dominican Republican broke into at least 31 American-owned retail brokerage accounts in late 2017 and early 2018.

They then used the compromised accounts to make large purchases of Lotus Bio-Technology Development and Good Gaming stock, which artificially inflated the trading price and volume of those stocks, the SEC alleged.

In addition to the hacking and price manipulation, some of the scammers also allegedly tried to hide their ownership of Lotus Bio-Tech and Good Gaming shared by, among other things, using offshore accounts and not filing beneficial ownership reports with the SEC, as required by law, the court was told.

"Our complaint details a brazen and sophisticated scheme, with hackers using international accounts and dummy account holders to hide their tracks," said Nekia Hackworth Jones, director of the SEC's Atlanta regional office, in a statement.

Robert Seeley, 48, is a British citizen who lives in the Dominican Republic and worked with the Smiths as an authorized signatory on some H.E. Capital and POP brokerage accounts.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/08/16/sec_hacking_fraud_charges/