Posted by Lee Luu.
A federal grand jury indicted a man from Scotland for securities fraud after prosecutors said he manipulated stock prices using the social media application Twitter. James Alan Craig set up fake Twitter accounts in 2013 associated with real market research firms. Craig sent out false Tweets that would make the companies’ stock prices decrease, according to prosecutors. This would affect the shareholders on their purchase of stocks. After this atrocity, he would then buy the companies’ down-trending stock to make a profit when the stocks regained. According to prosecutors, shareholders’ stocks lost more than $1.6 million due to Craig’s illegal act.
The article quotes “This investigation dismantled a stock market manipulation scheme that operated with one goal in mind — to falsely defame a company in order to destroy its stock value for financial gain,” FBI Special Agent in Charge David Johnson said in a statement. Destroying a stock value for financial gain is unethical for it is detrimental to businesses. James Allen Craig committed a security fraud which meant inflating the price of stocks by brokers so that buyers can purchase a stock on the rise. Making profit from this was Craig’s only desire. He was accused of using his girlfriend’s online stock broker account to buy the stocks and sell them for a higher price.
Lee is finance major at the Feliciano School of Business, Montclair State University, Class of 2018.