Australia's corporate regulator secures guilty pleas in stock manipulation case
SYDNEY: Four people have pleaded guilty to criminal charges in a local Australian court for their roles in a coordinated scheme to pump up stock prices before dumping them, the country's corporate regulator said on Tuesday.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) had charged Larissa Quinlan, Kurt Stuart, Emma Summer and Syed Yusuf in July last year for their involvement in a conspiracy to commit market rigging.
The four individuals planned which low-value or penny stocks they would promote in public groups called the "ASX Pump and Dump Group" and the "ASX Pump and Dump Channel" on the messaging app Telegram, ASIC said.
Over three weeks in September 2021, the group made nine such posts. Before posting, they bought the chosen stocks, hoping the publicity would push their prices up and then sold those shares for a profit once the stock price rose.
"ASIC takes breaches of the market manipulation rules very seriously and as demonstrated in this matter, we will not hesitate to take enforcement action where appropriate," ASIC Chair Joe Longo said in a statement, welcoming the guilty verdict.
The individuals face a maximum penalty of 15 years' imprisonment and a fine of more than A$1 million (US$651,300) for the conspiracy offence.
The matters will be heard in the Sydney District Court in July to obtain a date for a sentence hearing, the ASIC said.
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