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8 influencers indicted for conspiracy to commit securities fraud
Washington Times ^ | 15 Dec 2022 | Brad Matthews

Posted on 12/17/2022 2:06:50 AM PST by blueplum

A federal grand jury indicted seven Twitter users and a podcaster Wednesday on behalf of the Securities and Exchange Commission, charging the eight men with conspiracy to commit securities fraud.

The eight influencers are alleged to have used their presence on social media platforms Discord and Twitter to run a “pump and dump” scheme from at least January 2020 to April 2022. So-called meme stocks mentioned by their accounts included GameStop and AMC...

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: amc; conspiracies; discord; gamestop; influencers; pumpanddump; stocks
the indicted are named in the article

There's a 3-part series on Netflix called 'Eat The Rich, The Gamestop Saga'. Screen names Roaring Kitty' (id'd as Keith Gill) and "DeepF...ingValue' are mentioned prominently in the Netflix series but I don't see them on the list of the indicted

1 posted on 12/17/2022 2:06:50 AM PST by blueplum
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To: blueplum

Punishment for interfering with a predatory hedge fund and costing them billions. The deep state in action.


2 posted on 12/17/2022 2:41:02 AM PST by DesertRhino (Dogs are called man's best friend. Moslems hate dogs. Add it up..)
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To: DesertRhino

Google and Facebook and Twitter have committed massive stock fraud. Claiming users that did not exist so the stock value would increase.


3 posted on 12/17/2022 2:44:29 AM PST by minnesota_bound (Need more money to buy everything now)
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To: DesertRhino

That’s exactly what it is. The influencers in question found a way to punish the predatory hedge funds and the hedge funds are now striking back.


4 posted on 12/17/2022 2:46:11 AM PST by Jonty30 (You can't spell liberal without the a-hole. )
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To: blueplum

About the “gamestop”……

I might be wrong, but I don’t think the guys participating in the “gamestop” did anything illegal on their end. Here is how I understand it worked.

Some hedge fund managers make billions of dollars by gaming the system with short sells. When you sell short you borrow stocks from a broker for a fee. You have to return those stocks within a month. You take those stocks that you BORROWED AND SELL THEM ON THE MARKET.
Let’s say they sell for $100 per share. You are BETTING THAT IN THAT MONTH they will drop to $50 per share. YOU BUY THEM BACK AT $50 per share and keep the $50 profit, RETURN THE STOCKS TO THE BROKER MINUS A FEE... You made $40 (just an estimate) per share.
The problem for the highly leveraged short sellers is that they MUST RETURN THE STOCK SO THEY HAVE TO BUY THE STOCK BACK AT THE END OF THE MONTH SO IF THE STOCK GOES UP... the hedge fund guys loose.

The problem is the brokerage house only pretends to have the stock in inventory to “loan” the short seller. It is fraud all the way around.
But this time, some very smart trolls in mom‘s basement gamed the system by buying and holding their stock and not selling and causing the stock to keep going up and up….. just small buyers, but a LOT of them…… and hedge fund managers lost billions and hopefully are learning a deserved lesson about their illegal manipulations of the market.


5 posted on 12/17/2022 2:57:08 AM PST by Apple Pan Dowdy (... as American as Apple Pie)
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To: blueplum
The charges against these guys are less serious than what Nancy and Paul Pelosi have been doing for decades.
6 posted on 12/17/2022 3:05:00 AM PST by liberalh8ter (The only difference between flash mob 'urban yutes' and U.S. politicians is the hoodies.)
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To: DesertRhino

This is crazy =>

“If convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison on the conspiracy charge, as well as for each security fraud charge.”


7 posted on 12/17/2022 3:14:00 AM PST by Ken H (Trump /DeSantis)
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To: Apple Pan Dowdy

A good summation. My grandson is one of those AMC stockholders. He’s loving this.


8 posted on 12/17/2022 3:20:45 AM PST by ComputerGuy (Heavily-medicated for your protection)
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To: Jonty30; DesertRhino

Don’t mess with their money.


9 posted on 12/17/2022 3:23:34 AM PST by JonPreston
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To: blueplum

Throw the book at these perps!!!


10 posted on 12/17/2022 4:12:57 AM PST by Anti-Bubba182
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To: blueplum

Not sure “Pump and Dump” is a crime unless money is taken on promises not kept.

As for “ conspiracy to commit securities fraud”, this is unclear. If someone “thinks it”, is that a crime?

In the past, I have seen thousands of pumpers and dumpers related to stock trading. Like a used car salesman, they should be ignored.

But arrested? What am I missing?


11 posted on 12/17/2022 5:23:34 AM PST by Hostage (Article V)
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To: Hostage

“Not sure “Pump and Dump” is a crime unless money is taken on promises not kept.”

exactly ... without direct participation financially, those “influencers” are simply exercising their rights to free speech ... no different than buy/sell/hold opinions issued ad nauseam by “analysts” ...


12 posted on 12/17/2022 5:44:38 AM PST by catnipman (In a post-covid world, ALL "science" is now political science: stolen elections have consequences)
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To: Hostage

It’s apparently okay for investment houses to use HFT and supercomputers to put in bids, then remove to check pricing, and buy/sell tons in fractions of a second, but these guys are criminals…

https://www.cfainstitute.org/en/advocacy/issues/high-frequency-trading#sort=%40pubbrowsedate%20descending


13 posted on 12/17/2022 6:48:28 AM PST by EEGator
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To: catnipman; EEGator; All

It’s almost as if this current news character Sam Bank-Fiend, whatever, has caught some govt desk-jockey SEC lawyers with their pants down.

So by golly, time to go round up some pumper-dumpers and anyone ‘thinking’ to do something squirrely. SEC gotta look like they’re doing stuff.

Meanwhile, Wall Street is a rigged casino.


14 posted on 12/17/2022 9:31:16 AM PST by Hostage (Article V)
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To: Hostage

It’s insane.


15 posted on 12/17/2022 9:41:13 AM PST by EEGator
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To: blueplum

“Novice Investors”

Nice try. These were greedy gamblers who were happy to be marks for these cons.


16 posted on 12/17/2022 11:00:16 AM PST by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes)
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To: blueplum

Umm some morons took a reddit sub meme and scammed Twitter followers 🙄 🤣


17 posted on 12/17/2022 11:00:29 AM PST by markman46 (engage brain before using keyboard!!!)
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