DOJ and SEC charge social media influencers in alleged $100 million stock pump-and-dump scheme
Federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday charged seven social media influencers with using Twitter and Discord to commit securities fraud that netted them more than $100 million in illicit gains.
An eighth influencer was charged with aiding and abetting the alleged scheme in the SECs civil complaint and with conspiracy to commit securities fraud in the Department of Justices criminal case.
Federal prosecutors and the SEC charged eight social media influencers in an alleged conspiracy in which Twitter and Discord were used to commit securities fraud.
The separate criminal and civil complaints allege the defendants illicitly made more than $100 million.
The scheme involved hyping interest in certain securities in order to raise the value and later selling shares at artificially inflated prices, authorities said.
Each of the defendants had well over 100,000 Twitter followers as of this month.
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