SEC Charges Individual With Fraud In Securities Manipulation Scheme

The SEC charged an individual from Virginia as a co-conspirator in a scheme to manipulate the price of certain issuer securities.

According to the SEC Complaint, Mark E. Burns conspired with Robert W. Murray to file false information through the SEC's Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval ("EDGAR") public database. The SEC alleged that the defendants were attempting to manipulate the price of Fitbit, Inc. ("Fitbit") securities.

As previously covered, Mr. Murray pled guilty to criminal charges and was sentenced to two years imprisonment. The co-conspirators allegedly filed a fake tender offer for Fitbit under the name of a sham company to drive up the value of the shares, and concealed their identities by using disguised IP and email addresses. Within 15 minutes of the public release of the false filing, Mr. Burns allegedly sold all of his Fitbit options at a profit of $13,008.