The Securities and Exchange Commission has now barred the host of a stock trading webcast that it previously charged with securities fraud, alleging he spread more than 100 false rumors about public companies in order to generate illicit profits as part of a two-year pump-and-dump scheme.
Since the SEC charged former broker Mark Melnick, 41, of Marlboro, New Jersey, a judgment was entered by consent against him on Nov. 5, permanently enjoining him from future securities violations, it said.
In anticipation of the institution of these proceedings, Melnick submitted an offer of settlement that the SEC said it decided to accept.
In an order instituting administrative proceedings that was filed on Thursday, the SEC said that, as a result of Melnick's actions, it is "appropriate and in the public interest to impose the sanctions agreed to" in Melnick's offer.
The SEC, therefore, ordered that Melnick be barred from association with any broker, dealer, investment advisor, municipal securities dealer, municipal advisor, transfer agent or nationally recognized statistical rating organization. The SEC also barred him from participating in any offering of a penny stock.
"Any reapplication for association by the Respondent will be subject to the applicable laws and regulations governing the reentry process, and reentry may be conditioned upon a number of factors," including, but not limited to, any funds he must return to his victims, the SEC said.
Ex-Broker Spread False Stock Rumors
According to the SEC's original complaint, filed Sept. 30 in the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta, Melnick received advance notice of companies about which another scheme participant planned to spread false rumors, and then shared those firms' names with subscribers to his online trading room.
Melnick allegedly told subscribers that he had taken positions in the companies whose stock he was trying to push, while other scheme participants also spread the false rumors via real-time financial news services, financial chat rooms and message boards. The false rumors caused the prices of the companies' securities to rise temporarily, according to the SEC.
