Following an ASIC investigation, four individuals have been criminally charged for their alleged involvement in a coordinated scheme to inflate Australian stock values before dumping them at inflated prices.
Syed Yusuf, Larissa Quinlan, Emma Summer, and Kurt Stuart were charged in the Downing Centre Local Court with conspiracy to commit market rigging and false trading. They face a maximum penalty of 15 years’ imprisonment and a fine of over $1 million for market manipulation.
ASIC alleged that the defendants formed a private group on the Telegram app to discuss and select penny stocks, which they then announced to the public Telegram group named the ASX Pump and Dump Group.
The defendants are also charged with dealing with the proceeds of crime related to the money obtained from selling the manipulated shares.
“Market manipulation is illegal,” ASIC Chair Joe Longo (pictured above) said.
This case is being prosecuted by the Commonwealth director of public prosecutions following a referral from ASIC in December 2022.
The matter was adjourned to July 30 in the Downing Centre Local Court for a detention application for each defendant.
ASIC monitors trading on Australian licensed markets through its real-time surveillance system, integrating trade data with third-party data to detect pump-and-dump activity. Over three weeks in September 2021, nine announcements were made to the “ASX Pump and Dump Group” to boost selected stocks.
In October 2021, ASIC warned traders in a Telegram share market chat room they might be breaking the law by organizing stock price manipulation.
The defendants allegedly purchased some of the stocks they announced to the ASX Pump and Dump Group with the intent to inflate the share price artificially and then sell once the price had increased.
The defendants face charges under various sections of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) and the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) for their involvement in the pump-and-dump scheme.
For further information, read the ASIC media release.
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