Ron/Scott/r. Peter/Courtney/etc., etc.:
Library computers seem to be popular.......
Tuesday June 25, 11:04 am Eastern Time
Georgia Teenager Settles Bogus Online Posting Case
By: Judith Burns, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- A Georgia teenager settled a Securities and Exchange Commission proceeding Tuesday claiming he posted a bogus news story on Internet message boards last month to boost shares of Viragen International Inc. (VGNI).
Benjamin Snyder, a 17-year-old high school student, settled the matter without admitting or denying SEC allegations he created a fake Bloomberg.com news article reporting that the Food and Drug Administration had approved a Viragen International drug to treat anthrax. The bogus news story, which carried the name of a real Bloomberg reporter, said Viragen's stock was expected to multiply six- or seven-fold.
"It was absolutely false," said John Reed Stark, director of Internet enforcement at the SEC in Washington , D.C . "It was an effort to capitalize on the anthrax scare."
The scheme didn't work, however. SEC officials said there was no evidence the postings on the popular Raging Bull message boards generated any interest in the stock.
"We found no one who read the postings and believed them," said Stark. In fact, he said one reader alerted the SEC to the postings as a possible scam.
Snyder used a computer at the Lawrenceville, Ga., public library on May 13 to spread the fake report, the SEC said. The teenager owned about $500 of stock in Viragen, bought through an account opened by his father, a Lawrenceville, Ga., minister. When the first posting failed to budge the stock price, Snyder posted the story again, two days later, regulators said.
Stark said Snyder's attempts to manipulate the stock market and evade detection by using the library's computer failed completely. "We caught him in about a day and a half."
Snyder admitted to the alleged scheme and, since he made no profit on it, the SEC didn't impose any fine or require him to fork over any ill-gotten gains. |
