Sobering thought12 Nov 2015 09:01
Following post lifted from another chat site. I suppose it would apply to rampers as well.
Scottish trader charged over £1m US stock exchange fraud
A 62-year-old Scottish trader has been charged in San Francisco with defrauding the US stock market.
James Craig, from Dunragit near Stranraer, is accused of tweeting false news designed to make share prices fall, so he could buy and resell shares for profit.
Fraudulent tweets were allegedly made about two firms by Mr Craig in 2013.
Prosecutors claim shareholders lost more than £1m as a result of his alleged tweets.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced it had filed securities fraud charges against Mr Craig in a federal court in California.
The tweets were about two companies, Audience and Sarepta Therapuetics.
Several tweets, suggesting Audience was under federal investigation, were said to cause the share price of the mobile audio company to fall 28% before the Nasdaq temporarily halted trading.
Further alleged tweets that claimed Sarepta Therapuetics was also subject to an investigation sent stock in the drug firm tumbling by 16%.
Prosecutors claimed shareholders had lost more than $1.6m (£1.05m).
Jina Choi, director of the SEC's San Francisco regional office, said the fraudulent tweets "disrupted the markets for two public companies and caused significant financial losses for their investors."