WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States charged twenty-seven individuals and entities for using stock promotion schemes to mislead investors, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said in a press release on Monday.
“The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced enforcement actions against 27 individuals and entities behind various alleged stock promotion schemes that left investors with the impression they were reading independent, unbiased analyses on investing websites while writers were being secretly compensated for touting company stocks,” the release stated.
According to the SEC’s orders, deceptive measures were taken to hide the actual sources of the articles from investors, according to the release.
The SEC filed fraud charges against those involved in the scheme and of those charged, 17 have agreed to settlements that include penalties ranging from approximately $2,200 to nearly $3 million, the release added.
