(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced securities fraud charges against a U.K.-based broker-dealer and its investment manager in connection with manipulative trading in the securities of HD View 360 Inc., a U.S.-based microcap issuer. The SEC also announced charges against HD View\u2019s CEO, another individual, and three entities they control for manipulating HD View\u2019s securities as well as the securities of another microcap issuer, West Coast Ventures Group Corp. The SEC further announced the institution of an order suspending trading in the securities of HD View.<\/p>\n
These charges arise in part from an undercover operation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which also resulted in related criminal prosecutions against these defendants by the Office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.<\/p>\n
In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the SEC alleges that Beaufort Securities Ltd. and Peter Kyriacou, an investment manager at Beaufort, manipulated the market for HD View\u2019s common stock. The scheme involved an undercover FBI agent who described his business as manipulating U.S. stocks through pump-and-dump schemes. Kyriacou and the agent discussed depositing large blocks of microcap stock in Beaufort accounts, driving up the price of the stock through promotions, manipulating the stock\u2019s price and volume through matched trades, and then selling the shares for a large profit.<\/p>\n
The SEC\u2019s complaint against Beaufort and Kyriacou alleges that they:<\/p>\n
opened brokerage accounts for the undercover agent in the names of nominees in order to conceal his identity and his connection to the anticipated trading activity in the accounts
\nsuggested that the undercover agent could create the false appearance that HD View\u2019s stock was liquid in advance of a pump-and-dump by \u201cgam[ing] the market\u201d through matched trades
\nexecuted multiple purchase orders of HD View shares with the understanding that Beaufort\u2019s client had arranged for an associate to simultaneously offer an equivalent number of shares at the same price
\nA second complaint filed by the SEC in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York alleges that in a series of recorded telephone conversations with the undercover agent, HD View CEO Dennis Mancino and William T. Hirschy agreed to manipulate HD View\u2019s common stock by using the agent\u2019s network of brokers to generate fraudulent retail demand for the stock in exchange for a kickback from the trading proceeds. According to the complaint, the three men agreed that Mancino and Hirschy would manipulate HD View stock to a higher price before using the agent\u2019s brokers to liquidate their positions at an artificially inflated price. The SEC\u2019s complaint also alleges that Mancino and Hirschy executed a \u201ctest trade\u201d on Jan. 31, 2018, coordinated by the agent, consisting of a sell order placed by the defendants filled by an opposing purchase order placed by a broker into an account at Beaufort. Unbeknownst to Mancino and Hirschy, the Beaufort account used for this trade was a nominal account that was opened and funded by the agent. The SEC\u2019s complaint also alleges that, prior to their contact with the undercover agent, Mancino and Hirschy manipulated the market for HD View and for West Coast by using brokerage accounts that they owned, controlled, or were associated with \u2013including TJM Investments Inc., DJK Investments 10 Inc., WT Consulting Group LLC \u2013 to effect manipulative \u201cmatched trades.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe allege that Kyriacou engaged in a scheme to manipulate the market of HD View stock by matching trades to create a false appearance of liquidity for unwitting investors. The SEC and its law enforcement partners will continue to aggressively work together to root out such manipulation, wherever the alleged perpetrators and their brokerage firms reside, and despite their best efforts to conceal and disguise their methods,\u201d said Marc P. Berger, Regional Director of the SEC\u2019s New York office.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis action demonstrates that we will continue to be vigilant in policing microcap markets and will continue to take action as appropriate against those that undermine the integrity of the market with manipulative practices, like matched trading, as alleged in our complaint,\u201d said Antonia Chion, Associate Director of the SEC\u2019s Enforcement Division.<\/p>\n
The SEC\u2019s complaint against Beaufort and Kyriacou charges the defendants with violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The SEC also charged Hirschy, Mancino, and their corporate entities with violating Section 17(a)(1) of the Securities Act of 1933, Sections 9(a)(1), 9(a)(2), and 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rules 10b-5(a) and (c) thereunder. The SEC is seeking injunctions, disgorgement, prejudgment interest, penalties, and penny stock bars from Beaufort and Kyriacou. With respect to Hirschy, Mancino, and their corporate entities, the SEC is seeking injunctions, disgorgement, prejudgment interest, penalties, penny stock bars, and an officer-and-director bar against Mancino.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced securities fraud charges against a U.K.-based broker-dealer and its investment manager in connection with manipulative trading in the securities of HD View 360 Inc., a U.S.-based microcap issuer. The SEC also announced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3,16048],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hedgeco-networks-press-releases","category-hedgeco-news","category-hedgecovest-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62609"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62610,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62609\/revisions\/62610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}