Say yaaaarrrrrr if ye fancy a fake stock tip.
The second half of the case name pretty much tells you what you need to know: Securities and Exchange Comm'n v. Pirate Investor LLC, No. 08-1037 (4th Cir. Sept. 15, 2009). Pirate Investor did not get off lightly for its buccaneering ways. No, it did not.
Pirate sold email tips on stocks. Insider tips. It offered one such for $1,000 a copy. More than 1,000 people bought it. Pirate got over $1,000,000 for hitting send.
The email falsely cited a "senior company executive" as the source of a statement that big things would soon happen for USEC, Inc., on a date certain. Sure, Pirate's editor-in-chief talked with USEC's Director of Investor Relations, but that guy said nothing of the sort.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed a civil judgment under the Securities Exchange Act against Pirate and its swashbuckling editor. The court held that the SEC put on enough evidence that Pirate lied, that it lied on purpose, and that the lie took place "in connection with" the purchase or sale of a security (USEC stock). The district court's disgorgement order and injunction against more securities fraud thus withstood all piratical challenges.
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