WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday it has charged a California-based trader for an alleged fraud scheme in which he spread false information about a defunct company on Twitter.
Andrew L. Fassari, or @OCMillionaire on Twitter, tweeted false statements about Arcis Resources Corporation during December 2020, shortly after purchasing over 41 million shares of the stock, the SEC said in a complaint that was unsealed on Monday.
Fassari's attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The trader made approximately 120 tweets from Dec. 9-21 with false and misleading statements about the stock, causing its price to surge over 4,000%, the SEC said. Fassari later sold all his shares between Dec. 10 and 16, booking $929,000 in profits from the scheme, according to the allegations.
The SEC suspended trading in Arcis on March 2. Since February, the agency has suspended trading of more than a dozen securities following volatile trading this year in GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) and other darlings of social media that have seen a surge in interest from retail investors.
The SEC said it obtained an emergency asset freeze and other emergency relief against Fassari.