SEC Files Charges in Busted Microcap Schemes

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a stock promoter and four others involved in an alleged series of microcap fraud schemes that were foiled by FBI undercover work and an SEC trading suspension. According to the SEC’s complaint filed in federal court in southern California on July 6, stock promoter Gannon Giguiere took control of a purported medical device company. Giguiere, together with a Cayman Islands-based broker, then allegedly engaged in a matched trading scheme that caused the company’s share price to rise from zero to $1.20 per share. Giguiere and the brokerage owner, Oliver-Barret Lindsay, allegedly coordinated their matched trading through an individual who turned out to be an FBI cooperating witness.