SEC Charges California Trader Engaged in Manipulative Trading Scheme Involving COVID-19 Claims

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a penny stock trader in Santa Cruz, California, with conducting a fraudulent pump-and-dump scheme in the stock of a biotechnology company by making hundreds of misleading statements in an online investment forum, including a false assertion that the company had developed an “approved” COVID-19 blood test. According to the SEC’s complaint, beginning around March 2, 2020, Jason C. Nielsen attempted to drive the stock price of Arrayit Corporation securities higher using online posts encouraging investors to purchase shares, including numerous messages repeating the false assertion regarding an approved COVID-19 test, without telling them about his large position in Arrayit stock or his plans to sell the shares while others were buying.