SEC Freezes Assets in International Manipulative Trading Scheme

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against five foreign traders for executing illegal matched trades in the stock of Medico International, Inc. (MDDT). The SEC also obtained an emergency court order freezing assets held in brokerage accounts of the defendants, including approximately $144,000 that otherwise could have been wired offshore, and hundreds of thousands of shares of MDDT stock. According to the SEC’s complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on June 19, 2019, the traders from China, Singapore, and Malaysia attempted to manipulate the market for MDDT stock by entering matched orders to buy and sell MMDT at substantially the same times, sizes, and prices.