ASX ‘pump and dump’ gang plead guilty following ASIC allegations
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The news: Four people have pleaded guilty to multiple market manipulation charges following an Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) investigation.
The context: According to an ASIC statement, Larissa Quinlan, Kurt Stuart, Emma Summer and Syed Yusuf pleaded guilty Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court to multiple criminal charges involving conspiracy to commit market rigging through group chats on the messaging service Telegram.
The defendants face a maximum penalty for the conspiracy offence of 15 years’ imprisonment and a fine of over $1 million.
ASIC had alleged that the defendants formed a private Telegram group to discuss and select penny stocks that they would promote through public groups named ‘ASX Pump and Dump Group’ and the ‘ASX Pump and Dump Channel’.
Nine announcements were made in September 2021 to target particular stocks, with each defendant buying and selling the target stocks to different degrees, once the price hit an artificial target.
They were charged by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions in July 2024 after a referral from ASIC in December 2022.
Quinlan, Stuart and Summer participated in the conspiracy around the period between 28 August 2021 and 22 September 2021, while Yusuf participated between 17 September and 22 September, according to ASIC.
Stuart and Summer also pleaded guilty to one count of dealing with money or property that was the proceeds of crime with a value of $10,000 or more. Quinlan and Yusuf pleaded guilty to a similar charge to the value of $1,000.
Yusuf also pleaded to the additional charge of being reckless to whether he was dealing with the proceeds of crime to the value of $10,000.
The source: ASIC media release
