“Finfluencers” in the United States suspected of defrauding more than 100 million

Eight US financial influencers are suspected of conspiracy and stock price manipulation. This would have earned them more than $100 million.

Men profiled themselves as successful traders and drove up stock prices. On their Atlas Trading platform Discord and Twitter, they spread fabricated positive information about each stock and after the price soared sharply, they sold their own shares. These so-called “pump-and-dump” tactics, which are prohibited, were carried out without informing their followers.

The US Department of Justice and the US Financial Markets Regulator (SEC) have identified the eight men sued. According to prosecutors, the influencers “used their social media credibility to maximize profits at the expense of their followers.”

Seven of them are accused of securities fraud, the eighth is believed to be an accomplice. Conspiracy to commit securities fraud carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in the United States.

Finfluencers, aged between 23 and 38, currently have 1.6 million Twitter followers. Edward Constantin, known as MrZackMorris on Twitter, has by far the most followers (almost 550,000). Constantin is the only one who responded on Twitter after the accusation.

“I love mine friends here,” he writes: