Pump-and-Dump Group Tied to Panama Papers Owes SEC $52 Million

Five associates of Frederick L. Sharp, whose Canadian penny-stock trading business was identified in the 2016 Panama Papers leak, must pay the SEC a total of more than $52 million in civil penalties and disgorgement for a market manipulation scheme, a federal court ruled.

Sharp himself shares liability for about $42.5 million of the amount, Judge William G. Young said Monday for the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Awards of prejudgment interest against the five associates aren’t appropriate because it isn’t clear who retained the ill-gotten gains, Young said.

Sharp, who didn’t make an appearance in the ...