Citadel Securities, Virtu Accused of Spoofing Biotech Stock (1)

Citadel Securities, Susquehanna International Group, Virtu Americas LLC and other firms were sued by a biotech company that accused them of intentionally depressing its share price through spoof trades.

Northwest Biotherapeutics Inc. claimed in a suit filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court Thursday that, beginning in late 2017 and continuing until August 2022, the market-making firms “deliberately engaged in repeated spoofing that interfered with the natural forces of supply and demand, and drove NWBO’s share price downward repeatedly.”

Bethesda, Maryland-based Northwest, which develops cancer-treating vaccines, said the firms made “at least hundreds of millions” of dollars by buying ...