Traders Made $31 Million Through Stock Manipulation, SEC Says

Eighteen traders had their assets frozen after the SEC accused them in a federal court in Massachusetts of manipulating more than 3,000 U.S.-listed stocks to make at least $31 million.

The traders, most of whom are based in China, faked trading activity in thinly-traded stocks to drive up prices, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts unsealed Oct. 16. The agency secured a temporary restraining order against the alleged fraudsters Oct. 15.

The defendants often held the accounts used to trade the same stock back and forth “at different ...