As part of a series of ongoing related settlements that stemmed from investigations surrounding a group of interconnected parties that allegedly reaped over $100 million in illicit trading profits, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently announced its latest settlement with defendant Oleksandr Makarov for $100,000, according to an official SEC statement.
The SEC’s amended complaint alleges that Makarov had made roughly $80,000 buying and selling stocks on the basis of hacked press releases that had been stolen from two newswire services between 2012 and 2014, and from an additional stolen press release from another newswire service in 2015, according to the SEC litigation release number 23530. Finance Magnates wrote about Makarov when he was cited by the SEC in a related update last year.
Over $52 million recovered
The settlement was subject to court approval as of May 4th 2016, and follows the SEC’s August 2015 complaint and civil action, as well as an amended complaint filed in federal court in New Jersey – which included an asset freeze and other emergency measures against the defendants.
As is typical in many SEC settlements, in this case the defendant Makarov neither admitted nor denied the allegations in the SEC complaint, while agreeing to pay the amount of $100,000 and be permanently enjoined from violating section 10b and 10b5 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as well as Section 17a of the Securities Act of 1933.
The SEC highlighted that it has now recovered over $52 million while obtaining full injunctive relief from the 11 defendants that have thus far agreed to settlements, with the latest from Makarov representing a minor percentage.
The news follows after the SEC brought charges against nine new defendants in the case - in February - as well as dropping certain charges that were dismissed against other prior defendants. In addition, a nearly $18 million settlement was made against 7 other defendants in the case in late March 2016 which consisted of $10 million jointly for the Amaryan Defendants, $4.2 million for Guibor, and $3.72 million for Omega 26.
