October 31, 2017

Investment advisory firm Millennium Management LLC has agreed to pay more than $630,000 to settle charges that it shorted U.S. stocks in companies planning follow-on offerings and then illegally bought shares in the follow-on offerings.    An SEC investigation found that Millennium violated an anti-manipulation provision of the federal securities laws known as Rule 105 on four occasions in 2012.  Rule 105 prohibits short selling an equity security during a restricted period (generally five business days before a covered public offering) and then purchasing that same security through the offering.  By illegally purchasing shares in the follow-on offerings, Millennium reaped $286,889 in illicit profits. SEC

Tagged in: Market Manipulation and Trading Violations, Regulatory Violations, Securities Fraud,