SEC Charges Day Trader with Manipulating Stock Prices to Retain NASDAQ Listing for Company

The SEC announced charges against a day trader who allegedly manipulated the securities of a microcap company in order to drive the company's stock price above the minimum required for listing on Nasdaq Capital Market.

The SEC alleged that the day trader engaged repeatedly in marking-the-close trades and entered into matched trades in shares of Cyberdefender Corp., a now-defunct computer software company, in order to maintain the price of the company at or above $4.00 per share. According to the SEC, the day trader also profited from his scheme by more than $650,000, mainly by exercising warrants he received at "bargain" prices.

See: SEC Litigation Release.