California Man to Pay $25,000 For Posting Fake Report on Web
A California man will pay $25,000 to settle allegations he posted online a bogus news article that caused a selloff in the stock of Chinese Internet company Sina Corp.
The posting on a Yahoo Inc. site last October appeared to be a Reuters news story that Goldman Sachs viewed Sina shares as overvalued. Goldman doesn't cover the company, which is based in Shanghai. Sina's stock, which trades on the Nasdaq Stock Market, fell more than 3% on the posting.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said Nikolai Safavi sold short 1,000 Sina shares at $42 a share on Oct. 24, essentially placing a bet that the price of the stock would fall.
On Oct. 28, Mr. Safavi published the fake story, which listed two actual Reuters reporters as authors, on a Yahoo Finance message board, the SEC said.
Mr. Safavi made a profit of $350 before transaction costs and interest, according to the SEC.
John Reed Stark, the SEC's top Internet enforcement attorney, said the agency takes Mr. Safavi's violations very seriously even though he didn't post a huge profit. "We will continue to be very aggressive in our enforcement of this type of fraud," Mr. Stark added.
Mr. Safavi agreed to pay the fine without admitting or denying any wrongdoing. His attorney wasn't immediately available for comment.
加州男子因发布虚假网络新闻遭指控
加利福尼亚一男子被控在网上传播虚假新闻，导致新浪网(Sina Corp., SINA)股票遭遇抛售。该人士将支付2.5万美金和解此项指控。
去年10月份发布在雅虎(Yahoo)网上的这则消息看上去像是路透社(Reuters)的新闻。该消息称高盛(Goldman Sachs)认为新浪股价偏高。
但美国证券交易委员会(Securities and Exchange Commission, 简称SEC)表示，高盛并不追踪新浪股票，这则消息显然是虚假的。新浪的股价受该虚假消息影响下跌逾3%。
SEC称，因预计新浪股价将走低，这位名为Nikolai Safavi的人士在10月24日以42美元的价格卖空了1,000股新浪股票。
Safavi被控于10月28日在雅虎网的财经留言板上以路透社的名义发布了上述虚假信息，并署名为路透社的两位新闻记者。
SEC负责互联网事务的律师John Reed Stark称，虽然Safavi因此则消息的获利并不多，但SEC仍非常严肃地对待了这一问题，并将继续积极地打击这种网上的诈骗行为。
Safavi同意支付该罚款，但既不承认也不否认存在任何行为不当。
记者未能立即联系到他的律师，以获得相关置评。
