Source: United States Department of Justice News
BOSTON – A Weymouth man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to his role in a sophisticated, multi-year market manipulation conspiracy involving securities traded on securities exchanges within the United States, including the New York Stock Exchange and NADSAQ.
Jiali Wang, 44, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled by the Court. Wang was initially charged in October 2019 and subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury on May 24, 2022.
From approximately 2013 through at least 2018, Wang participated in the manipulative trading activity of a group of securities traders located in China and, at times, in Massachusetts. Specifically, Wang and his co-conspirators used multiple brokerage accounts in their names, and in the names of others with whom Wang had a relationship, to artificially depress or inflate the prices of thinly traded securities. They did so by repeatedly placing relatively small sell (or buy) orders designed to send a false signal about a security’s supply (or demand) and to depress (or inflate) the security’s price. Wang and his co-conspirators then immediately placed relatively large buy (or sell) orders on the other side of the market to take advantage of their manipulations. Once the large orders executed, Wang and his co-conspirators cancelled their outstanding manipulative orders.
Pursuant to a plea agreement, Wang agreed to forfeit at least $6.5 million in illicit proceeds from the conspiracy.
United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney James R. Drabick of Rollins’ Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case.