SoylentNews

n1 [soylentnews.org] writes:

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday announced a crackdown against alleged stock promotion schemes in which writers were secretly paid [reuters.com] to post hundreds of bullish articles about public companies on financial websites.

Twenty-seven individuals and entities, including a Hollywood actress, were charged with misleading investors into believing they were reading "independent, unbiased analyses" on websites such as Seeking Alpha, Benzinga and Wall Street Cheat Sheet.

According to the SEC, many writers used pseudonyms such as Equity Options Guru, The Swiss Trader, Trading Maven and Wonderful Wizard to hype stocks.

The regulator said had it identified more than 450 problem articles, of which more than 250 falsely said the writers were not being paid.

No word on conflicts of interest and misleading information in regard to stock promotion on television news networks.

Original Submission