The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a Manhattan resident with carrying out a complex market manipulation scheme in biopharmaceutical stocks after he was kicked out of the brokerage industry for fraud. The SEC alleges that David Blech established more than 50 brokerage accounts in the names of family members, friends, and even a private religious institution. He used those accounts to buy and sell significant amounts of stock in two biopharmaceutical companies in order to create the artificial appearance of activity in their securities so he could maintain their market price and use it to his own financial advantage. Blech, who was previously convicted of securities fraud, also solicited investments for biopharmaceutical companies - including the two companies whose stock he manipulated - despite being barred by the SEC from acting as a broker-dealer.
