The U.S. Department of Justice announced that Mingran Wang of Fremont, California, pleaded guilty in a securities market manipulation case involving more than 3,000 instances of manipulative trading and spoofing between 2021 and 2024. The case centers on a years-long scheme in which Wang used non-bona fide orders to create a false appearance of supply or demand, move prices in his favor, and profit from trading in illiquid and thinly traded securities. Court documents describe Wang as coordinating trades across multiple securities accounts at different brokerage firms, placing spoof orders on one side of the market to influence price while executing genuine orders on the opposite side. After completing the bona fide trades, he canceled the spoof orders. Wang pleaded guilty to one count of using interstate commerce for the purpose of securities fraud and agreed to forfeit more than USD 1.3 million in proceeds. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 30 in the Northern District of California and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. The sentence will be determined by a federal district court judge after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
U.S. Department of Justice2026-06-25
U.S. Department of Justice secures guilty plea from California trader over more than 3000 spoofing trades and USD 1.3 million forfeiture
The U.S. Department of Justice said a California man pleaded guilty to a years-long spoofing scheme involving more than 3,000 manipulative trades in thinly traded securities. He admitted using multiple brokerage accounts to place and cancel non-bona fide orders to move prices in his favor and agreed to forfeit more than USD 1.3 million. Sentencing is set for Sept. 30.