The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed fraud charges against John Lowe, Randy Grewal, Richard Ringel, and David Cooper for an alleged long-running scheme to trade ahead of public announcements about the timing or price of numerous follow-on offerings by NASDAQ-listed issuers. According to the SEC’s complaint, Cooper, a registered representative at a broker-dealer, allegedly obtained material nonpublic information about follow-on offerings and shared it with Ringel, while a colleague shared similar information with Lowe, who then passed it to Grewal. Ringel, Lowe, and Grewal and entities under their control allegedly used the information to short issuers in advance of the offerings, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in illicit profits. The SEC also charged JJL Capital LLC, Great South Bay Capital LLC, Kierland Capital LLC, and BMEN Trading LLC, alleging violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5, and is seeking permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, and civil penalties; the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced parallel criminal charges.
U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission 2025-01-15
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission files fraud charges over alleged trading on advance information about follow-on offerings
The SEC filed fraud charges against John Lowe, Randy Grewal, Richard Ringel, and David Cooper for allegedly trading on nonpublic information about NASDAQ-listed offerings. Cooper shared information with Ringel, and Lowe with Grewal, leading to illicit profits. Several entities face charges under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, with the SEC seeking injunctive relief and penalties. Parallel criminal charges were announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.