The US regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says it has obtained an emergency court order to freeze the assets of a UK resident charged with intruding into the online brokerage accounts of US investors to make unauthorized stock trades that allowed him to profit on trades in his own account
In a complaint filed in New York court, the SEC alleges that in April and May, Idris Mustapha hacked into numerous accounts of US customers of broker-dealers in and outside the US. The complaint alleges that Mustapha placed stock trades without the customers’ knowledge and then traded in the same stocks through his own brokerage account.
In one case, Mustapha allegedly hacked into a brokerage account and rapidly purchased shares at increasing prices and then profited by selling his own shares of the stock in his brokerage account. According to the SEC, Mustapha’s scheme made at least $68,000 (£50,000) profits for himself and caused losses in the victims’ accounts of at least $289,000 (£210,000).
The SEC’s emergency court order freezes more than $100,000 in Mustapha’s assets and prohibits him from destroying evidence. The regulator alleges that Mustapha violated the antifraud provisions of federal securities laws and a related SEC antifraud rule, and is seeking is seeking permanent injunctions, return of allegedly ill-gotten gains with interest, and financial penalties.
Robert Cohen, co-chief of the SEC enforcement division's market abuse unit, said: ‘We will swiftly track down hackers who prey on investors as we allege Mustapha did, no matter where they are operating from and no matter how sophisticated their technology.’
