The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Friday that it has charged Milan Vinod Patel, of Cumming, Georgia,  for "spreading more than 100 false rumors about public companies to generate more than $1 million in illicit trading profits. "

The SEC alleged that Patel had knowingly spread false rumors about potential market-moving events to his contacts at various financial news services, chat rooms, and message boards. These rumors were supposedly provided to him by Ross, Salandra, or Parrino, and were about supposed mergers or acquisitions involving publicly traded companies. Patel also passed on these rumors to Melnick, a host of a stock trading webcast, who then shared them with his webcast subscribers. Between December 2017 and January 2020, over 100 of these rumors were circulated, resulting in temporary increases in the prices of the targeted companies' securities. Patel was able to use this price increase to sell his holdings in these securities and generate over $1 million in illicit trading profits.

"Out of the five individuals involved in this scheme, we allege that Patel played the central role of using his contacts to repeatedly spread the false rumors via the internet, generating more than $1 million in illicit profits for himself," said Joseph G. Sansone, Chief of the Enforcement Division’s Market Abuse Unit. "Today’s action seeks to hold Patel accountable for his alleged misconduct and serves as a warning to others who might engage in similar schemes."