A California-based day trader and hedge fund manager who allegedly engaged in a long-running market manipulation scheme has settled with U.S. regulators and pleaded guilty to a criminal charge in connection with his trading.
U.S. authorities alleged that Mingran Wang — a trader and founder of a private hedge fund, Greenroots Capital Partners LP — orchestrated a spoofing scheme in illiquid, thinly-traded American depository receipts (ADRs), involving thousands of manipulative trades.
According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), between 2021 and 2024, Wang repeatedly placed limit orders that he had no intention of executing in order to move the market in those securities, and traded against those market moves with a different account before cancelling the original orders.
“Wang purchased ADRs at artificially deflated prices and sold ADRs at artificially inflated prices,” the regulator said.
The SEC filed settled charges against Wang, and, in a parallel criminal case, he also pleaded guilty to one count of using interstate commerce for the purpose of securities fraud.
As part of the plea deal, he agreed to forfeit upwards of US$1.3 million, representing the proceeds of his misconduct. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 30 in the Northern District of California.
In the SEC’s case, Wang consented to the entry of a judgment, which remains subject to court approval, that imposes a permanent injunction against him, bans him from trading for five years, and orders that the court will determine any financial sanctions (disgorgement and civil penalties) at a future date.