Australian 'finfluencer' gets 2.5-year sentence for market manipulation

Australian trader and online personality Gabriel Govinda was sentenced to two and half years imprisonment after he pled guilty to 23 charges of market manipulation, the country's securities regulator said on Wednesday (May 3).

Govinda, who goes by the pseudonym "Fibonarchery" on HotCopper, an online stock market chat forum, was also fined A$42,840 (S$38,095) "for market manipulation and finfluencer conduct," the Australian Securities & Investments Commission said.

He will be released immediately on a five-year recognisance of A$5,000.

Govinda pled guilty to manipulating prices of ASX-listed stocks, via "pump and dump" schemes. This included wash trading, where he would trade stocks between multiple accounts he controlled to create false demand for the stock and boost its price and sell them at a higher price to book a profit, the regulator said.

Govinda also pled guilty to 19 charges of illegal dissemination of information, where he posted about his wash trades on HotCopper, and used the platform to discuss them with other traders.

The charges relate to a period from Sept 2014 to July 2015, when he used 13 accounts to manipulate the prices of 20 ASX-listed stocks, the ASIC said.

Reuters was not immediately able to reach Govinda for comment.

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