Jonathan Lebed
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jonathan Lebed (born September 29, 1984) is an American who, between September 1999 and February 2000, made hundreds of thousands of dollars by posting in internet chat rooms and on message boards encouraging people to buy penny stocks he already owned, thus, according to the SEC, "artificially" raising the price of the stock. The SEC under Arthur Levitt prosecuted him. In 2001 Lebed and the SEC negotiated an out-of-court settlement in which Lebed forfeited $285,000 in profit and interest he had made on 11 trades without admitting any wrongdoing — allowing him to keep close to half a million dollars. The case was controversial — the SEC had never prosecuted a minor — and produced significant media interest. Lebed contended that his activity forecasting stock prices was no different from and no more illegal than what professional Wall Street analysts do every day, only he utilized the internet. Despite the negative press and SEC inquiry, Lebed continues to trade actively. He also sells his trading advice through a newsletter.
[edit] Comparison to Gaddis protagonist
A comparison can be made of Lebed to the protagonist of William Gaddis' 1975 novel J R, in which an 11-year-old utilizes pay phones and money orders to parlay penny stock holdings into a fortune in a manner similar to Lebed.
