A sentence was handed down for a Weymouth man for his role in a conspiracy involving fraud in the financial markets.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced on Thursday that 44-year-old Jiali Wang was sentenced to time served, which is three months in prison, and nine months of home detention.
Wang was charged with participation in the manipulative trading activity of a group of securities traders located in China and, at times, in Massachusetts.
Wang and his co-conspirators were accused of using multiple brokerage accounts in their names, and in the names of others with whom Wang had a relationship, to artificially depress or inflate the prices of thinly traded securities.
The activity took place from approximately 2013 through at least 2018 where the co-conspirators repeatedly placed relatively small sell or buy orders designed to confuse investors about a security and then raise or lower its price.
They would then immediately place relatively large buy or sell orders on the other side of the market to take advantage of their manipulations.
Wang pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud in August.
He was also ordered to forfeit $7.75 million in illicit proceeds.
