U.S. Charges Indian Hackers In Stock Manipulation Scheme

[OhioChick]

March 12, 2007 03:28 PM

Both the SEC and the Justice Department went after three Indian hackers who allegedly conspired to manipulate the stock prices of 14 companies, including Google and Sun.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil suit on Monday against three hackers from India for allegedly conspiring to manipulate the prices of at least 14 securities, including Sun Microsystems and Google, through the unauthorized use of other people's online brokerage accounts

At the same time, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that a federal court in Nebraska unsealed a 23-count indictment against the same three people.

Jaisankar Marimuthu, Chockalingam Ramanathan, and Thirugnanam Ramanathan are the three Indian nationals being charged and sued.

"Hackers who prey on American investors -- no matter what continent they're operating from -- are meeting their match with powerful adversaries in the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission," SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said in a written statement. "We will go anywhere on earth to stop these thieves and hold them accountable."

This is the fourth account intrusion case that the SEC has brought forth since December. The other three involved defendants in Estonia, Latvia, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.

According to the commission's complaint, between July and November, the three defendants bought options on 14 securities, including Sun and Google. They then allegedly repeatedly hijacked the online brokerage accounts of unwitting investors using stolen user names and passwords. Then, without the account holders' knowledge and using the victims' own money and accounts, the defendants allegedly bought options on these 14 stocks, driving the prices up. Then they sold the options they had bought with their own money, gaining more than $121,500 in the process.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=198000201

[Deja Q]

1. Well, maybe offshoring to a country that doesn't care about us wasn't such a good idea?

Throw those three behind jail. Or, better yet, have 'em enlist in our army. It's said we need more troops and India must be our 51st state...

Sorry to be cynical...

[ChromeFoundry]

2. dude, you are dead on, on so many levels! n/t

[ends_dont_justify]

3. Took the words right out of my mouth N/T

[OhioChick]

4. I'll have to agree with you.....

One would tend to think that India is in fact our 51st state.

[lovuian]

5. So like are they in jail yet

NO