On December 28, 2020, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey entered a final consent judgment against Joseph Taub, whom the SEC charged with orchestrating a market manipulation scheme.

The SEC's complaint, filed on December 12, 2016 and amended on April 26, 2018, alleged that Taub engaged in a fraudulent market manipulation scheme, utilizing dozens of securities accounts at several brokerage firms to create the false appearance of trading interest and activity in particular exchange-traded securities, thereby enabling him to purchase stocks at artificially low prices and then quickly sell them at artificially high prices for substantial profits. The complaint further alleged that Taub took steps to conceal the trading scheme and supervised the manipulative trading of a co-defendant. In a parallel criminal action, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey filed criminal charges against Taub. Taub pled guilty to securities fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States on July 28, 2020. Taub was sentenced on December 22, 2020 to 18 months imprisonment, ordered to pay forfeiture of $17.1 million, and ordered to pay restitution of $394,424 to the Internal Revenue Service.

The final judgment entered against Taub in the SEC case permanently enjoins him from violating the antifraud provisions of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and the market manipulation provision of Section 9(a)(2) of the Exchange Act, and imposes a conduct-based injunction permanently prohibiting Taub from participating in certain securities transactions. The judgment also orders him to pay disgorgement of $17.1 million, which will be deemed satisfied by the forfeiture ordered in the parallel criminal case.

The Commission's case remains pending against defendant Shaun Greenwald.

The litigation is led by Michael Ellis, Jack Kaufman and Wendy Tepperman, and supervised by Lara Shalov Mehraban of the New York Regional Office. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey.