SEC charges trading firm owner, others with 'spoofing'

04/04/2014 - 17:29

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. securities regulators on Friday charged the owner of a New Jersey-based trading firm and several other defendants in a scheme to manipulate the market through an illegal practice known as "spoofing."

The Securities and Exchange Commission said that Joseph Dondero, a co-owner of Visionary Trading LLC, as well as several other owners and a New York-based brokerage firm called Lightspeed Trading LLC will collectively pay $3 million to settle the charges.

Spoofing involves a trader placing orders without the intention of having them executed, a strategy that tricks people into buying or selling stock at artificial prices.

Reuters reported earlier this week that the FBI is also investigating the practice of spoofing more broadly in a probe into high-speed trading.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch)