SEC v. Contrarian Press, LLC, Scott S. Fraser, and Nathan Yeung (paid stock promotion, 2016)

Judgment entered

Checked against the primary document on October 4, 2026. The library's summary, tags and figures for this record were compared with the regulator's own document by an AI model (Claude) following written instructions, with sampled and disputed records read a second time. No lawyer has reviewed them. A checked record can still contain errors, and checked does not mean endorsed. See how we check records or report a correction.

Report an error in this record (sec-contrarian-press-llc-scott-s-fraser-paid-stock-promotion-2016) by email

In September 2016 the SEC sued Contrarian Press, its owner Scott Fraser and promoter Nathan Yeung over undisclosed paid promotion of Empowered Products stock. Yeung consented to a judgment in August 2019, and on July 1, 2021 a final judgment against Fraser imposed a $125,000 penalty and bars; the claims against Contrarian Press were dismissed.

The record

Structured fields for this action, as recorded in our case library.
Agency	SEC
Release number	LR-23636
Date filed	2016-09-06
Date resolved	2021-07-01
Status	judgment
Criminal parallel	No
Bars imposed	officer-and-director bar, penny stock bar
Defendants	Contrarian Press, LLC, Scott S. Fraser, (entity) ; Nathan Yeung (individual)
Cited as charged or alleged	Exchange Act s.10(b) and Rule 10b-5 ; Securities Act s.17(b) (statutes and rules cited in the document; not a finding that they were violated)
Techniques	Paid stock promotion

What was ordered

Civil penalty: $200k
Disgorgement: —
Prejudgment interest: —
Total relief: $200k
Alleged gain: —

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

the Securities and Exchange Commission announced this matter on September 6, 2016 as release LR-23636. The respondents named are Contrarian Press, LLC, Scott S. Fraser, and Nathan Yeung (1 individual, 1 entity).

This library tags the matter as paid stock promotion, based on the conduct the regulator describes. Each tag links to a page explaining how that technique works, what statute it engages, and what penalties comparable actions have attracted. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

SEC release 25131 reports that a final judgment was entered against Fraser on July 1, 2021 enjoining him from the anti-touting and antifraud provisions, ordering a $125,000 civil penalty and barring him from serving as an officer or director of a reporting issuer and from penny-stock offerings. Yeung consented to a final judgment on August 28, 2019 with a $75,000 penalty, disgorgement and interest totalling $38,276, and a penny-stock bar. The SEC dismissed its action against Contrarian Press, LLC, which was defunct. The penalty field adds the two penalties; Yeung's combined disgorgement and interest figure is not split and is left out of the fields. The release does not say whether Fraser's judgment was by consent. Checked on 2026-10-04.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with one technique in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.

Paid stock promotion — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

2016-09-06 Litigation release published
2019-08-28 Consent final judgment against Nathan Yeung (SEC LR-25131)
2021-07-01 Final judgment against Scott Fraser; claims against Contrarian Press dismissed (SEC LR-25131)

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Same matter

The library links these 2 records because they appear to concern one matter: the same lead defendant, an overlapping technique tag and close filing dates, or a shared court docket or a release that cites the other. Records are listed by date filed.

Date filed	Agency	Record	Status
2016-09-06	SEC	SEC v. Contrarian Press, LLC, Scott S. Fraser, and Nathan Yeung (paid stock promotion, 2016)(this record)	Judgment entered
2021-07-01	SEC	SEC v. Contrarian Press, LLC, Scott S. Fraser, and Nathan Yeung (paid stock promotion, 2021)	Judgment entered

This grouping is the library's, made by matching names, techniques, dates and citations when the site is built. It is not the regulator's or a court's determination that the records are one case, and it errs towards missing a link rather than making a false one.

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Action	Agency	Filed	Technique	Penalty	Status
SEC v. Brian Keasberry (paid stock promotion, 2026)	SEC	2026-08-21	Paid Stock Promotion	$37.5k	judgment
SEBI v. Anupam Narain Gupta and others (paid Telegram tips, Moksh Ornaments, 2026)	SEBI (India)	2026-07-30	Social Media Ramps , Paid Stock Promotion	—	judgment
SEBI v. Veerkrupa Jewellers Limited and others (SME IPO publicity and trading, 2026)	SEBI (India)	2026-05-29	Paid Stock Promotion , Social Media Ramps +1	—	judgment
SEC v. Medallion Financial Corp., Andrew Murstein, Lawrence Meyers, and Ichabod’s Cranium, Inc. (paid stock promotion, 2025)	SEC	2025-06-06	Paid Stock Promotion	$4.1m	judgment
SEC v. John S. Clayton and others (insider trading, 2024)	SEC	2024-12-11	Insider Trading , Paid Stock Promotion	—	filed
SEC v. Ian Balina (paid stock promotion, 2024)	SEC	2024-05-23	Paid Stock Promotion	—	dismissed

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.