SEC v. David Aubel and Robert Raffa (pump and dump, 2016)

Judgment entered

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In April 2016 the SEC charged David Aubel and Robert Raffa with manipulating the stock of Green Energy Renewable Solutions and hiding their ownership. Both pleaded guilty in a parallel criminal case, and a final judgment against Aubel on January 16, 2020 imposed a $150,000 penalty, after a consent judgment against Raffa.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$150k

Disgorgement

$361k

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$511k

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 April 7, 2016 as release LR-23511. The respondents named are David Aubel and Robert Raffa (2 individuals, 0 entities).

The complaint alleges that two men concealed their ownership of a large share of Green Energy Renewable Solutions, paid stock promoters to tout it, paid a kickback to a purported broker to buy shares and engaged in manipulative trading, then sold. The release does not charge Section 17(b) or allege that the promoters' pay was hidden from readers, so the record is tagged pump and dump and undisclosed control blocks.

This library tags the matter as pump and dump and undisclosed control blocks, 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.

The release references a parallel criminal proceeding. Where a criminal case exists, the civil and criminal outcomes are recorded separately, because they resolve on different standards of proof.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above. This page deliberately summarises the structured record rather than reproducing the release.

SEC releases report how the case ended. Aubel pleaded guilty in November 2017 and was sentenced on January 30, 2019 to 87 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $242,553 (release 24387). Raffa pleaded guilty and was sentenced on January 11, 2018 to two years in prison. In the civil case, release 24725 reports that a final judgment was entered against Aubel on January 16, 2020 enjoining him from violating the antifraud, registration and beneficial-ownership provisions, ordering a $150,000 civil penalty and finding him liable for $242,553 in disgorgement, deemed satisfied by the criminal restitution order; the court had earlier entered a consent judgment against Raffa, who was found liable for $118,932 in disgorgement, also deemed satisfied by restitution. The date of Raffa's judgment is not given in the release. The penalty field holds Aubel's penalty, and the disgorgement field adds the two defendants' amounts, which are not collected on top of the criminal restitution. Checked on 2026-10-04.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with 2 techniques 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.

• Pump and dump — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.
• Undisclosed control blocks — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2016-04-07 Litigation release published
2. 2019-01-30 Aubel sentenced to 87 months in the parallel criminal case (SEC LR-24387)
3. 2020-01-16 Final judgment against Aubel; consent judgment against Raffa already entered (SEC LR-24725)

Primary documents

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

• SEC litigation release
• SEC LR-24387 (criminal sentences)
• SEC LR-24725 (civil final judgments)

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.

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.

Related actions

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

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.