SEC v. Joseph Catapano and Michael Piervinanzi (price manipulation, 2015)

Judgment entered

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In 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission published a release announcing it had obtained final judgments against Joseph Catapano and Michael Piervinanzi for a broker-bribery manipulation of Euro Solar Parks. This library classifies the conduct as price manipulation. The release records a civil penalty of $54,425, disgorgement of $31,000. A parallel criminal matter is referenced in the release.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$54.4k

Disgorgement

$31k

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$85.4k

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 October 26, 2015 as release LR-23392. The respondents named are Joseph Catapano and Michael Piervinanzi (2 individuals, 0 entities). The action was brought in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York.

The release reports final judgments, $31,000 of joint disgorgement, penalties of $44,000 and $10,425, in a broker-bribery scheme: promising a 30 percent kickback to buy Euro Solar Parks stock. No promotion for undisclosed pay is described, so the paid-promotion tag has been replaced with price manipulation.

This library tags the matter as price manipulation, 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 conduct is recorded against equities.

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.

The relief recorded in our data is a civil penalty of $54,425, disgorgement of $31,000. Penalty and disgorgement are distinct: disgorgement returns the gain, while the penalty is punitive. We store them separately so that aggregate figures across the library are not double-counted.

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.

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.

• Price manipulation — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2015-10-26 Litigation release published

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

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.

Related actions

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

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.