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SEC v. Lawrence B. Adams (paid stock promotion, 2021)

Alleged — pending

These are allegations. SEC has filed an action; nothing in it has been proven, and the respondents have not been found liable. Everything described on this page is what the regulator alleges, not what a court has found. See our editorial policy.

Checked against the primary document on October 2, 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-lawrence-b-adams-paid-stock-promotion-2021) by email

In 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission brought an action against Lawrence B. Adams, alleging conduct this library classifies as paid stock promotion. No monetary relief has been recorded at this stage; the matter is an allegation and remains unproven.

The record

Structured fields for this action, as recorded in our case library.
Agency SEC
Release number LR-25169
Date filed 2021-08-16
Court U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
Status filed
Asset class equities
Criminal parallel No
Bars imposed officer-and-director bar
Defendants Lawrence B. Adams (individual)
Techniques Paid stock promotion

What was ordered

Civil penalty
—
Disgorgement
—
Prejudgment interest
—
Total relief
—
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 August 16, 2021 as release LR-25169. The respondents named are Lawrence B. Adams (1 individual, 0 entities). The action was brought in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York.

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.

The conduct is recorded against equities.

Non-monetary relief recorded: officer-and-director bar.

This matter is at the allegation stage. Nothing in the regulator's filing has been proven, and the respondents are entitled to the presumption that it has not been. This page will be updated if the matter is resolved, dismissed or withdrawn.

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.

Timeline

  1. 2021-08-16 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.

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.

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. If this matter has since resolved, been withdrawn or been dismissed, we want to know: submit a correction.