SEC v. Lee Simmons (price manipulation, 2022)

Judgment entered

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In August 2022 the SEC sued Lee Simmons over alleged fake tender offers and EDGAR filings that moved target stock prices. A final judgment entered in the Southern District of New York around May 15, 2023 orders disgorgement of $24,104, interest of $2,863.36 and a civil penalty of $223,229. It also imposes injunctions and an officer-and-director bar.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$223k

Disgorgement

$24.1k

Prejudgment interest

$2.9k

Total relief

$250k

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 19, 2022 as release LR-25478. The respondents named are Lee Simmons (1 individual, 0 entities).

This library tags the matter as edgar filing fraud, price manipulation and sham tender offers, 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 and options.

Non-monetary relief recorded: conduct-based injunction, officer-and-director bar.

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.

Outcome. The final judgment (S.D.N.Y. No. 1:22-cv-07081, docket entry 44, filed May 15, 2023) permanently enjoins Simmons under Sections 10(b), 17(a), 14(e) and the Advisers Act provision on false filings, prohibits him from acting as an officer or director of a public company, and restrains him and entities he controls from participating in the offer or sale of securities other than trading listed securities for his own account. He is ordered to pay disgorgement of $24,104 (net profits), prejudgment interest of $2,863.36 and a civil penalty of $223,229, a total of $250,196.36. The signature date on the copy I opened is blank, so the filing date is used. I could not read the first page of the document, so I cannot say whether it was entered on consent or after contested proceedings; the status is recorded as judgment on that basis.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with 3 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.

• EDGAR filing fraud — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.
• Price manipulation — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.
• Sham tender offers — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2022-08-19 Litigation release published
2. 2023-05-15 Final judgment filed (disgorgement, interest and $223,229 civil penalty)

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
• Final judgment as to Lee Simmons (S.D.N.Y.)

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 20, 2026. submit a correction.