SEC v. Mark A. Miller (fake press releases, 2021)

Judgment entered

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In June 2021 the SEC sued Minnesota man Mark A. Miller over an alleged pump-and-dump scheme using hijacked shell companies and false press releases. A February 12, 2025 judgment enjoined him and, per the SEC, ordered $126,007 disgorgement plus $9,536 interest, with penny stock and officer-and-director bars.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

—

Disgorgement

$126k

Prejudgment interest

$9.5k

Total relief

$136k

Alleged gain

$126k

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 June 21, 2021 as release LR-25118. The respondents named are Mark A. Miller (1 individual, 0 entities).

This library tags the matter as fake press releases and pump and dump, 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, with OTC identified in the release.

Non-monetary relief recorded: penny stock 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.

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.

Outcome: the District of Minnesota entered a civil judgment on February 12, 2025 (Document 129) in the case, now captioned with two co-defendants. SEC release LR-26467 (January 27, 2026) says that after Miller consented to injunctive relief and bars on penny stock offerings and serving as an officer or director, the court ordered him liable for disgorgement of $126,007 plus $9,536 in prejudgment interest, with $38,292 deemed satisfied by his criminal forfeiture. The release also says Miller pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and was sentenced to 12 months and one day. No civil penalty is reported. This record and the record for the amended complaint (LR-25253) describe the same case, No. 21-cv-01445. I read the first page of the judgment and the figures come from the release.

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.

• Fake press releases — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.
• Pump and dump — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2021-06-21 Litigation release published
2. 2025-02-12 Civil judgment entered against Miller (D. Minn.), described in LR-26467

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 litigation release LR-26467 (resolution of the case)
• Judgment in a civil case (Doc. 129, Feb. 12, 2025)

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 4 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.