SEC v. Meta Materials, Inc. ( and others (engineered short squeeze, 2024)

Settled

Machine-extracted, pending human review. The structured fields on this page were parsed automatically from the regulator's own release, linked below. Read the primary document before relying on any figure here, and tell us if something is wrong.

In 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission settled an action with Meta Materials, Inc. (, Torchlight Energy Resources and Inc.), alleging conduct this library classifies as engineered short squeeze, paid stock promotion and reverse merger schemes. The release records a civil penalty of $1 million.

The record

Structured fields for this action, as recorded in our case library.
Agency	SEC
Release number	3-21976
Date filed	2024-06-25
Date resolved	2024-06-25
Status	settled
Asset class	equities
Venue	Nasdaq
Criminal parallel	No
Defendants	Meta Materials, Inc. ( (entity) ; Torchlight Energy Resources (individual) ; Inc.) (entity)
Techniques	Engineered short squeeze , Paid stock promotion , Reverse merger schemes

What was ordered

Civil penalty: $1m
Disgorgement: —
Prejudgment interest: —
Total relief: $1m
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 June 25, 2024 as release 3-21976. The respondents named are Meta Materials, Inc. (, Torchlight Energy Resources and Inc.) (1 individual, 2 entities).

This library tags the matter as engineered short squeeze, paid stock promotion and reverse merger schemes, 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 Nasdaq identified in the release.

The relief recorded in our data is a civil monetary penalty of $1 million. 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 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.

Engineered short squeeze — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.
Paid stock promotion — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.
Reverse merger schemes — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

2024-06-25 Administrative proceeding instituted (cease-and-desist)

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 order

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. Morrie Tobin et al. (paid stock promotion, 2019)	SEC	2019-08-30	Paid Stock Promotion , Reverse Merger Schemes	—	filed
SEC v. Richard Weed et al. (paid stock promotion, 2018)	SEC	2018-06-26	Paid Stock Promotion , Reverse Merger Schemes	$150k	dismissed
SEC v. Joe Yiu Cheung ( and Dylon De Lu Zhang) (paid stock promotion, 2017)	SEC	2017-08-02	Paid Stock Promotion , Pump And Dump +2	—	settled
SEC v. Richard Weed et al. (paid stock promotion, 2016)	SEC	2016-10-04	Paid Stock Promotion , Pump And Dump +1	—	judgment
SEC v. Joshua A. Weiss (paid stock promotion, 2026)	SEC	2026-07-10	Paid Stock Promotion	—	judgment
SEC v. Stephen J. Czarnik (paid stock promotion, 2026)	SEC	2026-06-29	Paid Stock Promotion , Unregistered Distributions	—	judgment

Record added September 8, 2026. submit a correction.