SEC v. Rey D. Acosta (free riding and parking, 2025)

Judgment entered

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In March 2025 the SEC obtained a consent final judgment against Pennsylvania man Rey Acosta over a free-riding scheme in which he made $1.5 million of transfers from an under-funded bank account and bought about $120,000 of stock before the transfers reversed. He pays a $15,000 penalty and cannot open brokerage accounts without disclosure.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$15k

Disgorgement

—

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$15k

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 on March 6, 2025 (litigation release 26261) a final judgment in its Middle District of Pennsylvania case against Acosta.

The complaint alleged that in January 2023 he transferred $1.5 million into his brokerage account from a bank account he knew lacked the funds, bought three stocks for more than $120,000 and sold them at a profit before the transfers were reversed, after which the firm closed the account and he could not take the profits. Without admitting or denying, he consented to a permanent injunction under Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5, a bar on opening brokerage accounts without giving the firm the complaint and judgment, and a $15,000 civil penalty. This library tags the matter as free riding because the conduct is trading on credit with no funds behind it.

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.

• Free riding and parking — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2025-03-06 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
• SEC Complaint
• Final Judgment

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.