SEC v. Ronald Bauer and seven others (pump and dump, 2022)

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 4, 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.

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In 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission brought an action against Ronald Bauer et al., alleging conduct this library classifies as pump and dump. No monetary relief has been recorded at this stage; the matter is an allegation and remains unproven. A parallel criminal matter is referenced in the release.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

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Disgorgement

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Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

—

Alleged gain

$145m

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 April 14, 2022 as release LR-25366. The respondents named are Ronald Bauer, Craig James Auringer, Adam Christopher Kambeitz, Alon Friedlander, Massimiliano Pozzoni, Daniel Mark Ferris, Petar Dmitrov Mihaylov and David Sidoo (8 individuals, 0 entities).

This library tags the matter as 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.

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

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.

Checked on 2026-10-04: no judgment found for the lead defendant. SEC litigation release LR-26199 (December 19, 2024) reports the first and only judgment in the case then, a consent final judgment on December 18, 2024 against co-defendant Petar Mihaylov, who is one of the eight named: injunctions, a penny stock bar, an officer-and-director bar, disgorgement of $1,011,600, prejudgment interest of $304,466 and a penalty of $1,011,600. The release says the case continues against the others, including Bauer. We found no later release or judgment for the remaining defendants, so the record stays as filed and those figures are not recorded as the outcome.

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.

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

Timeline

1. 2022-04-14 Litigation release published
2. 2024-12-18 Consent final judgment against co-defendant Petar Mihaylov (LR-26199)

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-26199 (judgment against Mihaylov)

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