Two “market makers” who promoted microcap stocks and cryptocurrencies to hundreds of thousands of followers on Tuesday agreed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Massachusetts federal court to receive lifetime bans from the securities industry.
Maxwell Hernandez, known online as “MaxEquation,” and Russell Armand, who went by “Saitamaguru1,” were among four individuals, including Manpreet Singh Kohli, the former CEO of a $7.5 billion crypto company, who allegedly engaged in schemes to manipulate the markets for tokens “Saitama Inu” and “SaitaRealty” that were offered and sold as securities to retail investors.