Micheal Lewis's Case: Was Johnathan Guilty?

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There was a young boy called Johnathan Lebed who was considered guilty in a stock case in the September 20, 2000. Johnathan was 15-year-old student in New Jersey. He spent his spare time focused on the stock market and got benefits. He figured out his own way to reach his goal which contained a controversy of whether it broke the laws or not. Johnathan believed his way to earn benefits was reasonable. However, The Securities and Exchange Commission(S.E.C) claims that Johnathan was guilty because of the way he got benefits in stock market broke the law. Johnathan and the SEC settled in the case("2000-125"), and his guilt was therefore never determined. They sued Johnathan for stock fraud (“33-7891”). About this case, There is a argument among…show more content…
Through the Micheal Lewis’s article, I found two main reasons which could determine the crime for him. First, He was only 15 years old, at this age, he was illegal to step into stock field and even his father helped him. It is said in Micheal Lewis’s article: “On Sept. 29, 1996, Jonathan's 12th birthday, a savings bond his parents gave him at birth came due. ” Second, what he did in stock market was called “pump and dump”. He used 20 fictitious names and posted blogs:” Jonathan Lebed had used "20 fictitious names" In his blogs, he claimed that he had heard that the price of the stock of the company would go up soon. He said:”The FTEC offices are extremely busy. . . . I am hearing that a number of HUGE deals are being worked on. Once we get some news from FTEC and the word gets out about the company . . . it will take-off to MUCH HIGHER LEVELS!”(Lewis). This was totally a lie because there was no way for him to get the information from any company. Also, he told lies about the price. He wrote this in one of his blog:”Revenues for the year should very conservatively be around $20 million. The average. . . I would like to remain very conservative . . . my short-term target price on FTEC is still $20“(Lewis). As we known, this kind of action was called “Pump and Dump” which could prove his guilt. What he did got himself benefits but at the same time, people lost money because of…show more content…
The blogs he wrote made people lose a lot of money. He may not know what means to manipulate the stock market since he was too young. the S.E.C suited him for stock graud('33-7891") because the S.E.C stood in the side of law, which means there was no exceptions no matter age, sex or race. Also, his father supported him while he was breaking the law. He lied, made people lost money and even made chaos in stock market. People should not follow the law, and not forgive him because of his age. Therefore, other people will not make the same mistake in the
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