Fake Forecast Helps Man Pull Stock Shock

A Florida man allegedly wrote a fake press release that boosted his stocks

A Fort Myers man had the perfect solution for solving his dismal stock market portfolio - a fake press release.

Authorities claim Richard Karp, 66, wrote a press release in July about a construction company he had stock in and faxed it to all the media outlets in his area. When the news media reported the false positive outlook claims for luxury homebuilder WCI Communities, the company's stock took off and Karp started to sell, sell, sell.

Sometimes, you have to do what you have to do to make sure the money is there for retirement. What might be more unbelievable is that none of the news organizations bothered to check to see if the release was accurate information.

Karp made about $29,000 from his phony press release, investigators for the Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday.

Karp's attorney wrote in a March 25 statement to the SEC that Karp's fax service did not send out any releases about WCI during
the time period in question.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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