On Sep. 12, SEC charged hedge fund for short-and-distort scheme.
- Lemelson Capital profited from driving down price of Ligand Pharmaceuticals.
Alleged Violations
- Defendant took a short position in May 2014, on behalf of The Amvona Fund.
- Gregory Lemelson then issued false information about Ligand so the price fell.
- Ligand’s stock lost more than one-third of its value due to Lemelson’s scheme.
- Defendant made over $1.3mn of gain for himself and the Amvona hedge fund.
Enforcement
- Lemelson and Lemelson Capital to return ill-gotten gains, interest and penalty.
- Amvona named as relief defendant, return gains it made because of Lemelson.
