A former technology executive has pleaded guilty to 1 count of fraud in a plot to artificially inflate the stock price of photo and video distributor Getty Images, federal officials said Friday.
Robert Scott Murray, who served as chief executive officer of network equipment maker 3Com for several months in 2006, was charged with securities fraud for allegedly attempting to govern the stock price of Seattle-based Getty. Murray owned about 300,000 shares of Getty Images Holding Inc. in April 2023, in keeping with a Statement from the Ministry of Justice He claims the investor was attempting to increase Getty’s value to be able to sell his position at a greater profit.
Accordingly Statement from the Securities and Exchange CommissionMurray initially gave a Series of press releases Requesting the corporate to sell itself or Murray to hitch the boardMurray issued the press releases through Trillium Capital, a Massachusetts-based enterprise capital firm that describes itself as a enterprise capitalist and of which Murray himself is the only owner and chief executive officer, federal authorities said.
Then, on April 24, 2023, Trillium announced a alleged takeover offer for Getty Images at a price of $10 per share – almost double yesterday’s closing price. Although the corporate’s stock price rose that day, its price remained well below $10.
Getty published its own press release The next day, Trillium expressed doubts concerning the offer, calling it an “unsolicited, non-binding and highly conditional offer” geared toward acquiring “an undisclosed number of outstanding shares.” Trillium had not provided Getty’s board with any evidence that the offer was “credible enough to justify an investment,” it said.
The SEC called the offer “false and misleading” and noted that Murray and Trillium made no effort to lift the funds needed to finish the acquisition. In addition, the SEC noted that “Murray began liquidating his Getty Images shares within minutes of the market opening on April 24, without even waiting for a response from Getty to his announced offer.” The Justice Department’s statement said Murray sold all of his Getty shares “within less than an hour for approximately $1,486,467.”
Murray couldn’t be reached for comment. An email sent to an address on Trillium’s website was returned to The Associated Press, while several calls to Trillium’s published phone number resulted in a busy signal.
Murray will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date, the Justice Department said.
