Another oldie but a goodie was this 2000 example of stock manipulation, which sent a red flag to authorities about the dangers of the Internet's increasingly prominent role in investing. It also scared some journalists to more sharply scrutinize company press statements.
A fake press release, which was later determined to be written by a wire service employee trying to short the stock, claimed to be from the enterprise company Emulex. The release falsely claimed that Emulex would restate its earnings--revising its profits lower--and that the company's chief executive would resign.
Media outlets picked up the release the next morning and Emulex's stock price dropped by 62 percent in 16 minutes of morning trading, losing billions in value before Nasdaq halted trading on the stock.
The wire service employee, 23-year-old Mark Simeon Jakob, was eventually arrested by federal authorities on securities fraud charges.
Photo by CNET News
Caption by Michelle Meyers
