Scottish OAP to face US court over ‘£1.1m scam’
Man accused of shares con CAN be extradited – sheriff
A SCOT wanted by the US authorities over his alleged involvement in a £1.1million shares scam has lost his fight to avoid extradition.
James Craig is accused of trying to distort prices on the US Nasdaq exchange by starting rumours about companies.
The 65-year-old, of Dunragit, Wigtownshire, is accused of creating fake Twitter accounts for two reputable market research firms.
Tweets posted in 2013 are said to have suggested both firms were under federal investigation. Their shares plummeted and it is claimed Craig then bought them at a low price. The US authorities allege he sold the shares after the firms recovered and his actions caused investors to suffer losses of more than £1million.
But Craig appears to have made only £66 from the alleged scam.
He was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which wants him to stand trial in the United States.
The SEC complaint says Craig tweeted multiple false statements about the two firms on Twitter accounts he created to look like the real accounts of well-known securities research firms Muddy Waters and Citron Research.
It also alleges Craig’s first false tweets caused one company’s share price to fall 28 per cent before Nasdaq halted trading. The next day, it is claimed false tweets about another firm caused a 16 per cent decline in its share price.
It is alleged Craig bought and sold shares of Audience Inc and Sarepta Therapeutics in a largely unsuccessful effort to profit from share price swings in 2013.
His legal team successfully argued last year that the UK Government had acted unlawfully in failing to introduce a safeguard called Forum Bar into Scots law.
The rule allows British courts to halt extraditions if an alleged crime is commissioned and mostly happened in the UK.
However, at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Thursday, Sheriff Norman McFadyen ruled it would be lawful for Craig to be extradited.
A Crown Office spokesman confirmed yesterday the Scottish Government now has two months to authorise Craig’s extradition.