Between September 1999 and February 2000, Lebed made hundreds of thousands of dollars from using a computer in his bedroom in Cedar Grove, New Jersey, usingpump and dump by posting in internet chat rooms and message boards, encouraging people to buypenny stocks he already owned, thus, according to the SEC, artificially raising the price of the stock. Between September 1999 and February 2000, his smallest one-day gain was US$12,000, while his biggest was $74,000.[4] Lebed became the first minor prosecuted by the SEC.[5][6] In 2001, Lebed and the SEC negotiated an out-of-court settlement in which Lebed forfeited $285,000 in profit and interest he had made on 11 trades without admitting any wrongdoing, allowing him to keep close to half a million dollars.[7]
In 2003, Lebed was an unsuccessful candidate for the Cedar Grove township council.[8][9]
Lebed's legal issues were profiled in an episode of the 2001BBC documentaryThe Future Just Happened.[10][11]
In 2010, he was living inWayne, New Jersey, and was the sole owner of Lebed Biz LLC, which runs a website touting penny stocks.[12][1] In 2008, a company won a $2.56 million judgment against Lebed.[13]
^Lewis, Michael."Jonathan Lebed: Stock Manipulator, S.E.C. Nemesis -- and 15",The New York Times, February 25, 2001. Accessed December 22, 2014. "The S.E.C.'s news release explained that Jonathan -- the first minor ever to face proceedings for stock-market fraud -- had used the Internet to promote stocks from his bedroom in the northern New Jersey suburb of Cedar Grove."
