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A former technology executive has pleaded guilty to a single count of fraud involving a scheme to artificially inflate the share price of photo and video distributor Getty Images, federal officials said Friday.<\/p>\n
Robert Scott Murray, who was chief executive of the networking-equipment maker 3Com for several months in 2006, was charged with securities fraud for an alleged attempt to manipulate Seattle-based Getty\u2019s share price. Murray owned roughly 300,000 shares of Getty Images Holding Inc. in April 2023, according to a\u00a0Department of Justice statement<\/a>\u00a0alleging that the investor sought to boost Getty\u2019s stock in order to unload his position for a greater profit.<\/p>\n According to\u00a0statement by the Securities and Exchange Commission<\/a>, Murray first issued a\u00a0series of news releases<\/a>\u00a0calling on the company to sell itself or to\u00a0add Murray to its board<\/a>. Murray issued those releases through Trillium Capital, a self-described venture investment business in Massachusetts whose sole owner and manager was Murray himself, federal authorities said.<\/p>\n Then, on April 24, 2023, Trillium announced a\u00a0supposed bid to acquire Getty Images<\/a>\u00a0outright at a price of $10 a share \u2014 nearly twice the stock\u2019s closing price a day earlier. While the company\u2019s stock rose that day, its price remained well short of $10.<\/p>\n Getty\u00a0issued its own news release<\/a>\u00a0the next day casting doubt on the offer, calling it an \u201cunsolicited, non-binding and highly conditioned proposal\u201d aimed at acquiring \u201can unstated volume of outstanding shares.\u201d Trillium, it said, had not provided Getty\u2019s board with any evidence that it was \u201csufficiently credible to warrant engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n The SEC called the bid \u201cfalse and misleading,\u201d noting that Murray and Trillium made no effort to raise the funds necessary for the acquisition. What\u2019s more, the SEC noted that \u201cMurray started to liquidate his Getty Images stock within minutes after the market opened on April 24, without even waiting for Getty to respond to his announced offer.\u201d The Justice Department statement asserted that Murray sold all of his Getty shares \u201cwithin less than one hour for approximately $1,486,467.\u201d<\/p>\n Murray could not be reached for comment. An email directed to an address on the Trillium website bounced back to The Associated Press, while multiple calls to Trillium\u2019s published phone number yielded only busy signals.<\/p>\n Murray will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date, the Justice Department stated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nSubscribe to the Eye on AI newsletter to stay abreast of how AI is shaping the future of business. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n