The Justice Department has indicted a 30-year-old Greek man for selling insider stock trading tips to internet users over the Dark Web.
The suspect, Apostolos Trovias, has been selling the stock trading tips since at least Dec. 2016 in exchange for Bitcoin, according to the indictment, which was unsealed on Friday.
Trovias allegedly began selling the stock trading tips on the Dark Web marketplace AlphaBay using the screen name “The Bull.” He did so by promoting himself as “hedge fund insider,” employed as an “office clerk working in a trading branch.”
“I am offering information on certain NYSE, NASDAQ and OTC (over the counter) stocks. Buying my service will [give] you an edge by knowing what the big boys are buying or selling,” Trovias wrote in a posting on the AlphaBay site. He then began charging $29.95 for individual stock trading tip, $99.95 for tips on a weekly basis, and $329.95 for tips over a monthly period.
In June 2017, the FBI began using undercover agents to communicate with The Bull. A month later, the Justice Department helped seize and shut down AlphaBay, which gave federal investigators access to the site’s server logs.
The investigation found The Bull had access to confidential quarterly earnings reports from listed stock companies, in addition to details about forthcoming mergers and acquisitions. The companies included Illumina, Analogic Corporation, and Dassault Systemes, according to the indictment.
After AlphaBay was pulled offline, The Bull then started a new account on a separate Dark Web marketplace called Dream Market. In Feb. 2020, he then told an undercover agent he planned on starting his own insider stock trading site on the Dark Web with the goal of selling the information to paid members for $500 to $1,000 per month. In addition, The Bull planned on identifying other willing insiders at companies in the hopes of obtaining more confidential stock trading information.
Eventually, The Bull began speaking to the FBI undercover agents over encrypted voice chats. In addition, federal investigators made Bitcoin payments to The Bull through cryptocurrency platforms, which revealed clues to his real identity.
“At least five of the UC (undercover agent) Payments, were sent to bitcoin addresses specified by The Bull and were then transferred directly to a Bitcoin address corresponding to an account at Coins.co.th, a subsidiary of Coins.PH. Based on Coins.PH account opening records, the receiving account was opened in the name of ‘Apostolos Trovias,’” the indictment claims.
“The account opening materials included a photo of Trovias and a Greek passport in Trovias’ name,” the indictment adds.
According to a court document, Trovias was found and arrested in Peru. In May, federal prosecutors filed for Trovias to be extradited back to the US to face trial. If found guilty of securities fraud and money laundering, he faces a maximum penalty of up to 45 years in prison.
