The AMF Enforcement Committee fines three individuals a total of €590,000 for price manipulation

The Committee analysed 250 sequences relating to the shares and warrants of 39 companies. A warrant is a financial instrument which gives its holder the right to buy or sell a share at a given price and on a given date.

For each of the sequences, the Committee observed the same modus operandi: Mr Marty would place orders for the shares in order to raise their price and, consequently, the price of the warrants. Then, in less than 30 minutes, he, Ms Marglewska or Mr Blin would buy and resell warrants to take advantage of price fluctuations.

The Committee found that Mr Marty's orders for the shares, combined with his operations and those of Ms Marglewska and Mr Blin on the warrants, constituted manipulative behaviour involving false or misleading information, the fixing of a price at an abnormal or artificial level, and the use of fictitious device or any other form of deception or contrivance.

It held that Mr Marty was guilty of price manipulation on account of the orders he had placed for the shares in the 39 companies and his concomitant operations on the warrants. It found that Ms Marglewska and Mr Blin should be deemed to have collaborated in price manipulation, such that they were also guilty of this breach.

An appeal may be lodged against this decision.