Bugatti-Driving 26-Year-Old Linked To Penny-Stock Website

For a number of years, many had wondered who operated one of the biggest penny-stock websites, but now a lawsuit has linked John Babikian, a Bugatti-driving 26-year-old, to the site. Babikian used AwesomePennyStocks, an email list, to boast stock in a coal company while selling his own shares, according to the SEC. Over five years, messages about the firm caused spikes in share prices that lifted the combined value of the stocks by as much as $3 billion. AwesomePennyStocks messages also fueled a balloon in the stock of prescription-drug distributor by more than $700 million in two months. Tom Sporkin, the former chief of marketing intelligence for the SEC stated that it was the biggest that he had ever heard of. According to the SEC, Babikian left Canada in 2012 because of tax-evasion allegations. His whereabouts are currently unknown, but he was last known to be living in Monaco.