WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An engineer who worked for Elon Musk’s SpaceX pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to commit securities fraud by selling insider tips on the “dark web,” said the US Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC Thursday.
The case was the first in which the SEC has filed an enforcement action for alleged violation of dark web securities, he said.
James Roland Jones of Redondo Beach, California, is facing a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison, the Justice Department said. No date has yet been set for the conviction.
According to the agencies, from 2016 to at least 2017, Jones conspired with another unnamed person to gain access to several dark web marketplaces, including a website claiming to be an insider trading forum, looking for material, non- public information that he can use for himself. securities trading.
The dark web gives users anonymous access to the internet and is often used to host websites that support illegal activities. Jones could not be reached for comment.
Jones also came up with a plan to sell that he falsely claimed were insider tips on the dark web, the agencies said. Several users who paid in bitcoin bought these tips and eventually acted on the information Jones provided, they said.
Reporting by Michelle Price; edited by Richard Pullin