A former CEO and Mashpee resident has pleaded guilty to charges related to a scheme to artificially inflate Getty Images’ stock price, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Massachusetts announced.
Former Stream Global Services and 3Com CEO Robert Scott Murray, 60, pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of securities fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a press release.
In April 2023, Murray issued press releases and sent emails on behalf of Trillium Capital – a venture capital firm he owned and ran – asking Getty Images Holdings to add him to its board of directors, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. His efforts failed, but by that time he owned about 300,000 shares of Getty Images stock.
Murray then made false and misleading statements in press releases and media interviews to artificially inflate Getty Images’ share price, the US Attorney’s Office said. His goal was to be able to sell his shares at the artificially high price.
- Read more: Mashpee man artificially inflated Getty Images stock price for personal gain, government says
On April 24, 2023, Murray sent out a press release claiming that Trillium Capital had made an offer to buy Getty Images for $10 per share, causing the stock price to rise nearly 56%, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. He then sold all of his Getty Images shares in less than an hour for nearly $1.5 million. A friend he had previously advised to buy Getty Images shares also sold her shares for nearly $560,000 at Murray’s direction.
In an attempt to cover up the plot on December 6, 2023, Murray told his girlfriend to delete their text messages and mislead law enforcement by telling them they had not communicated about the stocks, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He told her that text messages “are like virginity, once you delete it, you can’t get it back.” Additionally, when approached by law enforcement officials in February 2024, Murray falsely denied telling his girlfriend to buy stock in Getty Images.
Murray’s sentencing is scheduled for October 3, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The securities fraud charge carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years probation and a fine of up to $5 million.
