Breaking: Frost Art Museum namesake charged with fraud

By: Joshua Ceballos/News Director

 

Breaking:

University donor and the “most charitable man in Florida” has been charged with stock market fraud.

Philip Frost, namesake of the Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum at FIU, was found by the Securities and Exchange Commission to have been allegedly involved in a “pump and dump” scheme along with nine other South Florida businessmen.

“According to the SEC’s complaint, from 2013 to 2018, a group of prolific South Florida-based microcap fraudsters led by Barry Honig manipulated the share price of the stock of three companies in classic pump-and-dump schemes. Miami biotech billionaire Phillip Frost allegedly participated in two of these three schemes,” reads a press release published by the SEC on Friday, Sept. 7.

Frost and his associates allegedly generated $27 million from unlawful stock sales. These individuals reportedly artificially inflated their stock with positive promotion in order to sell them at prices far higher than they were purchased for. The practice is often called “pump and dump.”

Frost’s name adorns several other prominent buildings in Miami such as the Frost Science Museum in downtown, and the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.

Last year, Frost, the founder and CEO of Miami biotech company Opko Health Inc., was also called “Florida’s most charitable donor” by Bizjournals for donating over $170 million to charity with his wife Patricia Frost since 2000.

The SEC is currently investigating Frost and the others involved in this case of manipulating the stock market for financial gain. 

Student Media will continue to provide updates as this story develops.

 

Featured image by Victoria Lynch

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