Finra fines brokerage $1M over illicit trading strategy

Market regulators have fined a New York-based brokerage firm $1 million for creating a false sense of demand for stocks that earned it profits. Trillium Brokerage Services paid the fine but did not admit or deny the charges, according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Nine traders and two officers at the firm were suspended from the securities industry for periods of six months to two years, FINRA said. They were also fined a total $802,500. Trillium placed huge numbers of artificial orders to buy or sell, and then canceled them almost immediately, FINRA said. It was done to obtain beneficial prices on stocks 46,000 times dating back to 2006, FINRA said. Federal regulators are probing similar trading strategies, sometimes called "quote stuffing."