The Fool In Motley Fool: What To Know About This Multimillion-Dollar Securities Fraud, Hacking Case

David Stone, a 36-year-old from Idaho, allegedly accessed stock picks from Motley Fool’s proprietary systems and made millions.

Motley Fool is a private investment advisory company that offers insight into stocks and provides various premium services for passive investors, including stock-picking services.

Stone, a technology professional, along with John D. Robson, were charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday after allegedly accessing stock picks before Motley Fool published them.

According to a Bloomberg report, Stone gained unauthorized access to Motley Fool’s systems and viewed the company’s upcoming stock picks before they were shared with paying subscribers.

Stone is being charged criminally by federal prosecutors, while both Stone and Robson are named in a civil SEC case, the report said. 

Stone made more than $3.9 million trading stocks and options using the picks, while his counterpart Robson made around $3 million in the scheme that took place over two years, from 2020 to 2022, the report said. 

Of the dozens of companies that were allegedly fraudulently traded, some popular names include:

• Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN
• Lululemon Athletica Inc LULU
• Peloton Interactive Inc PTON
• Airbnb Inc ABNB
• Coinbase Global Inc COIN