This stuff used to happen a lot back in the first dot com bubble. The poster child at the time was Henry Blodget: ... Merrill Lynch e-mails in which Blodget

This stuff used to happen a lot back in the first dot com bubble. The poster child at the time was Henry Blodget: ... Merrill Lynch e-mails in which Blodget gave assessments about stocks which allegedly conflicted with what was publicly published Blodget agreed to a fine and a lifetime ban from the securities industry.[1] But don't feel too sorry for Blodget. He later founded Silicon Alley Insider, which became Business Insider, which was eventually sold for over $343 million. Henry probably made out OK on that.[2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Blodget#Fraud_allegation_and_settlement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Blodget#Fraud_allegation... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Insider#Acquisition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Insider#Acquisition