Artur Khachatryan

Artur Khachatryan
Nationality	American
Occupation	Physician (medical resident), securities trader
Known for	SEC enforcement action for stock spoofing scheme
Alma mater	University of Nevada School of Medicine

Artur Khachatryan is an American physician and former securities trader who was charged by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for conducting a manipulative stock trading scheme known as "spoofing" over a two-year period. On December 16, 2025, the SEC filed settled charges against Khachatryan in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, with total financial penalties exceeding $508,000.

Early life and career

Artur Khachatryan is a resident of Tujunga, California. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Nevada School of Medicine in the spring of 2023. Following graduation, he obtained an active Physician Training License in Colorado and worked as a medical resident in Denver until January 2024.

While pursuing his medical career, Khachatryan also engaged in active securities trading through multiple brokerage accounts, using direct market access to trading platforms. That dual activity eventually drew federal scrutiny.

Legal case

The spoofing scheme

On December 16, 2025, the SEC filed a complaint against Khachatryan (Case No. 2:25-cv-11863) in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleging that he engaged in a systematic spoofing scheme to manipulate stock prices and generate profits.

Spoofing involves placing large orders for securities with no intention of executing them, in order to create a false impression of market demand or supply and thereby move prices in a desired direction. The practice was explicitly prohibited under Section 747 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which amended the Commodity Exchange Act to ban the entry of orders with intent to cancel before execution. The SEC's complaint alleged that Khachatryan placed his spoof orders outside of regular market hours, during periods when the targeted stocks were thinly traded and prices were more susceptible to manipulation.

The scheme operated in a repeating pattern. Khachatryan would place large orders on one side of the market to create the appearance of buying or selling pressure, then place and execute smaller orders on the opposite side to take advantage of the price movement his spoof orders had created. After profiting from the manipulated prices, he would quickly cancel the spoof orders and repeat the same pattern on the other side of the market, locking in additional profits from trading at artificially distorted prices. The conduct allegedly continued across a two-year period and involved multiple securities traded during pre-market and after-hours sessions, when order books are thinner and large orders carry more weight.

Brokerage account evasion

When multiple broker-dealers detected the suspicious trading patterns and restricted or closed Khachatryan's accounts, he didn't stop. Instead, he opened new brokerage accounts in the names of other individuals to continue his manipulative trading. The SEC viewed this evasion tactic as evidence of awareness that his trading activity was improper, and it was cited as an aggravating factor in the enforcement action.

Charges

The SEC charged Khachatryan with three sets of statutory violations. He was alleged to have violated Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, which prohibits fraud in the offer or sale of securities. He was also charged with violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, the primary anti-fraud provisions applicable to securities trading. The third charge was brought under Section 9(a)(2) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which specifically prohibits the manipulation of security prices through a series of transactions that create the appearance of active trading.

Outcome

Khachatryan settled the SEC's charges without admitting or denying the allegations. He consented to a final judgment imposing permanent injunctive relief prohibiting future violations of the securities laws, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains totaling $373,885, prejudgment interest of $22,629.34, and a civil penalty of $112,165, bringing the total financial penalties to $508,679.34.

Beyond the monetary penalties, the final judgment imposed a four-year trading ban. Under its terms, Khachatryan is prohibited from opening, maintaining, or trading in any brokerage account held in his name, in the names of immediate family members, in the name of any company he controls, or in the names of third-party individuals, without first providing the relevant broker-dealer with a copy of the final judgment. The breadth of that restriction directly addressed the evasion tactics documented in the SEC's complaint.

No parallel criminal referral to the U.S. Department of Justice was publicly announced in connection with the case. The action was a civil enforcement matter only, as of the date of settlement.

The case drew attention as an example of the SEC pursuing spoofing enforcement against an individual retail trader rather than an institutional actor or professional market participant. The profile of the defendant, a practicing physician with no apparent background in finance, was noted as unusual by legal observers covering the matter.

See also

• Spoofing (finance)
• Securities fraud
• Market manipulation
• United States Securities and Exchange Commission
• Securities Exchange Act of 1934