Aidan Goodfellow, CFA, a retired portfolio manager owns 20,000 shares of a small public company that he would like to sell. He posts messages on several Internet bulletin boards. The messages read, "This stock is going up once the pending patents are released, so now is the time to buy. You would be crazy to sell anything below $3 in a few months from now. The stock is a buy at anything below $3. I have done some close research on these guys." According to the Standards of Practice Handbook, Goodfellow most likely violated the Standard or Standards associated with ______.

A. Market Manipulation and Conflicts of Interest
B. Market Manipulation, but not Conflicts of Interest
C. Neither Market Manipulation nor Conflicts of Interest

Correct Answer: A

Goodfellow violated the Standard regarding Conflicts of Interest because he did not disclose his ownership of shares in his message. He also violated the standard relating to Market Manipulation by engaging in a practice that is likely to artificially inflate trading volume.