CNMV fines with 70,000 euros for manipulating Squirrel Media shares

The National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) has imposed a final fine of 70,000 euros on Adolfo Felipe Moreno Casero for manipulating the share price of Squirrel Media, SA across 29 sessions in 2022. The sanctioning agreement was adopted by the supervisor’s Board on July 22, 2026, and is now published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) no. 282, of November 12, 2026, via the Resolution of October 29, 2026 (reference BOE-A-2026-23747).

The publication is carried out in accordance with article 335 of Law 6/2023, of March 17, on Securities Markets and Investment Services, and by virtue of article 41.1 of the Agreement of June 25, 2026, of the CNMV Board on the delegation of powers, published in the BOE of July 7, 2026, in relation to its article 62. The official text emphasizes that the interested party waived the right to file an administrative appeal, meaning the sanction has become final in that venue.

A double foundation: national law and European regulation

The resolution of the CNMV Board, following the statement of facts and legal grounds, concludes with a single agreement: to impose the fine on the responsible party. The conduct is classified as a serious continued infringement, supported by the Spanish regulations that define it and the European regulation that prohibits manipulative practices. The invoked provisions are:

• Article 295.13 of the Securities Market Law, consolidated text approved by Royal Legislative Decree 4/2015, of October 23: the provision that defines the serious continued infringement.
• Article 15 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 16 April 2014, on market abuse: prohibition of market manipulation.
• Articles 12.1 and 12.2 of the same regulation: definition of practices constituting manipulation.
• Article 335 of Law 6/2023: authorization to publish the sanction in the BOE once it is final.

The amount is set at 70,000 euros, a sum that the agreement also expresses in words as “seventy thousand euros.” The case concerns operations on securities of Squirrel Media, SA, a company whose shares were the subject of the sanctioned practices.

Twenty-nine trading sessions in 2022

The agreement precisely delimits the practices in time: they refer to 29 stock market sessions in 2022, concentrated between May and December. The monthly detail is as follows:

• May: days 10, 12, 16, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 30.
• June: days 29 and 30.
• July: days 1, 6, 11, 13, and 19.
• August: day 31.
• September: days 1, 2, 5, 9, 13, 15, 19, and 22.
• October: days 4, 13, 19, and 21.
• December: day 30.

The condition of a continuing infringement allows the supervisor to group the set of actions spread across those seven months into a single type of infringement, rather than sanctioning each session independently.

Administrative Finality and Judicial Review

The published text specifies the scope of the finality: the resolution has only become final in the administrative channel, not in the judicial one. Therefore, the agreement remains subject to jurisdictional review by the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the National Court (Audiencia Nacional), a possibility that is expressly left open in the resolution.

The publication is issued by the CNMV and bears the signature of its president, Carlos San Basilio Pardo, dated in Madrid on October 29, 2026. The insertion in the BOE serves the function of providing official publicity to a sanction that can no longer be disputed before the Administration itself.

The case illustrates the market abuse regime that affects any investor operating with listed securities. The sanctioned manipulative practices distort price formation and directly harm retail investors who buy or sell relying on the veracity of the quotes. The publicity of the sanction in the BOE further reinforces the deterrent effect of the regime: the fine is not limited to the private sphere of the infringer, but is instead entered into the public sanctions register of the stock market supervisor.

Source: Official State Gazette (BOE), no. 282, of November 12, 2026, Sec. III. Other provisions, p. 152900 (official reference: BOE-A-2026-23747).