From wiki:
SEC lawsuit
In 2003, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission brought a claim against Stansberry for a "scheme to defraud public investors by disseminating false information in several Internet newsletters."[1][20] The SEC alleged that Stansberry had sent out a newsletter to subscribers, predicting one company's stock was about to soar. Stansberry maintains that his information came from a company executive; the SEC claimed that he fabricated the source.[1] The company's stock price did increase for the reasons Stansberry had pinpointed, but about a month later than Stansberry had predicted.[1] In 2007, he and his investment firm, then called "Pirate Investor," were ordered by a U.S. District Court to pay $1.5 million in restitution and civil penalties. The court rejected Stansberry’s argument that his speech was protected by the 1st Amendment, stating "Stansberry's conduct undoubtedly involved deliberate fraud, making statements that he knew to be false."[21] Stansberry sought to shed light on the controversy in a 2010 self-authored, third party blog piece entitled "Why The SEC Sued Me-And Why You Should Care."[