Business

FBI probing Rochdale Securities

The FBI has begun a probe of at least one trader at Rochdale Securities for an alleged stock manipulation scheme, The Post has learned.

The Stamford, Conn., broker dealer is teetering on the brink of extinction, the result of an unauthorized $1 billion purchase of Apple shares on Oct. 25, sources said.

The trade of 1.6 million Apple shares was made — instead of a client’s order of one-tenth that amount, or 160,000 shares — to perpetuate the alleged stock manipulation scam, people familiar with the matter said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority are also probing the matter, sources said.

While many details of the alleged scam are not yet known, the trader who purchased the Apple shares in question has been identified by sources as David Miller.

Miller, a 20-year Wall Street veteran, has not been charged with any trading violations or any crimes and it could not be immediately known if he is the subject of the FBI probe or connected with the scam in any way.

Miller, who typically focused on the biotechnology sector, has not returned to work since placing the trade, several sources said.

“He walked out the door the next day and never came back,” said one person familiar with the situation.

Miller could not be reached for comment.

The alleged stock manipulation scam was being worked with at least one other unidentified trader not affiliated with Rochdale, sources said.

Multiple sources said the alleged scam had already pocketed the traders roughly $20 million, sources said.

A spokeswoman at Finra declined to comment, and calls to the FBI and the SEC were not immediately returned. Rochdale had no comment.

Dan Crowley, Rochdale’s CEO, has been scrambling to plug the financial hole the unauthorized Apple trade blasted into his firm’s balance sheet.

Apple shares have traded lower since the $1 billion purchase on Oct. 25, the day before the tech titan’s fiscal fourth-quarter results were announced.

Rochdale, formed 37 years ago, had only $3.5 million in capital. The outsize — for Rochdale — trade has put it on the brink of extinction.

Crowley, described as a “respected leader within the firm,” has been at the firm over the past two weeks trying to find a white knight investor, sources said.

Crowley is seeking a firm willing to provide it with a capital injection, a group of investors willing to form a joint venture or one firm willing to purchase it outright.

Miller’s $1 billion Apple bet was found and unwound the same day, sources say.