During a two-hour conversation at a Chicago art exhibition, Lee gave no indication that his statements were in jest or untrue. There is no evidence he profited from the filing or fooled any investors.

But other cases have had real costs. On May 14, 2015, Nedko Nedev, a dual citizen of the United States and Bulgaria, filed an SEC form indicating he was making a tender offer -- an outright purchase -- for Avon Products Inc., the cosmetics company. Avon’s shares jumped 20 percent before trading was halted, and the company denied the news. (A federal grand jury later indicted Nedev on market manipulation and other charges.)

After the fraudulent Avon filing, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican and former chairman of the Finance Committee, told the SEC it must review its posting standards.

“This pattern of fraudulent conduct is troubling, especially in light of the relative ease in which a fake posting can be made,” Grassley wrote in a letter to the agency.

In response, Mary Jo White, who then chaired the SEC, said it wouldn’t be feasible to check information. She noted that there were on average 125 first-time filers daily in 2014, and the agency was studying whether its authentication process could be strengthened without delaying disclosure of key information to investors.

Buffett Impersonator

But the phony filings continued. One relied on the impersonation of Buffett’s Berkshire. In September 2015, a Singapore-based entity calling itself LMZ & Berkshire Hathaway Co. filed two ersatz regulatory forms disclosing 10 percent stakes in both energy company Phillips 66 and food giant Kraft Heinz Co. Berkshire is the largest shareholder of both companies. A person using the name Loreto M. Zamora signed the filing.

This past November, the same filer struck again. The elusive Zamora made a fake takeover offer for Fitbit Inc., the maker of the ubiquitous exercise-tracking bracelets. The supposed bidder, ABM Capital Ltd., listed a Shanghai address. Fitbit said it received no such offer. Berkshire didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Honest disclosure rests at the heart of the SEC’s mission. Congress created the agency in 1934 because the public had lost faith in finance after the stock-market crash five years earlier. Its first chairman, Joseph Kennedy -- the father of President John F. Kennedy -- had profited from stock manipulation before the crash.

Easy Filings