It is unclear whether those defendants have hired lawyers. A lawyer representing Lidingo and Bjorlin in separate litigation had no immediate comment. CSIR and Petraglia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The SEC also issued an alert warning investors that articles on investment research websites may not be objective and independent, and that they should never invest based solely on information published there.
Mike Taylor, a Seeking Alpha managing editor, said in an email that its policies "act as a strong deterrent against potential promotions," including documenting "all authors' claims to not having been compensated by third parties."
Benzinga said in an email that it uses a disclaimer to identify articles from outside contributors, and that each "does not represent the opinion of Benzinga and has not been edited."
The operator of Wall Street Cheat Sheet did not respond to a request for comment.
This article was provided by Reuters.