Are there rules which prohibit an entity from buying or short selling large sum of stock for the purpose of driving the price in such a way that they can then exercise options to make a mass profit?

The question is the title.

Example

Someone buys 3,000,000 shares at the ask, driving up the price significantly.

The same person previously bought several call options at a strike price much lower than the price that the stock has climbed to due to the large buy.

Same person then exercises the options.

This can't be legal can it?

Submitted January 13, 2017 at 10:43PM by Helicon_Amateur http://ift.tt/2jOwb85