Stock market manipulation

Market manipulation has a long and storied history.

From the Tulip Mania of the 1600s all the way to the recent housing bubble, market manipulators have employed a wide range of tactics to lighten the wallets of unsuspecting investors.

And even though market manipulation is prohibited in the U.S. under a section of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 - it's as American as apple pie.

Everyone from high-ranking government officials to investment bankers have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

The list includes scofflaws like Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken, and Jack Abramoff.

Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC's "Mad Money," said he regularly manipulated the market when he ran his hedge fund, calling it "a fun...and lucrative game."

Not surprisingly, a recent study found that those closest to the information loop -corporate insiders, brokers, underwriters, large shareholders and market makers - are most likely to be the perpetrators.

To give you an idea of how things work, here are three notorious examples of market manipulation.

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