A research analyst formerly with BGC Financial in New York City was fined and suspended by FINRA after it was found he lied about blogging activity that he did during and outside of office hours.  It's an interesting case as it shows that anonymous accounts that one uses to post comments to other persons' blogs and news stories are scrutinized by regulators and that the regulators go so far as to drill down to learn the identity of the writer.

Lying to the Bosses. The individual was employed as a risk arbitrage research analyst with BGC. While employed, the analyst regularly posted comments and responses to columns and news articles published on financial blogs and media sites. While he used various aliases to do so, it was found that he'd been posting on his work computer during business hours. 

When asked during a conference call about the postings, he apparently lied about his activity to a firm principal, the in-house counsel and outside counsel, who had convened to prepare a response to FINRA questions regarding the various commenting that had been done. Unfortunately for this registered individual, the firm didn't look kindly upon his lack of disclosure and let him go in September of 2009, the same month he began working with the firm.

FINRA handed out a 6-month suspension and $5K fine. This is FINRA Case #2009018050201.   [Disciplinary Actions for August 2011]