While tape painting is illegal, the authorities rarely pursue it. I can recall only one case. It involved an exchange listed stock and an RBC fund manager whose fund had a large position in it. He painted the tape a little most days to make the fund's performance look better. There may have been more than one stock involved; I don't remember. The SEC sued him.
Most tape painting in the pennies is done by retail players, and the SEC doesn't bother with them.
As for withholding timely release of news… If the company is an SEC registrant, it's expected to submit an 8-K within four days of the material event. If it's a Pink, it has no reporting obligations at all. Although OTCMarkets would like Pinks to submit notices of material events, it can't force Pinks to do that.
Now, if insiders are trading on insider info that they haven't made public, then if the SEC finds out about it, it might take action.
