" because no one is going to report they received compensation to promote a ticker, that did not receive compensation to promote a ticker."
You're dead wrong its done all the time. It's called "tagging" . Promoters do it to give the illusion they have winners, they tag TESLA making it appear as they called it before hand, called it meaning they new it would go up or down, meantime they posted a great Q and that was actually the reason. It appears as the promoter new.