From Forbes:
 
Is Google's stock a pawn for options market manipulators? That's a common refrain on Internet message boards, and now an academic is lending some credence to the conspiracy theories.
 
Jerry W. Liu, a finance professor at California State University, East Bay, studied the market for options written to buy or sell Google stock near earnings release dates for the first 34 months of its publicly traded life. He came away convinced that institutions have been uncanny in predicting how good, or bad, Google earnings would be and writing put and call options that leave them sitting pretty...
 
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More on manipulation:

Why just 2 banks hold nearly all the short positions in silver

Drillers manipulating nat gas supply; may soar 38% this year

An interesting conspiracy theory on silver, silver ETFs, and the illusion of silver stockpiles