A pair of U.S. men have been convicted of participating in international market manipulation schemes involving penny stocks that were allegedly run out of Canada, Thailand, and China.
U.S. authorities announced on Wendesday that a federal jury in Brooklyn, N.Y. has convicted an Arizona man, Gary Kershner, and a California-based stock promoter, Songkram Roy Sahachaisere, for their roles in an alleged US$95 million international market manipulation scheme.
The convictions stem from charges brought back in 2013 against nine defendants, including several Canadians, who were accused of running the massive international market manipulation scheme, including pump and dump schemes and advance fee frauds. Earlier this year, the alleged mastermind of the scheme, a Canadian man, Sandy Winick, pled guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud.
See: Canadian pleads guilty in U.S. penny stock fraud case
According to the U.S. attorney’s office, the evidence in the trial of Kershner and Sahachaisere established that they participated in an international “pump and dump” operation. It says that Kershner was responsible for drafting the false press releases and Sahachaisere was responsible for promoting the worthless companies based on the false press releases. They were convicted of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of securities fraud, four counts of wire fraud, and two counts of making false statements to federal agents.
Following these latest convictions, which were announced by Robert Capers, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said, “Through lies and deceit, the defendants took advantage of the investing public and sold them worthless stock of shell companies that were propped up by false press releases. We and our partners in law enforcement are committed to rooting out fraud in the financial markets.”