CMKM Diamonds figure Turino pleads not guilty

2012-09-26 13:42 ET - Street Wire

by Mike Caswell

Jeffrey Turino, one of the 10 defendants in the CMKM Diamonds Inc. criminal fraud case, has pleaded not guilty. He entered the plea in a brief appearance before Magistrate Judge Carl W. Hoffman on Monday, Sept. 24. The judge ordered him detained pending trial.

Nevada prosecutors claim that Mr. Turino was part of the massive CMKM Diamonds fraud that ran from 2002 to 2004, in which the company's promoters dumped billions of unregistered shares, reaping $60-million in profits. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) Although Mr. Turino was in the "shadows of the conspiracy" because of a penny stock ban, he still shared in a portion of the proceeds, the government says. He also allegedly aided the scheme by routing billions of unregistered CMKM shares through associates and nominees in Florida.

Like some of the other defendants in the case, Mr. Turino could not be found in the United States when he was first charged in March, 2010. Investigators eventually traced him to Europe, and police in the Netherlands arrested him in September, 2010. His appearance on Monday came after the U.S. successfully extradited him.