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O.C. stock board founder, broker indicted for fraud
May 21st, 2009, 2:58 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Ronald Campbell
The 26-year-old founder of an Aliso Viejo-based stock board, an Orange County stockbroker and a stock promoter are among seven people indicted in an alleged penny-stock scam.
Federal prosecutors unsealed the indictments against the seven on Wednesday. The Securities and Exchange Commission simultaneously filed a lawsuit in federal court in Delaware against six of the seven criminal defendants plus two others.
The lawsuit alleged the men cleared $6.2 million by allegedly manipulating the price of several penny stocks.
Among those indicted were Matthew Brown, the operator of the stock board InvestorsHub.com in Aliso Viejo; Joseph Mangiapane Jr., 43, of Laguna Niguel, owner of Irvine broker-dealer AIS Financial, and Mission Viejo stock promoter Jacob Canceli, 50.
The key figure in the case was Pawel Dynkowski, a 24-year-old Polish citizen, formerly of Newark, Del. Dynkowski is the only criminal defendant who has not yet been arrested, Assistant U.S. Attorney Shannon Hanson said.
All the other defendants have been released on bond, she said. Dynkowski’s attorney had no comment on the charges against his client. None of the Orange County defendants or their attorneys could be reached.
However, in a post on InvestorsHub Thursday afternoon, someone who appeared to be Brown wrote, “You guys know the deal — I can’t say much without my legal counsel ripping my head off (certainly the way I write). If/when I’m cleared to update everyone, I will.”
The indictments and lawsuit allege that Dynkowski, Brown and the others operated a so-called “pump-and-dump” scam in the shares of five tiny companies.
The scheme allegedly worked like this: First, with insiders’ help, they obtained huge amounts of stock in a target company. Then they engaged in phony trades to create the impression of an active market in the stock. At the same time they issued phony press releases, using InvestorsHub and other boards to attract investors’ attention.
That was the “pump.”
Then they sold their stock to an unsuspecting public. That was the “dump.”
The most lucrative scheme, allegedly generating $4 million in profits, involved Asia Global Holdings Inc. The Hong Kong company claims the rights to broadcast “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” in China.
The SEC claims that Brown, working with Dynkowski, Mangiapane, AIS stockbroker Marc Riviello, 50, of Atherton, and an unidentified company insider, obtained huge amounts of company stock. At one point they held 45 percent of all shares.
They used several tactics to increase volume, including “wash trades” in which they sold and then repurchased shares, the SEC alleged.
To lure investors, Dynkowski told Brown to arrange for a false corporate news release hyping Asia Global’s second quarter results, the SEC said.
“Make it sound ENORMOUS,” Dynkowski told Brown via instant message on Aug. 24, 2006, the lawsuit alleged. Within days, the company publicly claimed that its profit had shot up 370 percent from a year earlier. Dynkowski and Brown sold 7.75 million shares on the news.
Also indicted were Gerard D’Amaro, 38, of Lighthouse Point, Fla., and Angelo R. “Bill” Panetta, 48, of Montebello.
Panetta, who was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice for his testimony to a grand jury, was the only criminal defendant who was not also sued by the SEC.
If convicted, they could be sentenced to as much as 20 years on each count.
The SEC also sued Boston website developer Nathan Michaud, whom it alleged helped Dynkowski manipulate the stock of Asia Global, and former University of Delaware student Adam S. Rosengard of Voorhees, N.J., who allegedly held stock for Dynkowski. Neither was indicted.
The SEC seeks a court order compelling the defendants in its lawsuit to disgorge ill-gotten gains.
The case began more than two years ago. A February 2007 story in the San Angelo (Tex.) Standard-Times described how a state trooper helped break open a money-laundering case when he arrested a courier carrying $155,300 in cash from California to Delaware.
“That’s how it began,” Hanson said, “with a routine car stop of a guy who was delivering money across the country.”
O.C. stock board founder, broker indicted for fraud
May 21st, 2009, 2:58 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Ronald Campbell
The 26-year-old founder of an Aliso Viejo-based stock board, an Orange County stockbroker and a stock promoter are among seven people indicted in an alleged penny-stock scam.
Federal prosecutors unsealed the indictments against the seven on Wednesday. The Securities and Exchange Commission simultaneously filed a lawsuit in federal court in Delaware against six of the seven criminal defendants plus two others.
The lawsuit alleged the men cleared $6.2 million by allegedly manipulating the price of several penny stocks.
Among those indicted were Matthew Brown, the operator of the stock board InvestorsHub.com in Aliso Viejo; Joseph Mangiapane Jr., 43, of Laguna Niguel, owner of Irvine broker-dealer AIS Financial, and Mission Viejo stock promoter Jacob Canceli, 50.
The key figure in the case was Pawel Dynkowski, a 24-year-old Polish citizen, formerly of Newark, Del. Dynkowski is the only criminal defendant who has not yet been arrested, Assistant U.S. Attorney Shannon Hanson said.
All the other defendants have been released on bond, she said. Dynkowski’s attorney had no comment on the charges against his client. None of the Orange County defendants or their attorneys could be reached.
However, in a post on InvestorsHub Thursday afternoon, someone who appeared to be Brown wrote, “You guys know the deal — I can’t say much without my legal counsel ripping my head off (certainly the way I write). If/when I’m cleared to update everyone, I will.”
The indictments and lawsuit allege that Dynkowski, Brown and the others operated a so-called “pump-and-dump” scam in the shares of five tiny companies.
The scheme allegedly worked like this: First, with insiders’ help, they obtained huge amounts of stock in a target company. Then they engaged in phony trades to create the impression of an active market in the stock. At the same time they issued phony press releases, using InvestorsHub and other boards to attract investors’ attention.
That was the “pump.”
Then they sold their stock to an unsuspecting public. That was the “dump.”
The most lucrative scheme, allegedly generating $4 million in profits, involved Asia Global Holdings Inc. The Hong Kong company claims the rights to broadcast “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” in China.
The SEC claims that Brown, working with Dynkowski, Mangiapane, AIS stockbroker Marc Riviello, 50, of Atherton, and an unidentified company insider, obtained huge amounts of company stock. At one point they held 45 percent of all shares.
They used several tactics to increase volume, including “wash trades” in which they sold and then repurchased shares, the SEC alleged.
To lure investors, Dynkowski told Brown to arrange for a false corporate news release hyping Asia Global’s second quarter results, the SEC said.
“Make it sound ENORMOUS,” Dynkowski told Brown via instant message on Aug. 24, 2006, the lawsuit alleged. Within days, the company publicly claimed that its profit had shot up 370 percent from a year earlier. Dynkowski and Brown sold 7.75 million shares on the news.
Also indicted were Gerard D’Amaro, 38, of Lighthouse Point, Fla., and Angelo R. “Bill” Panetta, 48, of Montebello.
Panetta, who was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice for his testimony to a grand jury, was the only criminal defendant who was not also sued by the SEC.
If convicted, they could be sentenced to as much as 20 years on each count.
The SEC also sued Boston website developer Nathan Michaud, whom it alleged helped Dynkowski manipulate the stock of Asia Global, and former University of Delaware student Adam S. Rosengard of Voorhees, N.J., who allegedly held stock for Dynkowski. Neither was indicted.
The SEC seeks a court order compelling the defendants in its lawsuit to disgorge ill-gotten gains.
The case began more than two years ago. A February 2007 story in the San Angelo (Tex.) Standard-Times described how a state trooper helped break open a money-laundering case when he arrested a courier carrying $155,300 in cash from California to Delaware.
“That’s how it began,” Hanson said, “with a routine car stop of a guy who was delivering money across the country.”
