David B. Stocker, Securities Fraud, Virginia 2009
A Phoenix-based securities attorney has been sentenced to 33 months in prison for his role in a pump-and-dump scheme involving 19 publicly traded companies.
David B. Stocker, of Phoenix, was sentenced on April 13, 2009 in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., for his participation in a stock manipulation conspiracy.
The scheme, known as a "pump-and-dump" scheme, involved defrauding investors by issuing millions of "free-trading" shares to co-conspirators in transactions that had not been registered with the SEC.
As part of his plea, Stocker admitted to acting as securities counsel for companies and fraudulently causing them to issue the unregistered shares.
After the shares were issued, co-conspirators manipulated the trading value of the companies' stock through coordinated trades and making false and misleading statements in press releases and spam e-mails.
According to court records, the scheme resulted in losses of $6,360,191 for unsuspecting investors, including those in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Stocker was also ordered to pay a money judgment of $2,175,993 and to forfeit other property and assets.
The scheme was part of a larger conspiracy involving 19 publicly traded companies, including eDollars Inc; Emerging Holdings Inc.; MassClick Inc.; China Score Inc.; American Television and Film Company Inc.; Auction Mills Inc.; Custom-Designed Compressor Systems Inc.; Ecogate Inc.; Media International Concepts Inc.; Vanquish Productions Inc.; AVL Global Inc.; Motion DNA Corp.; PokerBook Gaming Corp.; TKO Holding Ltd; Body Scan Inc.; Integrity Messenger Corp.; Beverly Hills Film Studios; IFINIX Inc.; and V3 Global Inc.
Key Facts
- State: Virginia
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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