Jonathan Curshen, $7 Million Stock Manipulation Scam, Florida 2007

A Costa Rican brokerage firm principal and a Las Vegas stock promoter have been convicted of their roles in a stock manipulation scheme that defrauded investors out of $7 million.

Jonathan Curshen, 47, the principal of Red Sea Management and Sentry Global Securities, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud and mail fraud; two counts of mail fraud; and conspiracy to commit international money laundering.

Nathan Montgomery, 30, a Las Vegas stock promoter, was found guilty of conspiring to commit securities fraud and wire fraud.

The evidence at trial showed that in January and February 2007, Curshen and Montgomery were involved in a scheme to illegally manipulate the stock price of CO2 Tech (ticker CTTD), which traded on the Pink Sheets.

Evidence at trial showed that Curshen’s and Montgomery’s co-conspirators controlled the outstanding shares of CO2 Tech, which were used in the stock manipulation scheme.

At sentencing, Curshen faces a sentence of up to five years in prison on the conspiracy to defraud count, and up to 20 years on each count of mail fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

Montgomery faces a sentence of up to five years in prison.

The scheme was designed to artificially inflate the price of CO2 Tech shares to make it appear that it had significant business prospects.

According to the evidence at trial, Montgomery and his co-conspirators fraudulently ‘pumped’ the market price and demand for CO2 Tech stock through coordinated trades and press releases that were designed to create the appearance of legitimate buying interest by legitimate investors.

The evidence showed that as Montgomery and his conspirators pumped the price of the stock, Curshen and his conspirators facilitated the ‘dumping’ of shares through the trading desk at Red Sea and Sentry Global Securities by selling the shares to the general investing public.

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