Justin Herman, Charles Winters Jr., Ian Horn, Securities Fraud, Wyoming 2021

A federal jury in Cheyenne, Wyoming has returned guilty verdicts against Justin Herman, 50, of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, and Charles Winters Jr., 61, of Bradenton, Florida, in a stock fraud case involving NuTech Energy Resources Inc.

Herman and Winters were convicted of fraud and identity theft crimes. Attorney Ian Horn, 67, of Brandon, Florida, was acquitted of the charged fraud crimes but convicted of making a false statement to the grand jury.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Herman and Winters conspired with Robert ‘Bob’ Mitchell, who pleaded guilty earlier this year, to pump and dump NuTech stock. A ‘pump and dump’ is a form of securities fraud where the conspirators manipulate demand for a stock and the stock’s price, and then sell their worthless shares of the stock to the public at the artificially high price.

As part of the conspiracy, Herman and Winters used altered, backdated, and forged documents to acquire 13 billion free-trading shares of NuTech common stock. The conspirators then artificially inflated the market price of NuTech common stock by manipulative trading and by releasing to the public false and misleading information about NuTech’s business prospects.

The conspirators released information online to create a false image for NuTech as a company located in Gillette that was operating gas wells in Wyoming using a patented technology. In reality, NuTech had no business, no revenue, and no paid employees in Wyoming or elsewhere.

Herman and Winters were each found guilty of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and multiple counts of aggravated identity theft. Herman faces a mandatory two-year prison sentence and could be sentenced to a maximum of 53 years in prison. Winters also faces a mandatory two-year prison sentence and could be sentenced to a maximum of 49 years in prison.

Horn was found guilty of making a false statement to the grand jury and could be sentenced to a maximum of 5 years in prison. The defendants are scheduled to be sentenced by the Honorable Alan B. Johnson, United States District Court Judge, in Cheyenne on January 5, 2022.

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