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Nine Indicted in $140M International Penny Stock Fraud, New York 2023
BROOKLYN, NY – Nine individuals have been indicted for their roles in one of the largest international penny stock frauds in history, generating more than $140 million in losses for victims in approximately 35 nations.
The indictment charges Sandy Winick, Gary Kershner, Joseph Manfredonia, Cort Poyner, Songkram Roy Shachaisere, William Seals, and six other defendants with 24 counts of securities fraud, wire fraud, and false personation of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees.
As set forth in court filings, the defendants masterminded securities fraud and advance fee schemes that victimized investors and generated more than $140 million through various brokerage and bank accounts under their control.
The investigation, which included significant assistance from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), other U.S. law enforcement agencies, and law enforcement authorities in England, Thailand, and China, resulted in the arrests of six men in New York, Arizona, New Jersey, Florida, and California, as well as a seventh defendant on a provisional arrest warrant in Ontario, Canada.
The defendants are charged in two separate but interrelated schemes. The first scheme involved an international ‘pump and dump’ scheme, in which they fraudulently ‘pumped up’ the share price of worthless penny stocks and then ‘dumped’ billions of shares of those stocks by unloading them on unsuspecting victim investors across the globe.
The second scheme involved boiler rooms in at least four countries that induced investors to pay advance fees that the defendants promised would enable the victim-investors to sell their penny stocks and recover losses that they incurred. In reality, the defendants simply stole the fees without providing any services, fraudulently extracting millions of additional dollars from their victims.
The charges and arrests were announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; George Venizelos, Assistant Director-in-Charge, FBI, New York Field Office; and other law enforcement officials.
The defendants are accused of orchestrating one of the largest international penny stock frauds in history, generating more than $120 million worth of losses for victims in 35 nations.
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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