Investor Relations Professional And Registered Broker Plead Guilty To $131M Securities Fraud

[nitpicker]

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/investor-relations-professional-and-registered-broker-plead-guilty-securities-fraud

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Eastern District of New York

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, November 3, 2016

Investor Relations Professional And Registered Broker Plead Guilty To Securities Fraud For Participating In A $131 Million Market Manipulation Scheme

Defendants Profited By Selling To Investors Worthless Stock Of A Company That Purported To Be A Worldwide Distributor And Provider Of LED Lighting Products And Solutions

Earlier today, Jared Mitchell, an investor relations professional, and Maroof Miyana, a registered broker, pleaded guilty to securities fraud in connection with the fraudulent market manipulation of ForceField Energy Inc. (ForceField), a publicly-traded company listed on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “FNRG.” The guilty pleas were each entered before United States Magistrate Judge Ramon E. Reyes, Jr. at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York. When sentenced, Mitchell and Miyana each face up to 20 years in prison, as well as restitution, criminal forfeiture, and a fine.
(snip)

According to court filings and facts presented at the plea hearings, between January 2009 and April 2015, the defendants, together with others, engaged in a scheme to defraud investors in ForceField, a purported worldwide distributor and provider of LED lighting products and solutions, by artificially controlling the price and volume of traded shares of ForceField through, among other means: (1) using nominees to purchase and sell ForceField stock without disclosing this information to investors and potential investors; (2) orchestrating the trading of ForceField stock to create the appearance of genuine trading volume and interest in the stock; and (3) concealing payments to stock promoters and broker dealers who promoted and sold ForceField stock to investors and potential investors while claiming to be independent of the company. The defendants’ fraudulent scheme caused a loss of approximately $131 million to the investing public.

Between October 2014 and April 2015, a ForceField executive paid commission payments, or kickbacks, to Mitchell in exchange for the registered broker defendants’ purchasing ForceField stock in their clients’ brokerage accounts; Mitchell would distribute a portion of the kickbacks to the registered brokers, including Miyana, and keep a portion of the kickback for himself. The registered broker defendants did not disclose to their clients the kickbacks they were receiving for purchasing ForceField stock. Mitchell, Miyana, and their co-conspirators took pains to conceal their participation in the fraudulent scheme by using prepaid, disposable cellular telephones and encrypted, content-expiring messaging applications to communicate with each other, and by paying kickbacks in cash.
(snip)

[Sherman A1]

1. I would hope that all of his assets are sold off

in order to make restitution to those defrauded. Perhaps then he can work a nice minimum wage job after that to make up any shortfall.