Defendants Allegedly Induced Elderly Investors to Purchase
Artificially Inflated Stock of a Publicly Traded Company
Earlier today, in federal court in Central Islip, an
indictment was unsealed charging Benjamin Conde, Chief Executive Officer of
Essex Global Investments and President of Facultas Capital Management, and
Lawrence Isen, the owner of Marketbyte, LLC, a purported stock promotion firm,
with conducting a “pump and dump” scheme to defraud investors in Renewable
Energy and Power, Inc. (RBNW). The charges
include conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud,
conspiracy to commit money laundering and substantive securities fraud. The defendants were arrested this morning and
Conde will be arraigned this afternoon before United States District Judge
Joanna Seybert at the United States Courthouse in Central Islip. Isen’s appearance for removal to the Eastern
District of New York is scheduled for this afternoon at the federal courthouse in
San Diego, California.
Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the
Eastern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney, Jr., Assistant
Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office
(FBI), announced the charges.
“As alleged, Conde and Isen joined forces with a ‘boiler
room’ crew to defraud investors, many of them elderly, and enrich themselves at
the expense of their victims,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue. “The Department of Justice has made it a
priority to hold accountable those who use our financial markets as a venue to
lie, cheat and steal.” Mr. Donoghue
expressed his grateful appreciation to the United States Securities and
Exchange Commission for its significant cooperation and assistance in the
investigation.
As alleged in the indictment, between March 2017 and July
2017, Conde and Isen hired a purported financial services business in Melville,
New York, known by a number of names including My Street Research, that
operated as a high pressure “boiler room.”
The boiler room engaged in a pump and dump scheme to defraud investors
in RBNW. As part of the scheme, the
defendants and their co-conspirators artificially controlled the price and
volume of traded shares and made misrepresentations to victim investors, many
of whom were senior citizens, relating to the advisability of purchasing RBNW
stock and its profitability. The scheme
generated over $3.1 million in trading profits for the defendants and their
co-conspirators and losses for the victim investors when the stock price
plummeted.
The defendants attempted to conceal the scheme by laundering
approximately $2.8 million in fraudulently obtained proceeds.
The charges in the indictment are allegations, and the
defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, Conde and Isen each face up to
20 years’ imprisonment.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s
Long Island Criminal Division. Assistant
United States Attorney Erin E. Argo is in charge of the prosecution.
The Defendants:
BENJAMIN CONDE
Age: 56
Fairfield, New Jersey
LAWRENCE ISEN
Age: 66
San Diego, California
E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 19-CR-432 (JS)
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