Stockbrokers, Securities Firm Indicted For Racketeering

[Robbien]

Source: North Country Gazette


Posted on Wednesday, 20 of May , 2009 at 10:02 pm

MANHATTAN—-Eleven stockbrokers, three traders and two principal owners of Joseph Stevens & Company, Inc., a defunct securities firm based in Manhattan, were arrested Wednesday for operating a racketeering scheme that netted $6.2 million in unlawful commissions.



The defendants, including the firm itself, were indicted on charges of enterprise corruption, grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, securities fraud and falsifying business records.

The investigation leading to the indictment revealed that the defendants ran Joseph Stevens & Company as a criminal enterprise from January 2001 through December 2005. During that period, the defendants allegedly defrauded 800 victims in more than 5,000 trades valued at $151,286,804.44. By manipulating the market value of carefully selected stocks, the defendants generated more than $6.2 million in unlawful, undisclosed commissions, in violation of New York law and the trust of their customers.



Prosecutors said the investigation further revealed that the defendants repeatedly worked to capture undisclosed compensation while trading stocks, often by manipulating the stock price higher after having pre-arranged orders from their customers. In some cases, the stocks the customers purchased on defendants’ recommendations lost significant value in the days and months following the transactions.

. . .

All of the defendants are being sued in a parallel civil asset forfeiture action for $151,286,804.44.

Read more: http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2009/05/20/stephens_racketeering/

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[PSPS]

1. It's nice to see this happening

It was pretty much institutionalized as a standard way of doing business ever since the days of "Wall $treet Week" and its weekly pump-n-dump show.

[Mind_your_head]

2. Oooohhh ..... focus on the "little guys", while rackerring is systemic eom

[indepat]

5. Racketeering will always be systemic when the Congress has granted a license to racketeer and

will especially flourish in combination with an Executive Branch laissez faire approach to enforcement: to wit, the perfect storm. :P

[Vidar]

3. Of course, this was "a defunct securities firm"; we'd never go after

the active criminals who finance us.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Yowie! It's finally beginning.

They're following the trickle down corruption!

[lonestarnot]

6. wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiipe-out!

:D

[Wednesdays]

7. K&R

:kick: