The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued charges against a New Jersey man and his company in regard to illicitly pocketing $13 million from an elaborate pump-and-dump scheme.
The agency alleges that Samuel DelPresto teamed up with others to secretly obtain control of substantially all available stock in four microcap companies and to facilitate coordinated trading that created the appearance of liquidity and market demand for the stocks.
After unwitting investors were enticed through promotional campaigns to buy the stock at inflated prices, DelPresto then dumped his shares on the market.
According to the SEC’s complaint, the microcap companies manipulated by DelPresto were: BioNeutral Group (BONU), NXT Nutritionals Holdings (NXTH), Mesa Energy Holdings (MSEH), and Clear-Lite Holdings (CLRH).
Andrew M. Calamari, Regional Director of the SEC’s New York office, commented on the charges:
The series of fraudulent schemes alleged in our complaint enticed unwitting investors to pay inflated prices for four companies secretly controlled by DelPresto and others and then left the investors holding the bag when the manipulative activity ceased and the stock price dropped.
In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey Wednesday announced criminal charges against DelPresto.
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