OT: The manipulation is all over the place. Got this from another board - the link was posted later but can't find it now.
OT: DJ DOJ: Organized Crime Members Charged In Penny Stock Fraud By Chad Bray Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Members of the reputed Colombo and Luchese organized-crime families have been charged with manipulating the market for penny stocks as part of a broader racketeering case in Brooklyn, federal prosecutors said.
In an indictment unsealed Thursday, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn alleges at least six of 10 men the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested on Thursday on racketeering charges secretly controlled at least 15 branch offices of brokerage firms in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island.
Through those branches, prosecutors claim they ran a scheme to artificially inflate the price of penny stocks.
Prosecutors described it as a classic "pump and dump" scheme, in which licensed and unlicensed brokers misrepresent the prospects of certain stocks to potential investors, in exchange for large commissions.
The defendants then sold their holdings in those stocks at inflated values, costing investors more than $20 million, the government said.
