SEC News- Once the "pumped" stock reached a certain level – attracting unsuspecting outside investors – the group would sell or "dump" the shares they had been holding to reap a quick profit, the suit alleges.
The schemes sometimes took as little as a week, and in addition to issuing press releases some company officials also provided conspirators with stock in exchange for kickbacks once the fraud was completed, according to court papers.
Acting U.S. Attorney David C. Weiss announced the charges today in a press release along with officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the IRS, the Delaware State Police and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"The integrity of our nation's public stock markets requires protection from those greedy few who engage in market manipulation at the expense of many," said Weiss. "The wide-ranging actions of the defendants demonstrate rampant, serial abuse of the free-market system through a nationwide network of manipulative trading."
In addition to Dynkowski, 24, of Newark, who also has an address in California, the criminal indictments name Joseph Mangiapane Jr., 43, of Laguna Niguel, Calif.; Marc Riviello, 50, of Atherton, Calif.; Matthew W. Brown, 26, of Aliso Viejo, Calif.; Jacob Canceli, 50 of Mission Viejo, Calif.; Gerard D'Amaro, 38, of Lighthouse Point, Fla. And Angelo "Bill" Panetta, 48, of Montebello, Calif.
Canceli and D'Amaro are stock promoters, according to court papers, and Brown operated the penny stock Web site InvestorsHub.com.
