Here's an interesting piece to email our fav. MM hehehehe..
OT: More Fraud News :
Two In Boiler Room Scheme Sentenced To 57 Months In Jail
08/04/2005
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Two ex-principals of now-defunct Walsh Manning Securities LLC have been sentenced to 57 months in prison in connection with a "boiler room" scheme to manipulate the price of four stocks, according to prosecutors.
In a press release late Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney's office said Frank Skelly, 39 years old, of Jupiter, Fla., and Craig Gross, 40 years old, of Kings Park, N.Y., were sentenced in federal court in Manhattan last week.
The two men were convicted in October 2004 of one count of conspiracy and three counts of securities fraud in connection with a scheme to manipulate the stocks of Brake Headquarters Inc., American HealthChoice Inc. (AMHI), Multimedia Games Inc. (MGAM) and Jenna Lane Inc.
Prosecutors said Gross and Skelly, between November 1995 and summer 1998, conspired with owners of defunct Foster Jeffries, defunct JB Sutton and a broker at another firm to artificially inflate the market price of those stocks, earning millions of dollars in the process.
The government said that Gross and Skelly purchased large amounts of these securities at below-market prices and then used boiler-room techniques, or high-pressure sales pushes, to sell the shares to investors at artificially inflated prices.
Prosecutors said the total amount of loss to clients exceeded $80 million.
A federal judge is expected to set the amount of restitution in the case at a hearing on Aug. 24.
Lawyers for Gross and Skelly weren't immediately available for comment.
-By Chad Bray, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-227-2017; chad.bray@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
