A man who authorities say fled to Costa Rica after the prosecution of a more than $43 million stock fraud case came to light in 2008 was ordered on Wednesday to remain in jail while the criminal case against him is pending.
Joshua Wayne Lankford poses an “extremely high” flight risk, U.S. Magistrate Frank McCarthy found Wednesday in denying the defense’s request that bail be set.
Lankford, 38, was one of five men indicted in Tulsa federal court in January 2009 on allegations that they plotted, from 2004 through 2006, to “pump up” the stock of companies and then dump the stocks at the expense of thousands of investors.
FBI Special Agent Christina Brady testified last week that Lankford obtained about $5 million through the plot, which court documents say generated more than $43 million overall.
Several months before the indictment was issued, Mark Byron Lindberg, 44, pleaded guilty on July 22, 2008, to conspiring to commit wire and securities fraud.
Brady testified May 31 that Lankford flew to Costa Rica on July 26, 2008, just four days after Lindberg’s plea. Judge’s decision
Lankford’s attorney, James Fatigante, argued that Lankford had not been charged when he went to Costa Rica in July 2008 and had not been told by authorities to stay in the United States.
McCarthy said he found it “particularly disturbing” that Lankford left his family — including his children — behind in the United States.
Lankford stayed in Costa Rica until being flown to Tulsa in the custody of U.S. marshals on May 24, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Depew.
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