Three U.S. men and one man living in France have pleaded guilty to charges related to a stock manipulation scheme that included
sending out tens of millions of spam messages to pump up the stock value of 15 companies, the U.S. Department of Justice said
Thursday.
The four men cost investors more than US$20 million in their so-called pump-and-dump scheme, the DOJ said.
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Michael Saquella, also known as Michael Paloma, 47, of Mesa, Arizona., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia in Alexandria on Aug. 20. Lawrence J. Kaplan, 63, of Scottsdale, Arizona, pleaded guilty on July 25,
in Alexandria to similar charges. Henry "Hank" J. Zemla, 38, of Harris Township, Michigan, also pleaded guilty in federal
court in Alexandria on July 20.
The three defendants are scheduled to be sentenced between late November and early February.
Saquella pleaded guilty to a criminal information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and
one count of electronic mail fraud involving 15 publicly traded companies. Kaplan pleaded guilty to a criminal information
charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud involving 14 of these companies, and Zemla pleaded guilty
to a criminal information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud involving one of the companies.
The plea agreements for all three defendants were unsealed Thursday.
The scheme involved stocks from companies including eDollars Inc., Xtreme Technologies Inc, and PokerBook Gaming Corp.
Justin Medlin, 26, of Paris, also pleaded guilty in federal court in Alexandria on Aug. 20 to a criminal information charging
him with one count of electronic mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and electronic mail fraud
involving seven of the companies. Medlin's plea agreement was unsealed Thursday. He will be sentenced on Nov. 30.
The maximum penalties for each of the fraud charges is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.
