4 Brokerage Firm Officers Sentenced
.c The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - Three officers of a Long Island stock brokerage have been sentenced to prison terms and fined for concealing the employment of a trader who had been banned for life from the securities industry.
The defendants, officers of Renaissance Securities Financial Corp. of Mineola, were convicted last month after a seven-week trial in which they were accused of lying about the role of Stanley Cohen in the firm's affairs and then trying to thwart an investigation into his activities.
The federal Securities and Exchange Commission had barred Cohen, 62, of Jericho, N.Y., from trading stocks and bonds for life in 1973 because of frauds he committed at the Wall Street firm of Cohen, Goren Equities Inc.
Authorities said he had been working as a broker at Renaissance.
Cohen was sentenced Tuesday to 1 1/2 to 4 1/2 years in prison and a $35,000 fine. His son, Adam Cohen, 32, of Great Neck, N.Y., got a six-month sentence, 1,000 hours of community service and a $10,000 fine. The younger Cohen was the former president of Renaissance.
Another Renaissance officer, Jamie Scher, 35, of Woodbury, N.Y., was sentenced to five years probation, 1,500 hours of community service, and fined $10,000. Scher is Stanley Cohen's daughter and was in-house counsel.
Todd Spehler, 41, of Bellmore, N.Y., the chief executive officer of Renaissance, was sentenced last week to six months in prison, five years probation, 1,000 hours of community service and a $5,000 fine.
AP-NY-02-05-02 1901EST |
