Surprise!
Feds crack huge fraud ring
More than 100 charged in biggest
securities fraud bust in U.S. history
June 14, 2000: 10:01 a.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) - Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Wednesday they
were set to disclose the largest securities fraud crackdown in U.S. history with
charges brought against more than 100 people, including members of all five
organized crime families.
The charges were detailed in court papers expected to be unsealed in U.S.
District Court in Manhattan prior to a midday news conference, said Marvin
Smilon, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White.
Among those charged in the mammoth scheme are a former New York Police
Department detective, a major West Coast investment adviser, stock
promoters, brokers, and officers, directors and other insiders of several
companies, Smilon said.
The participants allegedly engaged in racketeering, using bribery, extortion and
even solicited murder to further frauds that reaped millions of dollars in illegal
profits.
In recent years, members of organized crime families have surfaced more
frequently in securities fraud investigations.
Authorities said mobsters have tried to infiltrate Wall Street because they have
been forced out of many of their more traditional rackets and because dramatic
rises in the value of stocks has convinced them there is easy money to be
made. |
