NEW YORK (AP) - Nine securities brokers were charged Tuesday with conspiracy to commit securities fraud and other charges stemming from a scheme in which they allegedly made more than $2 million in illegal profits through phony initial public offerings.
A five-count federal indictment alleges that the brokers operated a securities ``boiler room'' - a name given to a room where phone solicitors employ deceptive, high-pressure sales tactics - at a branch office of Nationwide Securities, Inc., a now-defunct Wall Street firm.
The indictment alleges that from October 1995 through April 1995, Nationwide underwrote IPOs of the securities of two corporations - Gaylord Companies, Inc., and Thermo-Mizer Environmental Corp. Both are Delaware companies.
Gaylord specialized in books, cookware and serving equipment; Thermo-Mizer designed, produced and marketed products to monitor environmental conditions.
The defendants allegedly manipulated the market price and demand for securities involved in the two IPOs by placing the securities in the names of nominees who were their wives, girlfriends, grandmothers and in-laws, said Mary Jo White, U.S. Attorney for the Manhattan office.
The nominees allegedly held the securities until the defendants could control the timing and disposition of the securities. Then the defendants allegedly obtained all or a portion of the proceeds from later sales.
According to the indictment, the defendants made hundreds of telephone calls a day from the boiler room to solicit customers.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced separately the filing of a civil action against some of the defendants allegedly involved in the scheme.
All nine defendants were charged with one count each of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud and commercial bribery, and two counts each of securities fraud.
Two defendants - Thomas J. Desimone, 27, of Staten Island, and Marco G. Fiore, Jr., 34, of Bayville - were also charged with one count each of perjury and making false statements.
The other seven defendants were identified as: Benjamin V. Salmonese, Jr., 32, of Brooklyn; Frank Piscitelli, 32, of Massapequa; Thomas Deceglie, 39, of Old Bridge, N.Y.; Peter C. Restivo, 29, of Valley Stream; David C. Lavender, 31, of Manhattan; Michael J. Eisemann, 42, of Levittown; and Michael Ricottone, 34, of Brooklyn. |
