News on Elgindy: DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
By Michael Rapoport and Carol S. Remond
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK -- Anthony Elgindy , the controversial short-seller and online stock commentator, has been arrested on charges of racketeering, insider trading and market manipulation, a government spokeswoman said Wednesday.
Jan Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the San Diego field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said Elgindy , who lives in the San Diego area, was arrested at his business Tuesday.
Details of the charges against Elgindy weren't immediately available. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn, N.Y., from which the charges originate, said the office would issue a statement about the Elgindy case soon.
Updated May 22, 2002 12:01 p.m. EDT
2 FBI Agents Indicted In US Stock Fraud
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK (AP)--Two FBI agents helped a stock analyst extort publicly traded companies by providing confidential information on investigations of the companies, authorities alleged Wednesday.
Lynn Wingate, an FBI agent assigned to the bureau's Albuquerque, N.M, office; Jeffrey Royer, a former agent who resigned late last year; and analyst Amr ''Tony'' Elgindy were among five defendants charged in a securities fraud indictment unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn.
The indictment accuses the agents of using FBI databases to provide their co-conspirators with inside information, and also to track a grand jury investigation targeting the alleged scheme in exchange for cash.
The charges ''reveal a shocking partnership between an experienced stock manipulator and law enforcement agents, undertaken for their illicit personal financial gain,'' said U.S. Attorney Alan Vinegrad.
Elgindy and an associate, Troy Peters, were in custody in San Diego; Royer and Wingate in Albuquerque; and the fifth defendant, another Elgindy associate, Derrick Cleveland, in Oklahoma City, pending court appearances.
If convicted of conspiracy, each defendant could receive 20 years in prison.
Updated May 22, 2002 12:37 p.m. EDT
Govt Says Elgindy Used Secret FBI Info To Manipulate Stks
By MICHAEL RAPOPORT and CAROL S. REMOND
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK -- Anthony Elgindy, the controversial short-seller and Internet stock commentator, has been charged with manipulating stocks by using secret government information fed to him by collaborators within the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Elgindy was indicted by the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn, N.Y., on charges of racketeering, insider trading, market manipulation, extortion conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Four other people, including a current FBI agent and a former FBI agent, were also indicted.
The indictment alleges that Elgindy, through his FBI contacts, obtained confidential information from FBI databases about criminal history and investigations relating to companies that he was shorting or thinking of shorting. A short-seller sells borrowed shares and profits when a stock declines, so exclusive access to negative information about a company would be valuable to a short.
Elgindy then used the secret information to decide how to invest, prosecutors say, and distributed it to other short-sellers to encourage them to short the stock also. Paid subscribers to Elgindy's e-mail newsletter and investment Web site received the information also, prosecutors said.
In addition, according to the indictment, Elgindy extorted free or cheap shares of stock from the insiders of companies he had targeted in exchange for his agreement to lay off - to stop shorting the companies and stop spreading negative information about them.
Elgindy was even able to spy on the government's grand jury investigation of him through his FBI contacts, prosecutors allege. One of the FBI agents indicted along with Elgindy gleaned information about the probe from an FBI database and told Elgindy of the direction of the investigation and that he was a target, according to the indictment.
A woman at Elgindy's home hung up the phone on a reporter who called seeking comment. Elgindy's attorney couldn't immediately be reached.
Updated May 22, 2002 12:47 p.m. EDT
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