RE:Lee Sanders/Aviation Group/CC&EC"Among the house stocks Wang admitted manipulating were Renaissance Entertainment Corp, Sel-Leb Marketing Inc , Paravant Computer Systems, Bristol Technology Systems, IFS International Inc, and Aviation Group, Inc."
NY broker jailed for up to 22-1/2 years
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The former head of a New York brokerage firm was sentenced to up to 22-1/2 years in jail by a State Supreme Court judge Tuesday for his role as the "mastermind" in a corruption scam that bilked investors out of $650 million.
Victor Wang, former chairman of the now defunct Duke & Company, pleaded guilty to both state and federal charges in August 1999 of violating securities and antitrust laws and engaging in schemes to defraud customers.
Wang, 38, of Sarasota, Florida, Duke & Company and 24 of his former brokers were accused in a 109-count indictment in May 1999 of a conspiracy scheme to maintain the price of initial public offerings at artificially high levels.
Some 34,000 Duke customers lost millions of dollars through the scheme, while favored customers benefited by selling their securities at the artificially higher prices for quick profits.
"You were the mastermind," Judge William Wetzel said before sentencing Wang to between 7-1/2 and 22-1/2 years in state prison.
Wang told the judge he was remorseful and sorry for what he had done and hoped his prior bad acts would not reflect harshly on his family.
All 24 brokers and the firm were convicted or pleaded guilty to multiple schemes to defraud investors from August 1993 to May 1998. Duke & Company was also accused of secretly conspiring with other broker-dealers to artificially prop up and inflate prices of Duke's house stocks.
Among the house stocks Wang admitted manipulating were Renaissance Entertainment Corp, Sel-Leb Marketing Inc , Paravant Computer Systems, Bristol Technology Systems, IFS International Inc, and Aviation Group, Inc.
In his plea deal, Wang also admitted to laundering profits from his fraudulent activities.
Duke & Company closed its offices in New York in 1998.
05/28/02 19:41 ET |
