Pump and dump!4 Mar 2018 08:48
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, March 2, 2018
Six Individuals And Four Corporate Defendants Indicted In $50 Million International Securities Fraud And Money Laundering Schemes
Defendants Proposed that Undercover Law Enforcement Agent Purchase a Pablo Picasso Painting to Launder Fraudulent Profits From Stock Manipulation Scheme
A multi-count indictment was unsealed yesterday, in federal court in Brooklyn, against Panayiotis Kyriacou, Arvinsingh Canaye, Adrian Baron, Linda Bullock, Matthew Green, and Aristos Aristodemou; Beaufort Securities Ltd (�Beaufort Securities�), a brokerage firm located in London, United Kingdom; Beaufort Management Services Ltd (�Beaufort Management�), an off-shore management company located in Mauritius; Loyal Bank Ltd (�Loyal Bank�), an off-shore bank with offices in Budapest, Hungary and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; and Loyal Agency and Trust Corp. (�Loyal Agency�), an off-shore management company located in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The charges include conspiracy to commit securities fraud and money laundering conspiracy. Canaye was arrested yesterday and is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Vera M. Scanlon at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn.
Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, William F. Sweeney, Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), and James D. Robnett, Special Agent-in-Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, New York (IRS-CI), announced the charges.
�As alleged in the indictment, the defendants engaged in an elaborate multi-year scheme to defraud the investing public of millions of dollars through deceit and manipulative stock trading, and then worked to launder the fraudulent proceeds through off-shore bank accounts and the art world, including the proposed purchase of a Picasso painting,� stated United States Attorney Donoghue. �The charges announced today reflect that this Office, together with our law enforcement partners, is committed to holding accountable those who defraud investors, regardless of the complex schemes they use to hide their ill-gotten gains.� Mr. Donoghue thanked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), both the New York Regional Office and the Washington, D.C. Office, the City of London Police, the U.K.�s Financial Conduct Authority and the Hungarian National Bureau of Investigation for their significant cooperation and assistance during the investigation.
�As alleged, in a series of unscrupulous and illegal trading practices, the defendants contrived a scheme to defraud investors of U.S. publicly traded companies by manipulating stock prices and masking the true ownership of their clients� financial interests,� stated Assistant Director-in-Charge Sweeney. �I