Owner of Stock Lending Firm Convicted by Jury in 100 Million Stock-Loan Fraud Scheme

[nitpicker]

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr/owner-stock-lending-firm-convicted-jury-100-million-stock-loan-fraud-scheme

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Southern District of California

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, November 21, 2016

Owner of Stock Lending Firm Convicted by Jury in $100 Million Stock-Loan Fraud Scheme

SAN DIEGO – Jeffrey Spanier, a 51-year-old former owner of Amerifund Capital Finance, LLC located in Boca Raton, Florida, was convicted by a federal jury today for his role in an elaborate stock-loan fraud scheme in which executives and shareholders of publicly traded corporations collectively lost over $100 million when the stock they pledged as collateral for loans was immediately sold in order to fund the loans.
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During the trial, the government offered testimony from several executives, many of whom had faithfully paid off their loans over a period of years, completely unaware that their pledged stock had been sold. All testified of the frustration, emotional stress, and grief they experienced when they unsuccessfully attempted to recover their stock once the loan balance was paid, and ultimately realized they were the victims of a massive fraud. Victims came from the United States as well as Canada, Mexico, China, Hong Kong, and the Netherlands.

Following a lengthy investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Spanier was indicted on March 9, 2012, along with Douglas McClain, Jr. and James Miceli. All were charged with multiple counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering. On May 31, 2013, a federal jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts in the indictment against McClain. Miceli committed suicide shortly before that trial.
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Following an appeal in the prior criminal case, Spanier was re-indicted on July 1, 2016 on charges of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, and securities fraud. According to the evidence presented at trial, Spanier and his company (Amerifund Capital Finance) conspired with McClain and Miceli to defraud clients by falsely representing that San Diego-based Argyll Equities, LLC was an institutional lender with significant cash to lend to corporate executives and other individuals. Spanier and the co-conspirators falsely represented to borrowers that their stock would not be sold unless there was a default on the loan, and concealed from borrowers the truth about the fees Spanier was getting from deals. In fact, much of the stock was immediately sold by the conspirators to fund the loans made to the clients, and Spanier earned millions of dollars in fees from these fraudulent loans.

The evidence also showed that Spanier, McClain, and others fraudulently induced the borrowers to make monthly interest payments on their loans by falsely representing that their collateral was safe and would be returned as long as they did not default. At the end of the loan terms, when borrowers paid off their loans, Spanier and McClain kept the money and provided false excuses about why they could not return their stock.
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[Stuart G]

1. What a crook,, I hope he gets a nice long time in the slammer...