A Las Vegas financial advisor was hit with a Newark, N.J., federal grand jury criminal indictment Monday for allegedly participating in a $30 million “pump and dump” scheme.

According to the indictment, Donald Toomer and his colleagues artificially “pumped” the value of four microcap stocks between 2008 and 2010 and then sold them to unwitting clients before the prices plummeted.

Toomer allegedly told his customers falsely he had done independent research on the firms and failed to tell them he had received cash to bogusly promote the stocks as legitimate high fliers.

The companies promoted were BioNeutral Group, NXT Nutritionals Holdings Inc., Mesa Energy Holdings and Clear-Lite Holdings.

Toomer faces a maximum of 45 years in prison and over $10 million in fines.

Also on Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil suit against him for in the purported fraud, seeking return of the ill-gotten gains to investors and a bar from participating in penny stock operations.

An alleged co-conspirator, Samuel DelPresto, 48, of  Holmdel, N.J., pleaded guilty to a one-count charge of securities fraud last week for his role in the scheme.