Callers claimed to be investors interested in buying the stocks from the victims and falsely said they needed money for a legal opinion before completing the sale, prosecutors said in a court filing in May.

Winick was one of 12 men accused of taking part in the schemes. The rest have either pleaded guilty to related charges or were convicted at trial.

In November 2015, Arizona business owner Gary Kershner and California stock promoter Songkram Sahachaisere were found guilty by a federal jury in Brooklyn of fraud charges stemming from the pump-and-dump. Prosecutors alleged that victims lost $95 million.

Shell Companies

The men "took advantage of the investing public and sold them worthless stock of shell companies that were propped up by false press releases," Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Robert Capers said in a statement.

Winick, 58, previously ran Blackout Media Corp., a company registered in Wyoming with an address in Thailand that purportedly served as a holding firm for digital television, radio, Internet and printing subsidiaries, according to a complaint brought in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit. Winick actually used the firm, however, as a launchpad for worthless penny stocks, according to the agency.

From April 2002 to May 2004, the company, also known as First American Canadian American Holding Corp., spun off 59 subsidiaries by selling securities that weren’t registered, the SEC alleged. The agency said that Blackout Media and Winick violated registration, reporting and proxy provisions of federal securities laws through the spinoffs.

Peddling Ban

A Manhattan federal judge granted the SEC’s request in 2012 to ban Winick permanently from peddling penny stocks and ordered him to pay $4 million in penalties. In 2013, the Ontario Securities Commission also banned Winick from trading over the sale of shares in companies known as Liquid Gold International Corp. and BFM industries Inc. Those companies didn’t have any legitimate business operations, and Winick used the investors’ money to pay his living expenses, the OSC found.

A woman who became romantically involved with Winick and helped him in his Canadian schemes told the Commission that he was a "very secretive man, who splurged on expensive cars and vacations,” the Toronto Star reported in 2014. At Winick’s request, the woman, Andrea McCarthy, agreed to incorporate BFM Industries and list herself as a director, according to the Star.
 

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