CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (1010 WINS) — A Central Islip federal court sentenced a shady stock broker to 10 years in prison on Thursday for his role in an illegal pump-and-dump scheme that targeted elderly and vulnerable people.
Former stock broker Jeffrey Chartier, 59, and his co-defendant Lawrence Isen, 69, used a boiler room — a call center that uses high pressure sales tactics to target vulnerable buyers — to artificially inflate the stock value of four failing businesses before dumping his own shares.
Between 2014 and 2016, Chartier, Isen and fourteen other collaborators from the boiler room waged an aggressive, illegal cold call campaign to inflate the stock values of National Waste Management Holdings Inc., CES Synergies Inc., Hydrocarb Energy Corp. and Intelligent Content Enterprises Inc.
Once the price was high, he dumped his own shares, causing the value to plummet and leaving his victims holding the bag.
His market manipulation inflated the stock prices of the four flailing businesses by more than $147 million, regulators estimated.
"Jeffrey Chartier and his confederates lined their pockets with the lifetime savings of hard-working citizens they victimized all around the country," said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace. "Today's sentences should serve as a reminder to so-called white-collar criminals that this Office will hold them accountable for their selfish actions and the devastation they inflict upon the lives and families of others."
All 16 collaborators were convicted.
In addition to the 10-year sentence, Chartier was ordered to pay over $1 million forfeiture and over $6 million in restitution.
