WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — From April 2007 through June 2008, Michael Taxon and Itamar Cohen engaged in a “pump-and-dump” stock manipulations, fraudulently inflating the prices of shares of Raven Gold Corporations and Kentucky USA Energy Inc, the statement said.
“Two Canadian men have admitted their roles in a stock market scheme that artificially inflated the stock price of two publicly traded companies through manipulative trading and other fraudulent means,” Fishman said on Thursday.
The shares were later sold at artificially inflated prices to victim-investors, leading to a drop in the target companies’ stock price and resulting in victims’ losses, the attorney explained.
The scheme generated over $17 million in illegal proceeds, of which Taxon and Cohen netted approximately $2.4 million, according to the statement.
Both Taxon and Cohen face a maximum penalty of five years in prison and $250,000 fines. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for September 2, 2015.
