Prosecutors assert that Sharp leveraged the Q system to track total holdings and facilitate payments through fictitious invoices, all while promoting his services as a means of “keeping clients out of jail.”
While Sharp orchestrated the covert platform, Carrillo, Veldhuis, and Sexton engaged in promotional campaigns for the controlled stocks. Courtney M. Kelln is accused of creating documents pivotal in the transfer of stocks. The indictment spans a period from 2012 to 2020, revealing a prolonged and intricate financial plot.
California Attorney Indicted in $140M Pump-and-Dump: Anatomy of the Scheme
The pump-and-dump scheme typically involves an investor purchasing low-value stocks, transferring them to shell entities, and then artificially inflating their value to deceive unsuspecting investors. In this case, the indictment identifies four companies whose shares were manipulated between 2015 and 2018, resulting in substantial proceeds: OneLife Technologies ($5.2 million), Garmatex Holdings Ltd. ($5 million), Pure Snax International Inc. ($1.6 million), and Vitality BioPharma Inc. ($17 million).
Co-Conspirators and Legal Fallout
The indictment reveals Roger “Rocket” Knox, the mastermind behind Wintercap SA, as an alleged co-conspirator. Knox, sentenced to three years in prison in October, was granted a year to self-report. The document also identifies Richard Targett-Adams and five unnamed co-conspirators.
