Third, they fraudulently concealed their control of shares of the manipulated public companies that were held in brokerage accounts in the names of other individuals or entities. Finally, Hardy and other defendants conspired to launder approximately $14.7 million in proceeds of the stock manipulation scheme.
There are 16 defendants in this case. Hardy and Jean are the ninth and 10th defendants, respectively, to plead guilty. The eight defendants who previously pleaded guilty to various charges for their participation in this scheme are Erik Matz, a manager at the boiler room, cold callers Brian Heepke, Dennis Verderosa, Emin L. Cohen, Paul Ewer, Ashley Antos and Sergio Ramirez, and Robert Gilbert, a cold caller operating from his own company.
Hardy faces a maximum of 20 years’ imprisonment and Jean faces a maximum of five years’ imprisonment.
