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Former US Broker Sentenced to Prison Over $131Mln Market Scam

© Flickr / Drew DouglasUS Department of Justice
US Department of Justice - Sputnik International
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Hershel Knippa III, a former registered broker in New York State, was sentenced to 15 months in prison over his role in a $131-million stock market manipulation scheme, the US Department of Justice said in a press release on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — According to the case, Knippa and others engaged in a six-year scheme to defraud ForceField investors by controlling the price of the stock’s shares with secret trades and sales.

"Knippa had previously pled guilty to securities fraud conspiracy for his role in the fraudulent market manipulation of ForceField Energy Inc. (ForceField), a publicly traded company previously listed on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol ‘FNRG’," the release stated.

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Furthermore, Knippa received financial kickbacks from a ForceField executive in 2014-2015 for promoting the stock’s purchase on television and at investor conferences.

Knippa lied about owning the stock and did not reveal in those appearances that he was being paid for promoting it, the release said.

In addition to more than a year in prison, Knippa was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $3,570,000 and forfeit $120,000 in assets.

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