A member of British Columbia’s Hells Angels Nomads crew has been indicted in New York City on charges of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering in relation to an alleged pump-and-dump stock scheme.
The district attorney for the Southern District of New York and the FBI announced Courtney Vasseur was one of 10 suspects facing criminal charges in relation to the alleged fraud.
“These pernicious ‘pump-and-dump’ schemes made the defendants rich while causing real harm to ordinary, retail investors who were left swallowing the losses,” attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “These defendants used a web of nominee entities and shell companies located all over the world attempting to disguise their own orchestration of these schemes.”
The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, BC’s anti-gang squad, confirmed Vasseur’s membership in the Hells Angels to CTV News and said the RCMP’s Federal Serious and Organized Crime task force is working with American law enforcement.
Vasseur and Curtis Lehner are among seven suspects who have been arrested. Three other men have also been charged but not yet arrested.
“Through their pump-and-dump schemes, Lehner, Vasseur … and their co-conspirators generated at least approximately $35 million in proceeds from the sale of the shares they secretly controlled,” the indictment said.
The 10 accused hail from Canada, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Spain, Monaco, Turkey and the Bahamas.
As part of the same investigation, the US Securities and Exchange Commission is suing Vancouver businessman David Sidoo, and seven others, accusing them of using the alleged pump-and-dump scheme to defraud investors of US$145-million.
Sidoo has not been criminally charged, though investigators used the SEC filing to accuse him of actively promoting stock in companies while hiding his own ownership stake.
The filing alleges Sidoo and his co-accused encouraged investors to buy stock at a time when the defendants themselves “did not believe the statements, as evidenced by their simultaneous, and massive, trading in the opposite direction as they collectively sold their stock during the campaign.”
CTV News has been unable to reach David Sidoo at his West Point Gray home.
“David Sidoo denies the allegations contained in last week’s SEC filing in New York,” said Martin G. Weinberg, his US attorney, in a statement. “He will not have further comment about these proceedings.”
None of the allegations against Sidoo, Lehner and Vasseur have been proven in court.