Denver Lawyer Pleads Guilty to $20 M Stock 'Pump & Dump' Scheme

NEW HAVEN, CT -- Denver attorney Diane Dalmy, 63, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Connecticut U.S. District Court to conspiracy in a fraudulent stock "pump and dump" scheme, the U.S. Dept. of Justice said in a press release. Dalmy herself earned about $30,000 in the scheme that defrauded investors of millions, and she faces up to five years in prison. Dalmy turned herself in to U.S. Marshals, IRS Public Information Officer Special Agent Amy Hosney said.

IRS investigators said investors lost around $20 million in stock value in fake shell companies Mammoth Energy Group, Inc., (later known as Strategic Asset Leasing Inc.) and Fox Petroleum, Inc. According to the DOJ, Dalmy worked with William Lieberman, of Boca Raton, Florida, and Christian Meissenn, of Suffield, Connecticut, to create fraudulent calls, emails and press releases about the securities and the issuing companies, pumping up the prices. The conspirators then sold their shares, letting stock prices plummet, a press release said.

Dalmy, who operated from a Lakewood business office, pleaded guilty to writing fake opinion letters to unrestrict the co-conpirator's own stocks so that they could be freely traded in the open market without having to register the stock with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the statement said. She also pleaded guilty to ghost writing similar letters under the name of another Colorado attorney.

Dalmy also pleaded guilty to providing capital for the co-conspirators by using cash from escrow payments from her firms' clients' accounts.

Finally, between Feb., 2015 and Jul, 2016, Dalmy laundered about $825,000 through a Lieberman-controlled fake bank account under the name of Queen Asia Pacific Ltd. The Queen Asia account transferred funds to Dalmy's firm's client escrow accounts, which then were transferred to Lieberman, Meissenn, and their network of stock promoters, the DOJ statement said.

Dalmy herself earned about $30,000 in the scheme.

In 2013, Dalmy was suspended by the SEC from practicing as a securities attorney after being investigated in a similar scheme to pump and dump fraudulent penny stocks in Illinois for the company Zenergy International, Inc.

She's scheduled to be sentenced May 2, 2018, and faces a maximum term of five years in prison. She was released on $100,000 bond. Lieberman, Meissenn and four other individuals have pleaded guilty to various offenses stemming from this scheme. On Jan. 20, 2017, Corey Brinson, a Hartford-based attorney, was sentenced to 36 months of imprisonment and, on Sep. 27, 2017, Damian Delgado, also known as “Michael Neumann,” of Orlando, Florida, was sentenced to 84 months in prison.

Meissenn, Lieberman, Brian Ferraioli, of Sayville, N.Y., and Thomas Heaphy, Jr., of East Moriches, N.Y., await sentencing. This ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division and U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with assistance from the Connecticut Department of Banking and the Hartford and Stamford Police Departments.

Citizens with information that may be helpful to this ongoing investigation, or who believe they may have been victimized by this scheme, are encouraged to contact the FBI at (203) 777-6311.

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