Father, Son Behind $100M Deli Scheme In South Jersey Plead Guilty

PAULSBORO, NJ — A father and son pleaded guilty Thursday to orchestrating a scheme that pushed a company's supposed value to more than $100 million, despite only owning a modest South Jersey deli.

Peter Coker, Sr., 82, and Peter Coker, Jr., 56, will each face up to 25 years in prison and millions in fines for their roles in the infamous scheme centered around Your Hometown Deli in Paulsboro.

Your Hometown Deli permanently closed in June 2022 — three months before the Cokers and their co-defendent, James Patten, were federally charged.

All three have pleaded guilty to securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud, with Patten's guilty plea coming last December.

From 2014 through September 2022, the trio enriched themselves by manipulating securities prices through a pattern of coordinated trades, which put false information into the marketplace. One of their companies, Hometown International Inc., was valued of $113 million in February 2021, despite the deli totaling $35,748 in sales over the prior two years, according to CNBC.

Around the time the scheme began, two New Jersey residents were in the process of opening a deli in Paulsboro. One of them discussed the matter with Patten, a longtime friend, who suggested the creation of Hometown International, under which the deli would operate as a wholly owned subsidiary.

Unbeknownst to the deli owners, Patten and his associates used the umbrella company as a vehicle for a reverse merger — when a private company acquires a public company to bypass the lengthy process of going public.

The company's leadership claimed they were operating a deli and investing and food preparation and service. Hometown International intended to go public in 2015, but the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) believed it was a shell company and objected.

In 2019, the trio began selling shares on the Over-the-Counter (OTC) Marketplace, which gave them greater ability to inflate share prices.

A year later, Patten recruited another friend to control stocks belonging to E-Waste, the co-conspirators' other company. Patten and the Cokers began artificially inflating E-Waste's stock prices and transferring shares to themselves and people they knew.

Ultimately, they artificially inflated E-Waste's stock by 19,900 percent and Hometown International's stock by 939 percent.

Coker Jr., formerly of Hong Kong, is scheduled to be sentenced on April 2. Coker Sr., of North Carolina, is set for sentencing on May 13.