Fugitive In $100M Deli Fraud Case Extradited To NJ: Officials

SOUTH JERSEY — A man charged with manipulating the stock market in a scheme centered around a South Jersey deli is back in the United States to face federal charges, as two co-defendants also await trial.

Peter Coker Jr. is the third man facing federal charges revolving around Your Hometown Deli in Paulsboro, which saw its valuation soar to $100 million during the coronavirus pandemic despite being its parent company's only holding.

Police in Thailand, where Coker Jr. lived, arrested him in January and he had a first appearance in Newark federal court on Wednesday, March 15, officials said. He is being detained without bail, as the state does not have cash bail for any defendant.

Federal officials charged Coker Jr., Peter Coker Sr., and James Patten by indictment with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, securities fraud, and conspiracy to manipulate securities prices in what officials call "a large-scale market manipulation scheme" revolving around the deli.

Patten is also charged with four counts of manipulation of securities, four counts of wire fraud, and one count of money laundering, according to U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.

Officials arrested Coker Sr. and Patten previously and their charges remain pending, said Sellinger.

Previous coverage of this case —

• Fugitive In $100M NJ Deli Case Arrested At Thailand Hotel: Reports (Jan. 2023)
• $100M NJ Deli Fraud Cases Compete, Prosecutors Say In Filing: Report (Dec. 2022)
• $100M Deli Scheme In Gloucester County Leads To Charges For 3 Men (Sept. 2022)
• NJ Wrestling Coach's $100M Company That Owns Deli Delisted (Apr. 2021)

In 2014, a friend of Patten's was looking to open a local deli in Paulsboro. Patten suggested the creation of an umbrella corporation, Hometown International, to house the deli under. Patten lived in Basking Ridge at the time, court documents show.

Two people were listed as controllers of the deli and Hometown International, but "Patten acted as an unnamed control person and handled the majority of corporate-related decisions, issues, and tasks," court documents show. Hometown International, Inc. is incorporated in Nevada, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Patten, Coker Sr., and Coker Jr. "undertook a calculated scheme" to gain control of Hometown International's shares in 2019 and transfer them to friends, family, and associates, officials said.

In 2020, court documents show, the three men arranged for approximately 3.5 million Hometown International shares to be transferred to entities in Macau, China that Coker Jr. controlled (the shares were in other peoples' names).

Patten, Coker Sr., and Coker Jr. had the ability to trade shares on the mid-tier OTCQB marketplace because of how the shares were inflated, giving them greater ability to trade without price restrictions, officials said.

In 2020, Patten recruited another friend to control stock E-Waste, another publicly-traded company. He, Coker Sr., and Coker Jr. began artificially inflating E-Waste's stock prices and transferring shares to themselves and people they knew, Sellinger said.

"Once the defendants gained control of Hometown International and E-Waste’s shares, they arranged for the transfer of millions of shares of stock to a number of nominee entities, including entities controlled by Coker Jr., in an effort to mask their control of the shares," Sellinger said.

"Their scheme had the ultimate impact of artificially inflating Hometown International’s stock by approximately 939 percent and E-Waste’s stock by approximately 19,900 percent," officials said.

In a separate civil action, Sellinger said, the Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a complaint in the District of New Jersey charging Patten, Coker Sr., and Coker Jr. "based on the allegations underlying the market manipulation scheme."

Two Paulsboro High School employees were executives at Hometown International but the firm replaced them in May 2021, the Courier-Post reported at the time. Principal/wrestling coach Paul Morina and teacher Christine Lindenmuth were still responsible for operating Your Hometown Deli, Hometown International said at the time.

The deli opened for business around Oct. 14, 2015.