Two Long Island Men Plead Guilty In Massive Stock Fraud Scheme

Two Long Island men pleaded guilty to their roles in a massive stock fraud scheme on Wednesday, which cost investors $147 million.

Ronald Hardy, 42, of Port Jefferson, and McArthur Jean, 34, of Dix Hills, both pleaded guilty to various charges. Hardy, who was a manager at My Street Research and its predecessors (called the boiler room), pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and vie counts of securities fraud Jean, a cold-caller at the boiler room, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and agreed to forfeit more than $110,000. When sentenced, Hardy faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on the top count and Jean faces a maximum of five years.

Authorities say that, between January 2014 and July 2017, Hardy and Jean, along with 14 others, engaged in a scheme to defraud investors and potential investors in publicly traded companies, including National Waste Management Holdings, Inc., Hydrocarb Energy Corporation and Intelligent Content Enterprises, Inc.

Authorities say the group artificially generated price movements and trading volumes, misrepresented information in their communications with customers about purchasing shares, and lied about their concealing their control of shares in some of the companies.

In addition, authorities say Hardy and other defendants conspired to launder approximately $14,714,493 from the scheme.

Hardy and Jean are among 16 defendants charged in this case, and the ninth and tenth defendants, respectively, to plead guilty. The eight defendants who previously pleaded guilty to various charges for their participation in this scheme are Erik Matz, 44, of Mt. Sinai, a manager at the Boiler Room; Boiler Room cold-callers Brian Heepke, 36, of Farmingdale; Dennis Verderosa, 67, of Coram; Emin L. Cohen, 33, of Coram; Paul Ewer, 36, of Massapequa; Ashley Antos, 26, of Central Islip; and Sergio Ramirez, 44, of East Meadow; and Robert Gilbert, 51, of Cold Spring Harbor, a cold-caller operating from his own company.

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