Ahem... actually, "cleverer" is an adjective form of "clever". It's use is not as common as "more clever", which is how you might describe the accused's attorney is attempting to be in the cited news article... http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/clever
But, wait, there's more: Father Knows Worst: Brooklyn Identity Thief Arrested With Son April 23, 2007 By artificially inflating the value of stocks with stolen money, a father-and-son identity theft duo made themselves between $600,000 and $1 million before jumping on a plane headed for their home country of Panama. Fortunately, there was a surprise waiting for them at the end of their return flight to New Jersey: The Port Authority Police. Police arrested Alexis Ampudia Jr. and Sr., ages 22 and 44, on identity theft charges after uncovering a sophisticated âpump and dumpâ cyber-scheme that Alexis Jr. had been perpetrating for almost a year from his Brooklyn apartment, reports the New York Post. According to a press release from the Securities and Exchange Commission, the younger Ampudia had been purchasing shares of small, thinly-traded companies known as âpenny stocks,â and then boosting their value by investing in them with $1.6 million in funds stolen from wealthy New Yorkers. Ampudia, a recent graduate of the business program at New Yorkâs Berkeley College, somehow managed to tap into the online savings accounts of victims who banked with institutions including Citibank, Washington Mutual and Bank of America. He wired between $90,000 and $250,000 from victimsâ accounts into separate trading accounts that he set up with major brokerage firms, according to the Post. He used this cash to buy up shares in the stocks that he already owned, thus creating the appearance of legitimate trading activity and causing the price of the stocks to skyrocket. Case in point: Ampudia originally bought 18,450 shares of the stock Care Matrix at 4 cents per share. After he used stolen money to buy 85,800 shares in a victimâs name, he was able to sell his shares for ten cents apiece, more than doubling his investment. Ampudia shifted money to bank accounts belonging to himself and his father, which they promptly withdrew and likely took with them to Panama, according to the Post. Identity Theft: The MTV Generation It was a brash crime that would seem to call for a certain degree of inconspicuousness. But subtlety is a virtue evidently lost on this MTV-generation identity thief. The Post reported that the younger Ampudia posed on his MySpace page in front of a row of SUVâs, bragging that âWhen it comes to stocks, I am in there like swimwear.â While most guys his age were using MySpace to pick up women, he said, he was âusing it as a tool to expand my trading influence and creating my first IPO by the end of the year.â Looks like that influence wonât extend much from prisonâalthough weâve seen identity theft rings operating from there before (see previous alert). A quick search for his name on MySpace now turns up nothing. Both men could face up to ten years in prison if convicted. As we watch this story unfold, weâll be eager to hear the resolution of its most interesting unanswered question: How did Ampudia gain access to presumably secure online savings accounts? http://www.emoryfcu-identitytheft911.com/alerts/alert.ext?sp=917 SEC Files Emergency Action Against Alexis Ampudia Navalo to Stop an Identity Theft "Pump and Dump" Scheme
Guess the Ampudia's wanted to insure that their hard-earned gains made it to their Panamanian homeland bank(s), safely on-person. The banks may have also alerted authorities... They may even be drug money-acquiring/laundering mules, and this type of scheme is just the tip of the iceberg.