Brooklyn Daytrader charged

An updated SEC filing on the pump & dump identity thief and so-called daytrader:


SEC.gov Updates: Litigation Releases

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 20098 / April 30, 2007

SEC v. Alexis Ampudia, a/k/a Alexis Geancarlos Ampudia Navalo, a/k/a Alexis Emias, a/k/a Alexis Rojas, Civil Action No. 07-CV-2762 (HB) (S.D.N.Y.)

SEC Files Emergency Action Against Alexis Ampudia to Stop an Identity Theft "Pump and Dump" Scheme

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that on April 13, 2007, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a preliminary injunction order on consent against defendant Alexis Ampudia. Pending a final disposition of the Commission's enforcement action, the order enjoins Ampudia from violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Exchange Act Rule 10b-5. The order also freezes his assets and orders the repatriation of funds taken out of the United States.

The Commission's complaint, filed on April 5, 2007, charged Ampudia, a 22-year old Panamanian citizen and resident of Brooklyn, New York, with conducting a fraudulent scheme involving the manipulation of the prices of numerous securities by using brokerage accounts he had opened in the names of identity theft victims, without their knowledge or consent. The Commission alleged that, since November 2006, Ampudia made at least $140,000 in unlawful profits by manipulating the securities of at least five publicly traded companies. In its enforcement action, the Commission is seeking additional relief, including orders permanently enjoining Ampudia from committing future violations of the foregoing federal securities laws, and a final judgment ordering him to disgorge ill-gotten gains and assessing civil penalties.

The Commission acknowledges the assistance of the New York County District Attorney's Office, New York City Police Department, and United States Secret Service in this matter.

http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2007/lr20098.htm

 

More despicable details as to what this lowlife Alexis Ampudia, Jr., was up to (with yet-to-be-named accomplices?):


DISTRICT ATTORNEY - NEW YORK COUNTY

News Release
May 4, 2007, Contact: Jennifer Kushner, 212.335.9400

Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced today the indictment of a 22-year-old Brooklyn man for using the personal identity information of unsuspecting bank depositors to steal large sums of money from their accounts and using the stolen funds in a “pump and dump” stock fraud operation dealing in penny stocks. The defendant is charged with stealing, attempting to steal, or unlawfully transferring more than $1 million from bank depositors in the scheme.

The indictment charges that from November 7, 2006 until January 16, 2007, ALEXIS AMPUDIA, JR. obtained the personal identifying information (name, date of birth, social security number, home address, bank account number) from four victims. AMPUDIA used the identity information to loot the four victims’ bank accounts, opened at least seven online securities trading accounts in the victims’ names at TD AMERITRADE, Scottrade, Bank of America, and Track Data, and fraudulently transferred funds from the victims’ accounts into the brokerage accounts. The compromised bank accounts were at Citibank and the investigation is continuing into other banks.

AMPUDIA also opened online trading accounts in his own name at brokerage firms and purchased thinly traded low-value securities (“penny stocks”). Thereafter, the defendant used the accounts that he created in his victims’ names to purchase the same penny stocks, “pumping up” the price of the stocks. After the price of the penny stocks rose due to his manipulations of the market, AMPUDIA then sold off (“dumped”) his stock at a profit. The trading accounts opened in the victims’ names were left holding nearly worthless stocks, after the artificially inflated prices fell. Among the stocks the defendant traded in were Atomic Burrito, Inc., Wendt-Bristol Health Services Corporation, CareMatrix Corporation, LocatePLUS Holding Corporation, and Micro-Integration Corporation.

For example, a 60-year-old man from Manhattan had a bank account with Citibank, which contained $1 million. In January 2007, unbeknownst to the victim, AMPUDIA created an online trading account in the victim’s name at Bank of America and transferred $250,000 from the victim’s bank account at Citibank to the Bank of America trading account. Shortly thereafter, AMPUDIA opened up another online trading account in the victim’s name at TD Ameritrade and funded it with $150,000 transferred from the victim’s Citibank account. The defendant accessed both of the trading accounts online over 12 times, using them to purchase 50,000 shares of Trimol Group, Inc and an additional 205,000 shares of Systemone Technologies, Inc. The defendant had earlier invested in the same stocks through his own account at Track Data; he sold his shares at a profit of $13,195.68 in the same stocks.

The investigation connected the transactions that the defendant initiated using various online brokerage accounts to computers that AMPUDIA had used at his home in Brooklyn and hotels where he stayed in Virginia and Nevada. The four victims of the crimes charged in the indictment are all from Manhattan.

All told, the defendant is charged with stealing $730,750, attempting to steal an additional $100,000 and unlawfully transferring, by means of identity theft, another $184,000.

Multiple victims brought the case to the New York Police Department, Identity Theft Squad who in turn contacted the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the United States Secret Service and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

When AMPUDIA was arrested, he was found to be in possession of notes on a “how to” guide for setting up a shell corporation, manipulating stocks, and conducting stock fraud. Additionally, he had checks from Wachovia and Washington Mutual and numerous social security numbers, DOBs, names, addresses, and account numbers as well as a laptop computer. A further search of the defendant’s residence revealed credit reports, social security numbers, bank accounts, blank checks, and a debit card in other people’s names. The investigation is continuing.

ALEXIS AMPUDIA, JR. is charged with five counts of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree and 19 counts of Identity Theft in the First Degree. Grand Larceny in the Second Degree a class C felony, which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Attempted Grand Larceny in the Second Degree is a class D felony, which is punishable by up to 7 years in prison. Identity Theft in the First Degree is a class D felony, which is punishable by up to 7 years in prison.

AMPUDIA will be arraigned on June 6, 2007 in New York State Supreme Court, Part 70.

Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Saland is in charge of the case and presented the case to the Grand Jury under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Aaron Karczmer and Antonia Merzon, Unit Chiefs of the Identity Theft Unit.

Mr. Morgenthau would like to thank Valerie Szczepanik, Senior Trial Counsel, Doreen Krause, Branch Chief, and Sheldon Mui, Staff Attorney, United States Securities and Exchange Commission and Special Agent Glenn Bove of the United States Secret Service for their assistance and cooperation in the investigation. Mr. Morgenthau would also like to thank Police Officer John Lloyd of the NYPD Identity Theft Squad for their assistance in the investigation.

Defendant Information

ALEXIS AMPUDIA, JR., 3/21/85
770 Fulton Street
Brooklyn, NY

http://manhattanda.org/whatsnew/index.htm May 4, 2007

http://manhattanda.org/arrest/index2.html
[http://manhattanda.org/witness/guidelines.htm
http://www.manhattanda.org/witness/victim.htm

 

Yes from this press release it doesnt look good for Ampudia. But please take into consideration that the NY Da paints the worst picture possible. At the very least he prob was involved in a pump and dump. However dont take it for granted that these people didnt know about online accounts beingset up in their names (though it could be the case). The Da always wants you to believe the worst.

 

MAY 2007
VRI RED ALERT – Repeat Alert. Scammers access your computer, liquidate your stocks, and use the money for a pump and dump scam
Online brokerage accounts have been looted of tens of millions of dollars in a fast-growing fraud that targets unsuspecting hotel guests and Internet café patrons, the FBI warns. Crooks install keystroke-logging programs on computers in hotel business centers and Internet cafés. When an investor uses the public computer to check stock holdings or make a trade, his or her user name and password are captured. In variations passwords are captured after a customer downloads an infected application from the Internet or responds to a so-called phishing e-mail message that purports to be from a financial institution and requests sensitive information.
1) Once they have your password they order your broker to sell your stock
2) Then they order your broker to buy stock X.
3) The crooks have already bought large positions of stock X.
4) If they generate enough buy orders through this piracy, stock X will go up.
5) The crooks sell their stock for a big profit.
6) Once they stop stealing accounts to generate buy orders, the stock collapses leaving your account owning worthless junk. The scams cost E*Trade Financial, of New York, $18 million in the third quarter last year to reimburse customers whose accounts were pilfered. TD Ameritrade said it spent $4 million. And by the way, the same technique can be used to steal your online banking info and drain your bank accounts...

http://www.vcresearch.info/open/forums.asp?TopicId=9310&ForumId=70

SEC >> Online Brokerage Accounts: What You Can Do to Safeguard Your Money and Your Personal Information