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For six months beginning in June 2012, James Farinella controlled up to 98 percent of the stock in Pazoo Inc., a publicly traded company that operated out of a building on Route 10 in East Hanover.
The company claimed to sell wellness products, including merchandise for pets, according to authorities and a published company overview.
The company, however, was just a front for a pump-and-dump stock scheme that netted Farinella and others more than a million dollars. Farinella and others who were in on the scheme traded shares using accounts they controlled in order to make it appear as though there was genuine demand, driving up the price of the shares.
Using misleading promotional materials, Farinella then lured investors to purchase stock at the artificially inflated price. More than 1,000 investors were taken in by the scam, authorities said.
Farinella had previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud.
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