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They have pleaded guilty in federal court in Central Islip to money laundering conspiracy in connection with the scheme involving the global financial services firm based in Menlo Park, California, which is located near San Francisco.
Three of the four are Long Island residents:
- Edward Hernandez, also known as “Ghost,” age 33, of Lindenhurst;
- Christopher Flagg, also known as “Venus," age 28, of Copiague;
- Daquan Lloyd, also known as “Payday," age 29, of Copiague.
The other defendant is:
Corey Ortiz, also known as “Jefe,” age 29, of Greensboro, North Carolina.
When sentenced, each faces a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment, restitution of up to $2,087,164, and forfeiture between $56,390 and $700,425.
The four recruited dozens to engage in their fraudulent scheme between December 2018 and January 2023, using short-term cash advances, called “Instant Deposits,” according to court filings.
The Instant Deposits were intended to enable legitimate investors to immediately trade in their brokerage accounts without waiting for an incoming wire transfer to clear.
To gain access to millions of dollars of Instant Deposits, typically capped at $5,000 per account, the defendants established a multi-state recruitment network through which they opened hundreds of fraudulent accounts held in the names of straw account holders, or “Losing Accounts.”
Using the Instant Deposits available to the Losing Accounts, they repeatedly bought thinly traded and highly speculative stock options at above-market prices.
Selecting these virtually worthless stock options enabled them to match their bids in the Losing Accounts with offers to sell the same overpriced stock options initiated by other brokerage accounts, or “Winning Accounts,” controlled by the defendants and their conspirators.
The court filings noted that the defendants transferred the Instant Deposits from the Losing Accounts to the Winning Accounts through fraudulent securities transactions.
Meanwhile, the defendants purposely initiated the incoming wire transfers supposed to cover the Instant Deposits in the Losing Accounts from bank accounts with little or no balance.
These wire transfers, therefore, failed to clear, but not before the defendants drained the Instant Deposits, leaving the accounts with negative balances and worthless options. The defendants then laundered the stolen funds through multiple electronic banking platforms.
“Each defendant was convicted of their roles in a sprawling and complex nationwide scheme organized from Long Island to steal millions of dollars intended for legitimate investors and launder the proceeds of their crime,” stated United States Attorney for the Eastern District Of NY Breon Peace. “Today’s guilty plea demonstrates how this Office will swiftly bring to justice those who fraudulently manipulate the financial system, no matter how complex the scheme.”
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