A father and son pleaded guilty Thursday to orchestrating a brazen stock manipulation scheme involving a small, money-losing New Jersey deli whose publicly traded parent company had an improbable market capitalization of $100 million.
The men, Peter Coker Sr., and his former fugitive son Peter Coker Jr., are scheduled to be sentenced next spring in the case in U.S. District Court in Camden, New Jersey, according to federal prosecutors.
A third defendant, James Patten, previously pleaded guilty to the same charges of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud in connection with the company once known as Hometown International and another firm.
The Cokers and Patten each admitted their roles in the scheme to artificially boost the stock price of Hometown, whose only real business asset was the Your Hometown Deli in Paulsboro, as well as the shares of a shell company then-known as E-Waste.
Hometown’s stock price rose by more than 900% as a result of the scheme. The price of E-Waste rose by nearly 20,000%.
Coker Sr., an 82-year-old who lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, has been free on bond since his arrest in September 2022. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 13.
The former Hong Kong resident Coker Jr., 56, has been held without bail since he was extradited from Thailand in March 2023. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 2.
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