Peter Coker Sr. and his wife Susan Coker at U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey, March 15, 2023.
Dan Mangan | CNBC
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.
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.
Hometown’s stock price rose by more than 900% as a result of the scheme.
Peter Coker Jr., left, is issued search warrants from police at his villa on the southern resort island of Phuket, Thailand, Jan. 11, 2023.
Crime Suppression Division, Royal Thai Police | AP
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#Father #son #plead #guilty #million #Jersey #deli #stock #scheme