Authorities: Stock scammers arrested in Thailand

Two Canadian citizens have been arrested in Thailand in connection with a global scheme that generated more than $140 million but left penny stock investors -- including some from Long Island -- with worthless investments, authorities said.

Sandy Winick, 55, the accused mastermind, was captured Saturday, and George Curry, 63, Tuesday, both in Bangkok, according to federal officials. They were the last of nine people to be arrested under an indictment unveiled by authorities on Aug. 13.

Both now face extradition to New York.

The scheme operated in 35 countries, and hundreds of victims were from Long Island, Queens and Brooklyn, prosecutors have said.

In executing the fraud, the defendants gained control of worthless stocks in 11 public companies, many of them shell companies, according to the FBI and federal prosecutors. By distributing news releases announcing bogus mergers and deals, they'd pump up the price of the stock and sell it to investors.

When the stock prices fell, authorities said, the defendants set up fake law firms and trading companies to extract advance fees from victims to sue over the losses or to sell off stocks. In reality, they never provided any services, authorities said.

Undercover agents in foreign countries and wiretaps of phone conversations helped gather evidence against the scammers, prosecutors said.

The ring had plans to set up a call center in Brooklyn to pull in more investors, according to authorities. Winick boasted in intercepted phone calls that he had passports under fake names and police could never reach him and Curry in Thailand.

"They thought they would simply run away from their crimes," U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch of the Eastern District of New York said Tuesday. "Today, with the help of our friends in Thai law enforcement, we once again showed that fraudsters cannot hide from the law."

Winick was indicted on conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud, 15 counts of wire fraud, four counts of securities fraud and two counts of impersonation of a federal officer.

Curry is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, five counts of wire fraud and two counts of impersonation of a federal officer.The names of their attorneys were not immediately available.