Feds Charge 8 Stock Pushers; 1 Sentenced

MANHATTAN (CN) - Canada-based stock promoter Philip Wong was sentenced this week to 21 months in federal prison for securities fraud and conspiracy, and prosecutors unsealed four other indictments accusing eight other people of securities fraud and bribery in stock-promotion scams in the United States, Canada and Costa Rica.

William Curtis is accused of bribing a financial adviser to persuade investors to buy shares of G&S Minerals.

In the Costa Rica case, Jonathan Curshen and Bruce Grossman are charged with defrauding investors in Industrial Biotechnology Corp.

And Glenn Grossman, Steven Cohen and Shay Keren aka David Schmidt, principals of Manhattan-based Onyx Corp., are accused of conspiring with Canadian stock promoter John Zanic and Jason Jadidian of Queens.

All the defendants are small-timers, accused of making illicit profits in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Wong, 48, lives in Vancouver, B.C.

Curtis, 46, of Naperville, Ill., surrendered to federal officials this week and is out on bail.

Jadidian, 24, of Queens, is out on bail.

Curshen, 43, of Sarasota, Fla., is out on bail, as is Bruce Grossman, 50, of Maitland, Fla.

Glenn Grossman, 33, and Cohen, 35, of Long Island, and Keren aka Schmidt, of New City, N.Y., are all out on bail.

Zanic, 48, of British Columbia, is in custody.

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