Judge Shows No Mercy to Securities Crook

WASHINGTON (CN) - A federal judge rejected a habeas petition from Barry Gewin, who 7 years ago was sentenced to 9 years in prison for a pump-and-dump securities fraud. Gewin was held in contempt for refusing to pay criminal fines, and his sentence was suspended while he was incarcerated for contempt, "which remains the case today."

"Over the years that have intervened since his conviction, Mr. Gewin has challenged his original conviction, sentence, and incarceration for criminal contempt on direct appeal and through various collateral proceedings, in this Court and several others," U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in her opinion. "Today, the Court closes another chapter in this tale."

Kollar-Kotelly found that two of Gewin's outstanding petitions "are procedurally barred and, even if they were not so barred, they would fail because they are without factual or legal merit."

Gewin was convicted in 2003 of conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud, for manipulation and fraudulent trading of stock in a company called 2DoTrade, "a Nevada corporation which had no employees and minimal assets," Kollar-Kotelly said, referring to the original, 2003 indictment.

Gewin and his co-conspirators allegedly pumped up the stock price through fraudulent press releases, while dumping their own shares at the inflated prices.

Gewin, who represented himself at trial, was ordered to pay $1.9 million in restitution and a $500,000 fine. He didn't.

The latest two denials of his petitions come after a string of denied petitions for a writ of habeas corpus in several federal courts. Gewin sued the United States and the warden of the federal prison where he lives now, in Fort Dix, N.J.

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