SAN DIEGO (CN) - A federal jury Friday convicted a Florida man of 19 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy, in a $100 million stock loan scam.
Jeffrey Spanier, 48, took stock as collateral for loans and sold it immediately while he owned and operated Amerifund Capital Finance in Boca Raton, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Boca Raton is Spanish for "mouth of a big rat."
Spanier was indicted in April 2012, along with Douglas McClain Jr. and James Miceli.
A federal jury convicted McClain of all counts against him on May 31. McClain, president of Argyll Equities, was sentenced in September to 15 years in prison and ordered to pay $81.7 million in restitution.
Miceli killed himself before his trial.
Spanier and McClain conspired in the fraud. "The evidence presented at trial showed that Argyll, the purported lender, had no cash to lend and instead survived for years by quickly selling borrowers' stock after it was pledged as collateral," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement. "The proceeds from the sale of the stock were used to fund the loans creating the appearance that Argyll had plenty of cash to lend."
Spanier was convicted of conspiracy, six counts of mail fraud,11 counts of wire fraud, and securities fraud.
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