Bogus 'wrong number' messages on hot stock tips lead to 1 guilty plea

0 Comments | USA TODAY, May, 2005 | by Greg Farrell

Civil and criminal charges were unveiled Tuesday against a telemarketer involved in an alleged "pump-and-dump" scheme that used phony "wrong number" phone messages to lure unsuspecting investors to bid up penny stocks.

Michael O'Grady of Georgia pleaded guilty to one criminal count of obstructing an SEC investigation into his telemarketing firm's role in the scam.

The SEC also hit O'Grady and his firm with civil charges for distributing a series of bogus "wrong number" voice mail messages designed to pump up the prices of thinly traded micro-cap stocks by a total of $179 million.

Federal prosecutors allege that a Florida promoter hired O'Grady last summer to automatically send deceptive messages to the voice mail systems of hundreds of thousands of people...

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