A US court has found Robert Lenard Booth guilty of conspiring to commit securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.
During 2019-21, Booth and co-conspirators operated a boiler room operation, impersonating brokerage firms. Through this fraudulent scheme, the criminals sold investors over $2 million in securities which they never received. Booth and co-conspirators created fake identities, developed misleading webpages, and provided false contact information to carry out this scheme. They used high-pressure tactics over phone calls to pitch stocks for American companies to the victim investors. The criminals even sent the victims false hard copy acknowledgments to confirm that the investors had indeed purchased/traded the stocks.
Booth and co-conspirators directed the victims to transfer the money to shell company accounts in New York, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Thereafter, they laundered the proceeds and distributed them amongst themselves.
Source: US Department of Justice
