Financial Fraud: Pharmaceutical Executive Sold Fake Stock in Medical Research Company

<h2 class&equals;"node-title">Pharmaceutical Executive Defrauds Investors Out of Millions by Selling Fake Stock in Medical Research Company<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;27580" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-27580" style&equals;"width&colon; 768px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;financial-fraud-pharmaceutical-executive-sold-fake-stock-in-medical-research-company&sol;pharmaceutical-executive-sold-fake-stock&sol;amp&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-27580"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-27580" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;04&sol;Pharmaceutical-Executive-Sold-Fake-Stock&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"Financial Fraud" width&equals;"768" height&equals;"540" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-27580" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Pharmaceutical executive Greg Ruehle issued fake stock certificates like this one to victims who thought they were investing in a legitimate medical research company&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"blackgraphtx">Greg Ruehle liked to gamble—the only problem was that he did it with other people’s money&period; In the process&comma; the pharmaceutical executive not only swindled his friends and people from his hometown out of millions of dollars&comma; he injured the reputation of a legitimate medical research company&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mh-content-ad"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js&quest;client&equals;ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; crossorigin&equals;"anonymous"><&sol;script>&NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle"&NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;"&NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article"&NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid"&NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1081854981"><&sol;ins>&NewLine;<script>&NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi;&NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"blackgraphtx">Ruehle&comma; a California resident who worked in the biotech industry&comma; was hired by the medical research firm ICB International &lpar;ICBI&rpar; to identify investors who could fund its research&period; The San Diego-based company is developing technologies for early diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"blackgraphtx">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Basically&comma; the company’s founder invested his blood&comma; sweat&comma; and tears trying to come up with a cure for Parkinson’s disease&comma;” said Special Agent John Roberts&comma; who investigated the case from the FBI’s San Diego Division&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;He was relying on Ruehle to help raise money to move the company forward&period;”<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"blackgraphtx">Instead&comma; explained co-investigator Special Agent Bridgid Cook&comma; Ruehle &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;collected nearly &dollar;2 million and used the money for gambling and other personal expenses&period;”<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"blackgraphtx">Ruehle was not a licensed broker&period; He was supposed to be a finder—someone who would introduce investors to the company&comma; and then ICBI would take it from there&period; But Ruehle took advantage of his hometown friends&comma; who relied on him to provide information about the company’s <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;tag&sol;financial-fraud&sol;amp&sol;" title&equals;"financial" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" data-wpil-monitor-id&equals;"527">financial<&sol;a> future&period; He took investors’ money and issued them fake stock certificates&comma; none of which he reported to ICBI&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"blackgraphtx">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;There were a lot of victims in this case—more than 160&comma;” Cook said&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;and a major betrayal of trust&period;” Ruehle’s investors were mostly friends from Minnesota&comma; where he grew up&comma; and they were not wealthy&period; Many contributed &dollar;5&comma;000 or &dollar;10&comma;000&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;He preyed upon people from his hometown&comma;” Cook explained&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;They relied on his expertise and knowledge of the industry&period;”<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"blackgraphtx">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Investors thought they were getting in on a great deal&comma;” Roberts added&period; But not one of Ruehle’s investors saw a penny—and neither did ICBI&period; To make matters worse&comma; the company had no idea its investment &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;finder” was collecting money and issuing fake stock in the company&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"blackgraphtx">In 2015&comma; some of the investors asked for proof that their money was being used at the company&period; In response&comma; Ruehle sent them a letter on what appeared to be ICBI letterhead&comma; allegedly signed by the company’s CEO&period; In truth&comma; the letter was a forgery—Ruehle even misspelled the CEO’s name&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"blackgraphtx">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;ICBI was completely innocent in the fraud&comma;” Roberts said&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;but they were made to look bad&period; Certainly there was damage done to the company&comma; which was trying to do a good thing&period;”<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"blackgraphtx">Worried investors eventually contacted the FBI&comma; and within four months&comma; Cook and Roberts had unraveled the scheme&period; Last month&comma; Ruehle pled guilty to securities fraud&period; In addition&comma; he admitted to possession of a stolen firearm—discovered during the execution of a search warrant—and acknowledged that he owned three stolen firearms&comma; all unregistered&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"blackgraphtx">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;There was no reason for him to be buying guns off the street when he could have been buying them legitimately from a dealer&comma;” Cook said&comma; adding that the 64-year-old Ruehle is typical of many financial fraudsters&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;He was charismatic and a natural salesman&comma; but he used those skills to trick people&period; And then he used their money for gambling&comma; to buy expensive cars&comma; and to live on a waterfront property&period;”<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"blackgraphtx">Ruehle is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court later this spring&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>San Diego-based ICBI’s mission is to develop technologies to transport therapeutic treatments through the blood-brain barrier to treat neuro-degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease&period;  According to ICBI’s website&comma; the company develops techniques for early diagnosis&comma; monitoring of disease progression&comma; and increased therapeutic efficacy of drugs for neuro-degenerative diseases and various cancers that currently cannot be reached by drugs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ruehle’s plea agreement requires that he forfeit the &dollar;1&period;9 million in proceeds and pay restitution to the victim investors&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In addition to the securities fraud charges&comma; Ruehle pleaded guilty to possession of a stolen firearm&period;  In his plea&comma; Ruehle admitted that he owned three stolen firearms&comma; including two semi-automatic pistols and a revolver&period;  He has agreed to forfeit these weapons and another revolver to federal law enforcement&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Business professionals who use their knowledge of industries and securities to prey on unsuspecting lay investors undermine the public’s confidence and ability to participate in the markets&comma;” said U&period;S&period; Attorney Laura E&period; Duffy&period;  &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;As this case demonstrates&comma; they also jeopardize innovation and the success of small businesses&period;  This type of egregious securities fraud is simply unacceptable&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Mr&period; Ruehle engaged in a pattern of lies and deceitful acts while violating the trust of family&comma; friends&comma; and associates&comma;” said FBI Special Agent in Charge&comma; Eric S&period; Birnbaum&period;  &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The FBI is committed to investigating and seeking the prosecution of those who steal money through fraudulent investment schemes&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Firearms must be obtained through proper procedures by eligible recipients&period;” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Eric D&period; Harden&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This investigation is a reminder that the illegal use of firearms permeates all spectrums of crime&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><span class&equals;"blackgraphtx">Resources&colon;<&sol;span><&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;<span class&equals;"blackgraphtx">&&num;8211&semi; <a class&equals;"internal-link" title&equals;"" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fbi&period;gov&sol;sandiego&sol;press-releases&sol;2016&sol;pharmaceutical-executive-defrauds-investors-out-of-millions-by-selling-fake-stock-in-medical-research-company" target&equals;"&lowbar;self" rel&equals;"noopener">Press release<&sol;a><&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;

CrimeFAKE STOCKFBIFinancial Fraud