Pepper Pike lawyer faces up to 21 years in prison in stock scam

 

Pepper Pike attorney James Margulies was sentenced Friday to up to 21 years in prison for his role in a $110 million stock fraud . Judge Gregory Carro also ordered Margulies to make restitution of $7 million, money that prosecutors said he pocketed in the pump-and-dump scheme. The defense later disputed the amount and the judge put the order on hold until a Sept. 26 hearing. Margulies, 47, and other co-conspirators artificially inflated the price of shares in Industrial Enterprises of America; lured in buyers; then dumped their stock, leaving innocent investors holding the bag, according to prosecutors and testimony in a Manhattan courtroom. The trial took place in New York because Industrial Enterprises, which owns a company north of Pittsburgh that makes antifreeze and other car chemicals, was headquartered there. Margulies had been convicted of securities fraud, grand larceny and other crimes in July. He served as finance chief, legal counsel, and for about a year, chief executive of Industrial Enterprises while operating a small law firm he opened on Chagrin Blvd. after several years at Jones Day's Cleveland office. Margulies told the court Friday that he had never heard the term "pump-and-dump" before getting entangled in Industrial Enterprises. He said his actions were well-intended and he didn't realize until too late that he had been drawn into a scam led by the company's former chief executive, John Mazzuto. Margulies, who will lose his law license, said his "own client," Mazzuto, had lied to him, and that he was unable to recognize the deceit. Margulies also said he needed to be at home with his children and that his absence would have a devastating impact on his daughter, a special needs child. The judge said that what Margulies' children needed was their father's love, not a "house decorated like a museum." But Margulies was living lavishly with ill-got funds instead of spending the time with his children, the judge said. Carro described the Industrial Enterprises case as probably the largest and most compelling instance of financial fraud that had ever come before him. Margulies pleaded for probation or at least a sentence no stiffer than what Mazzuto might get because Mazzuto pleaded guilty to plundering Industrial Enterprises and became a prosecution witness. The judge was unmoved, saying the only injustice was that Margulies' "Cleveland cronies" were not sitting exactly where he was. The original indictment of Margulies and Mazzuto included 10 unidentified and unindicted co-conspirators. Testimony suggested that a handful of them are businessmen from the eastern suburbs of Cleveland. Prosecutors say the investigation continues. Assistant District Attorney Garrett Lynch pushed for what he called a "deterrence" sentence to send a message about pervasive penny stock fraud costing U.S. investors "incalculable" dollars. Ira London, an attorney for Margulies, said Lynch's comments showed he was more interested in vengeance than deterrence. "This was a sentence for financial fraud of a defendant with no prior criminal record. Under the circumstances of this case, the sentence was excessive," London said. Margulies plans to appeal. According to trial testimony, Mazzuto and Margulies issued 15 million shares of Industrial Enterprises stock of a type that is supposed to be restricted to employees and consultants. The shares went to friends, relatives, business associates and other "conduits" who funneled the stock into the public market for sale to unsuspecting investors. Part of the scheme involved a stock promoter in Texas whose "programs" to boost the value of penny stocks drew upon a list of 1,000 to 2,000 people who buy obscure, low-value securities to push up their price, in return for fees for engaging in the conspiracy. Prosecutors said the enterprise helped Margulies pursue a high-rolling lifestyle -- paying for a $500,000 vacation club membership, a $350,000 diamond ring for his wife and the amount remaining on the mortgage for his home in Pepper Pike, now listed for sale at $1.5 million. Mazzuto built a $3 million home in Southhampton, N.Y., and a $2.5 million home in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Prosecutors said Margulies did the legal work to paper over the scam, while Mazzuto, who preceded Margulies as Industrial Enterprises' CEO, was the public face of the company. Mazzuto convinced institutional investors such as the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio and the United Methodist Church to buy millions of the illegally-issued company shares. "He was the architect," Carro told Margulies during Friday's sentencing, "but you were the engineer." Shares in Industrial Enterprises peaked at $8.50 in May 2006 before crashing in 2007 as the fraud came to light, wiping out more than $20 million in investor holdings. The stock trades today for a penny a share. All told, prosecutors said, the executives illegally issued $90 million in securities. Mazzuto, 62, spent seven months in jail, unable to afford bail, before agreeing to testify against Margulies. He is awaiting sentencing.