February 7, 2017: Gregg Mulholland and Robert Bandfield were sentenced to federal prison terms on yesterday for their participation in several penny stock schemes, including Cynk Technology Corp (CYNK) and Vision Plasma Systems (VLNX). The result of these schemes was the laundering of $250 million in gains realized by the pump and dump schemes targeting over 40 companies. At one time, CYNK reached a market cap of over $6 billion.
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Gregg Mulholland, a citizen of both the U.S. and Canada citizen received a sentence of 12 years in prison. He asked the Judge for leniency so that he could see his daughters and wife in Canada again. "I'm sorry comes nowhere close to saying how truly sorry I have," he said, likely shedding crocodile tears.
Robert Bandfield, got off very cheap, receiving a sentence of only 6 years in spite of the prosecutors recommendation of a 20 year sentence. It appears that Bandfield tugged at Judge Glasser's heart when the 72 year old whined that such a sentence would effectively be a life sentence and that he suffered from hearing trouble and depression. Apparently, Glasser failed to adequately consider that the loss of $250 million changed a lot of people's lives.
Judge Glasser imposed the tougher sentence on Mulholland, 47, because he was a repeat offender, having already been fined by the SEC for past pump and dump scams. "Not only was this a crime, this offense, one that persisted over a number of years, but you were a recidivist, user were a securities fraudster before you got involved here," Glasser said.
Both convicts have already served about 18 months of their sentencing while negotiating pleas and awaiting yesterday's hearing. Under the Federal system, inmates serve about 80% of their sentence, meaning that Bandfield could get out in 2 1/2 years. His victims, however, will not be getting their money back any time soon, or ever.
The SEC suspended trading in CYNK, a purported social media company with no revenue or assets, after its share price soared in less than a month to $21.95 from 6 cents. VLNX continues to trade sporadically on the Pink Sheets despite being dormant and failing to have filed any financials in well over 3 years.
Co-conspirator, Philip Kueber, awaits sentencing after agreeing to his own plea deal. Brian De Wit and Cem Can aka Jim Can are among those that remain at large, with Can, a Turkish national, reportedly cowering in his homeland. Turkey will not extradite its citizens.
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