June 17, 2014: Jessica Cusimano, wife and co-conspirator of penny stock fraud kingpin Eric Cusimano, made her first appearance in a Buffalo, NY area federal courtroom yesterday, in front of Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder Jr. The Cusimanos, along with partner and co-defendant Jamie Boye, ran an elaborate scheme designed to fraudulent inflate the price of worthless penny stocks and then divest shares, the epitome of a Pump & Dump scheme. Shares were dumped to subscribers to BestDamnPennyStocks.com and sister websites. Jessica has been charged with laundering some of the millions of dollars of ill-gotten booty obtained from the schemes. She will remain free on bail while the Pump & Dump schemes are revealed to the court.
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| Jessica Cusimano |
During her appearance, Jessica tearfully agreed to surrender her passport and promised that she will remain within the district while residing at the Cusimanos' Lakewood, NY home.
Eric, who is the "brains" of the operation, is scheduled to appear in court on Friday, June 20. An appearance date for Boye, who was reportedly already incarcerated on an unrelated matter when the Cusimanos were picked up in Panama last week, has not yet been scheduled.
While Eric and Jamie were charged for securities fraud schemes, Jessica, who is also known as Jessica Yadira Lopez, was only charged with participating in money laundering schemes. According to the
criminal complaint, a nearly $50,000 pontoon boat purchased by Eric was registered in her name to hide Eric's source of income. On the application for an insurance policy on the boat, she stated her name to be Jessica Lopez and claimed that she was single. Jessica's
Facebook page also identifies her as "Jessica Yadira Lopez".
