Old Memories Resurface in Scam

Multiple investors were cheated out of $131 million by buying stock in a worthless LED lighting distributor, by another former Stratton Oakmont broker. You all know about the old story involving the Long Island boiler room where investors got rich on scams. “Wolf of Wall Street” made this firm famous along with its infamous founder Jordan Belfort.

Christopher Castaldo, a former Stratton Oakmont broker was charged with helping investors believe a company named ForceField Energy Inc. was worth multi millions. In actuality, it had “essentially no business operations and very little revenue, making the stock worthless,” according to Attorney Robert Capers statement.

How the Scam was Ran

The ringleader Jared Mitchell, of Mitchell & Sullivan Capital LLC, recruited a network of registered brokers who proclaimed to add beneficial stocks to their clients portfolios in exchange for kickbacks. Brokers and promoters then pumped the stock to their clients and in the media, once being on the Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co.”

Castaldo, who founded StockTradersPress Inc. and Wall Street Buy Sell Hold Inc, is accused of promoting ForceField to potential investors in phone calls, personal meetings, and fictitious investment reports. It’s claimed Castaldo received more than $600k in purchases of ForceField stock from more than 40 investors, as well as not fully disclosing his commission profits.

Castaldo isn’t the first Stratton Oakmont employee to run into trouble since the firm’s demise. You can read about the broker accused in 2014 by Massachusetts regulators of defrauding an elder client here.

Scams Don’t Fool Starr Austen

Don’t let dangerous scam artists dupe you out of your hard earned money. Our team of investment fraud lawyers will fight for the protection of investors and handle cases involving securities arbitration misrepresentation, overconcentration, broker fraud, negligence and breach of trust.