A Vancouver man who copped to playing a part in a stock fraud plot based around a Boston biomedical firm is looking at a sliver of silver lining - time served and a bag of cash for a fine. Marco G. Babini, 62, was handed his sentence in a federal court in Boston, essentially getting time already spent behind bars while on house arrest, and a $50,000 fine to round it out.
For about two and a half months in the slammer, and 18 days of supervised freedom to follow, with eight months of home incarceration counted as bonus time served, Judge Patti B. Saris stamped the sentence, the U.S. Department of Justice reported. Babini had pleaded guilty last December to a single conspiracy charge to commit securities and wire fraud.
The short and not-so-sweet tale of Babini's slip into the fraudulent fiasco began back in 2015 when he along with some compadres, Edward Withrow III and Samuel Brown, were indicted by a federal grand jury. Babini was nabbed in Canada in 2020 and shipped off to face the music in the States in 2023.
With cunning, but ill-fated plans stretching from July 2012 to March 2013, Babini got down and dirty in a "pump-and-dump" scheme - talking up stock to pump the price and then dumping it on the backs of the deceived. He had the reins over brokerage accounts in Switzerland, all done up in nominee names, harboring a significant share of Endeavor Power Corp's freed-up stocks. In a promised kickback setup, he even tried pulling off a $20,000 trade test run with an undercover agent who was working the angle of a broker with a crooked network.
While Babini's saga is wrapping up with a bow, his co-conspirators have long since faced the curtain. Withrow folded in 2018, owning up to lying to the SEC, and Brown 'fessed up in 2015 to the conspiracy and to fibbing to the feds, as well. They were sentenced in 2018 and 2019, respectively, bringing the underhanded trio's tale to a close.
In the midst of this confession and sentencing concerto, it's worth noting the play of the actors in getting Babini to face U.S. justice. Kudos to the teamwork between the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the Department of Justice Canada’s International Assistance Group for making the extradition happen. And let's not tip-toe around the hard-edged pursuit by the feds, with Acting U.S Attorney Joshua S. Levy and FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Boston Division Jodi Cohen leading from the front. Special recognition to Assistant U.S. Attorney James R. Drabick of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit for prosecuting the case, demonstrating yet again that crime on the market isn't going unnoticed.
