A Boston investment banker, Craig Medoff, has been handed a 20-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to a charge of criminal contempt for violating a consent judgment that barred him from the securities industry, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts. The 64-year-old, who circumvented the ban using an alias and a company he created, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a fine of $20,000.
Medoff, with a history as an investment banker at firms such as Nova Capital International, LLC and Sabrex Development, LLC, was initially embroiled in a securities fraud case in 2012 when the Securities and Exchange Commission brought forth charges, a case culminating in a 2016 consent judgement which Medoff violated by using an alias "Alexander Carlin" to participate in the offer or sale of securities, despite the court order and acted in defiance of the law between 2016 and 2023, a period during which his company reaped in millions, with more than $1.6 million going into Medoff's own pockets.
In September of the previous year, the SEC filed a motion for civil contempt and sanctions in response to Medoff's actions, which led to criminal charges being brought against him in February 2024 after the court found probable cause; Medoff subsequently entered a guilty plea in May, as detailed in the U.S. Attorney's Office announcement.
The prosecution of the case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Leslie A. Wright and Christopher J. Markham from the Criminal Division, with Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy announcing the sentence and acknowledging the cooperation with the SEC which provided valuable assistance during the criminal proceedings, the civil case against Medoff is still ongoing, and yet the full weight of justice in the criminal courts has clearly shown the severe penalties that come from flouting court orders and operating within the shadows, beyond the reach of regulatory oversight.
