GBVS - Lawyer pleads guilty in fraud conspiracy, stock manipulation

Lawyer pleads guilty in fraud conspiracy, stock manipulation

Mar. 26 --A Kentucky attorney has pleaded guilty in Tulsa to taking part in a fraud conspiracy that prosecutors say involved the manipulation of publicly traded "penny stocks."

James Reskin , 51, of Louisville also admitted Thursday that he misled investigators for the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Justice during a meeting in Tulsa on March 6, 2008 .

Reskin; Tulsa attorneys George David Gordon and Richard Clark of Tulsa ; Dean Sheptycki of the Bahamas ; and Joshua Wayne Lankford of the Dallas area were indicted under seal on Jan. 15, 2009 .

The charges, which were unsealed Feb. 10, 2009 , alleged a conspiracy in which the defendants purportedly pumped up the stock value of three companies and then dumped the stocks quickly, leaving others to absorb losses.

Gordon and Clark are set for trial on April 5 . Sheptycki and Lankford are yet to make initial appearances in Tulsa federal court.

On Thursday, Reskin stated that from 2005 until late 2006 he entered into a conspiracy with Gordon "and others" to commit securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

Reskin said he became aware in late 2005 that "Gordon and others were attempting to illegally manipulate the stock price" of Global Beverage Solutions , a Tulsa company for which he was doing legal work at the time.

To further that goal, Reskin said he wrote a letter on Sept. 14, 2005 , falsely stating that he had consulted with 26 shareholders of Global who had agreed to remove the company's officers.

As

a result, Reskin claimed Thursday that Clark was installed as president of Global by Gordon.

Also, Reskin said he made two wire transfers from the sale of Global stock in December 2005 in the total amount of $575,000 from his escrow account to an account controlled by Gordon, even though Reskin knew at the time that Gordon was not the seller of the stock.

Reskin said he made false statements in the March 2008 meeting with federal investigators on topics such as possession of a log of stock-related wire transfers, his knowledge of an offshore account used to conceal stock ownership and money, as well as his knowledge of the effect of e-mail and fax "blasts" related to Global stocks.

U.S. District Judge James Payne is tentatively scheduled to sentence Reskin, who is free on bond, on Aug. 25 .

David Harper 581-8359 david.harper@tulsaworld.com

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