Ex-Newbridge Securities broker pleads guilty to securities fraud

A former Newbridge Securities Corp. broker pleaded guilty to securities fraud for his role in a $131 million market manipulation scheme, according to a statement from the U.S. Justice Department. The broker, Gerald Cocuzzo, 37, pleaded guilty in federal court in the Eastern District of New York on Tuesday in connection with the fraudulent market manipulation of ForceField Energy Inc., a publicly-traded company listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol FNRG. Mr. Cocuzzo faces up to 20 years in prison, according to a statement from the Justice Department. Between January 2009 and April 2015, Mr. Cocuzzo, together with others, “engaged in a scheme to defraud investors in ForceField, a purported worldwide distributor and provider of LED lighting products, by artificially controlling the price and volume of traded shares” of the company, according to the Justice Department release. A ForceField executive paid commission payments, or kickbacks, to Mr. Cocuzzo in exchange for his purchase of ForceField stock in his clients' brokerage accounts, according to the Justice Department. Mr. Cocuzzo did not disclose to his clients the kickbacks he was receiving for purchasing ForceField stock. Mr. Cocuzzo and his co-conspirators took pains to conceal their participation in the fraudulent scheme by using prepaid, disposable cellular telephones and encrypted, content-expiring messaging applications to communicate with each other, and by paying kickbacks in cash, according to the Justice Department. Mr. Cocuzzo's attorney, Elizabeth Macedonio, did not return a call seeking comment. From December 2014 to May 2016, Mr. Cocuzzo was registered with Newbridge Securities, which fired him after the federal indictment was revealed, according to his BrokerCheck report. Newbridge CEO Thomas Casolaro did not return a call Thursday morning to comment. From January 2009 until January 2015, Mr. Cocuzzo was registered with IAA Financial, which had previously been called CBG Financial Group Inc., according to BrokerCheck. That firm has since closed. Its former president, Dave Weinberger, said, “To the best of our knowledge, no trades of ForceField were done with us.”