Former Stock Broker Sentenced for Microcap Stock Manipulation Scheme

BOSTON – A former New Hampshire stockbroker was sentenced yesterday for his role in a market manipulation scheme which was actually part of an undercover operation.

Robert Raffa, 57, of Penacook, N.H., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Patti B. Saris to two years in prison and two years of supervised release. In September 2017, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.

In April 2016, Raffa and a co-conspirator were arrested and charged in connection with their role in a scheme to manipulate the market for the publicly traded securities of Green Energy Renewable Solutions Inc., a penny stock company that claimed to be in the business of developing and operating waste processing and recycling facilities near Detroit. 

In early 2012, the conspirators used four foreign entities to covertly acquire nearly all of Green Energy’s unrestricted stock without reporting their controlling interest as required by law.  They then hired a promoter to send blast e-mails touting Green Energy to potential investors, all while selling shares without disclosing that they had orchestrated the campaign encouraging investors to buy.   

The initial promotion enabled the conspirators to sell more than 1.5 million shares of Green Energy stock for proceeds of over $900,000.  However, as the conspirators continued to control a substantial amount of Green Energy stock after the promotion ended, they used manipulative trading techniques to stabilize Green Energy’s stock price while they searched for another promoter to run a second touting campaign.  Their search led them to a stock promoter who was secretly cooperating with federal agents and an undercover agent who claimed to have access to a network of corrupt stockbrokers who would buy their shares in exchange for kickbacks.  Raffa and his co-conspirator executed a trade in which they sold 174,000 shares of their Green Energy stock to an account purportedly controlled by a corrupt broker, which was in fact controlled by federal authorities.  Following the trade, the conspirators wired a $6,000 kickback payment to an account they believed to be controlled by the corrupt broker, but which was actually controlled by federal authorities.

In a parallel action, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) previously charged Raffa with securities fraud in connection with the scheme.    

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division made the announcement.  The United States Attorney’s Office received valuable assistance from the SEC.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Vassili Thomadakis of Lelling’s Criminal Division and SEC Attorney Andrew Palid, who was appointed as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, prosecuted the case.