San Diego Securities Attorney Sentenced to Prison for Fraud

SAN DIEGO – Securities attorney Andrew Coldicutt was sentenced in federal court today to 85 months in prison for securities fraud, false securities registration statements, and wire fraud in connection with two pump-and-dump schemes.

U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta also ordered Coldicutt to pay $42,970 in forfeiture and a $100,000 fine.

Coldicutt was convicted by a federal jury in March on all 17 counts following a weeklong trial. According to evidence presented at trial, in the first scheme, Coldicutt worked with others from 2017 through 2019 to prepare and execute a pump-and-dump stock fraud scheme. Coldicutt created a business plan for a fake backyard fruit harvesting company. He prepared and filed securities registration statements with the SEC for an initial public offering of the company’s stock.

The securities registration statements contained false and misleading information about the company, its business plans, and the people who owned and controlled the company. Since Coldicutt was unwittingly working with undercover FBI agents and sources gathering evidence against him, no investors were injured.

In the second scheme, in 2019, one of Coldicutt’s corporate clients needed to raise money fast. Rather than raise money legally, Coldicutt presented the undercover FBI agents with another pump-and-dump stock fraud scheme. Coldicutt wrote a false attorney opinion letter to facilitate the sale of stock for the pump-and-dump scheme. However, a broker-dealer denied the stock transfer and again, no investors were injured.

A “pump and dump” scheme is a type of fraud where manipulators gain control over a company’s stock and boost a company's stock price by spreading false information or trading in a way that creates fake demand. Once the stock price is inflated, they sell off their shares (the “dump”), causing the price to drop and leaving investors with losses.

“Attorneys are expected to uphold the law, not exploit it,” said U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon. “Today’s sentence holds the defendant accountable for abusing that trust and attempting to manipulate the market for personal gain.”

“Today’s sentence demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to hold accountable those who unlawfully pursue personal gain at the expense of the American people,” said Special Agent in Charge Mark Dargis of the FBI’s San Diego Field Office. “Attorneys who exploit the system not only hurt potential victims. They also erode the community’s trust. The FBI will relentlessly investigate such criminals to protect our citizens and ensure justice is served.”

The Securities and Exchange Commission has also taken civil action against Coldicutt.

DEFENDANT                        Case Number 22cr1881                                       

Andrew Coldicutt                    Age: 44                    San Diego, California

SUMMARY OF CHARGES

Title 15, U.S.C., Sec. 77q, 77x – Securities Fraud

Maximum Penalty: Five years in prison

Title 15, U.S.C., Sec. 77g, 77x – False Securities Registration Statements

Maximum Penalty: Five years in prison

Title 18, U.S.C., Sec. 1343 – Wire Fraud

Maximum Penalty: Twenty years in prison

INVESTIGATING AGENCY

Federal Bureau of Investigation