Long Island Man Who Worked at Melville-Based Boiler Room Sentenced to Two Years’ Imprisonment for His Role in $147 Million Stock Manipulation Scheme

Earlier today, in federal court in Central Islip, Emin L. Cohen, a cold-caller and account executive at My Street Research and its predecessors located in Melville, New York (the “boiler room”), was sentenced by United States District Judge Joanna Seybert to two years in prison and ordered to pay $86,168 in forfeiture.  The amount of restitution will be determined by the court at a later date.  Cohen pleaded guilty in June 2018 to conspiracy to commit securities fraud in connection with a multi-defendant, $147 million scheme to defraud investors in publicly traded companies. 

Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney, Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the sentence.

“Cohen played key roles in the boiler room, luring the victims, many of them elderly and vulnerable, into the fraudulent scheme with lies and subjecting them to high-pressure tactics to seal the deals,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue.  “With today’s sentence, Cohen has been held accountable for taking advantage of victims of his telemarketing con job, designed solely to enrich himself and his co-conspirators.” 

Between January 2014 and July 2017, Cohen and 15 co-defendants participated in a “pump and dump” stock fraud scheme that defrauded investors in publicly traded companies (the “manipulated companies”).  As part of the scheme, the defendants artificially inflated the price and trading volume of stock of the manipulated companies, and made material misrepresentations and omissions in their communications with the victim investors, concerning the advisability of purchasing the stock and its potential profitability.  The defendants, who controlled much of the stock of the manipulated companies, profited handsomely, while the victim investors lost millions of dollars when the price stock plummeted.  Taped to the wall of the boiler room was a sign that read, “WE’LL POUND THE PHONE AND WITH A LITTLE BIT OF LUCK, WE’LL MAKE A TON OF MONEY AND WON’T GIVE A F---.”  Ten of Cohen’s co-defendants have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.  Five other co-defendants are scheduled for trial.

The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Whitman G.S. Knapp, Alicyn L. Cooley and Patrick T. Hein.  Assistant United States Attorney Tanisha R. Payne of the Office’s Civil Division is handling the forfeiture aspect of the case. 

The Defendant:

EMIN L. COHEN (also known as “Ian Grant”)
Age:  35
Coram, New York

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 17-CR-372-10 (JS)