Owners Of New Jersey-Based Deli Charged With Fraud After Falsely Valuing Business At $100 Million

The owners of a small deli have been charged with fraud after they wrongly valued their business at being worth $100 million.

Three men: James Patten, 63, of Winston-Salem, N.C.; Peter Coker Sr., 80, of Chapel Hill, N.C.; and Peter Coker Jr., 53, of Hong Kong have all been charged in a 12-indictment, accusing them of conspiring to commit securities fraud, securities fraud and conspiracy to manipulate securities prices, NPR reports.

The men allegedly worked together to inflate the share price of a Paulsboro, New Jersey-located deli called Hometown Deli, which made less than $40,000 in yearly revenue. While on the market for public trading, the owners boosted the share price from roughly $1 per share to $14 per share between October 19 and April 2021. By the end of their scheme, they pulled in a whopping $100 million.

Patten also received four counts of manipulation of securities, four counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, NPR reports.

“We allege that the defendants’ brazen schemes resulted in the artificial inflation of the stock price of two publicly traded companies with little to no annual revenues,” said one of the agency’s associate directors of enforcement, Scott Thompson, NPR reports. “Such manipulative schemes diminish the trust investors must have in the integrity of the markets, and we will pursue those who engage in such wrongdoing.”

The deli was known for selling cheesecakes and bagels and has since been closed down.