Securities Fraud Saga Comes To Close As Former Cannabiz Mobile Consultant Receives Final Judgment

A years-long legal saga related to a cannabis securities fraud scheme around publicly traded Cannabiz Mobile LGBI has finally come to a close.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Massachusetts issued a final judgment this week against Anthony Jay Pignatello for misleading investors of Cannabiz Mobile, where he served as a consultant and secretary.

The U.S. Securities Exchange Commission initially filed a complaint in 2016, accusing Pignatello, and other named defendants of being a part of a scheme to defraud investors.

Pignatello participated in a pump-and-dump scheme around a decade ago with at least one other co-conspirator, former Cannabiz Mobile owner Christopher Esposito who already pled guilty last spring to fraud.

See also: SEC Shuts Down WeedGenics $60M Cannabis Offering Fraud

The duo allegedly used promissory notes that were backdated to unlawfully obtain free-trading shares of the company. They also purportedly placed a puppet executive in the role of president and CEO, although this individual “reported to Esposito."

Esposito personally sold over 1.3 million shares acquired through the scheme during the period from September 2014 to February 2015.

In November, Esposito was sentenced to five years probation, including a three-month stint in a halfway house, reported Green Market Report.

This week's judgment prohibits Pignatello from acting as an "officer or director of any issuer that has a class of securities registered under Section 12 of the Exchange Act, and permanently bars him from participating in an offering of a penny stock."

It also obliges Pignatello to pay $43,337 for "disgorgement and pre-judgment interest."

However, the document stipulates that the obligation is settled.

The payment is "fully satisfied by the entry of a forfeiture order in a parallel criminal case filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, in which Pignatello pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud," according to the SEC release.

Now read: Wealthy Investors Duped By Alleged Fraud At California Investment Firm With Ties To Marijuana Producer

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