Two Canadians were arrested in Thailand for what is being called one of the biggest penny stock scams of all time.
This week Thailand authorities arrested the two Canadian men for swindling investors for a collective $140 million. On Saturday, police arrested 55-year-old Sandy Winick, said to be the mastermind behind the penny stock fraud .
On Wednesday police also nabbed 63-year-old Gregory Curry, who was found at his ex-wife’s house in the Thai province of Prachin Buri.
“Curry has been living in Thailand for 14 years. His Thai wife told police he paid her 20,000 baht ($630) to find a place for him to hide and we found him on Tuesday morning at his ex-wife’s residence,” a police spokesman told The Associated Press.
Pictures showed a ragged Curry , with long hair and a beard and a cigarette in hand, being taken from a court in Bangkok. He shielded his face from cameras using a black cloth as two police officers led him to the courtroom.
Authorities said the two Canadians arrested in Thailand were part of a group of nine men suspected of artificially inflating the share price of small companies to make the nearly worthless stocks seem more valuable. Earlier this month police in Canada and the United States worked together to arrest seven of the men involved.
“The indictment and arrests are the result of one of the largest international penny stock investigations ever conducted by the Department of Justice and the FBI,” the FBI said, noting that it was a joint investigation with authorities from Canada, England, Thailand, and China.
The Canadians arrested in Thailand were almost brought to justice for a previous scam. In 2011, they were arrested in Bangkok for a call center scam, but skipped bail and moved on to their next scheme. Both are now scheduled to be extradited to New York to face charges.
