Fraud Suspect Exits Prison, Enters Jail

Minutes after a Los Angeles businessman was released Tuesday from federal prison at Terminal Island, he was arrested by an investigator for the state Department of Corporations on securities fraud charges relating to his defunct Beverly Hills precious metals company.

Edward Mazur, 39, president of Coinex International Inc., had been in custody on contempt-of-court charges since August for failing to repay an angry investor who sued him in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

U.S. District Judge A. Wallace Tashima ordered Mazur released Tuesday after Mazur agreed to repay the investor a portion of the money that Mazur owed him.

Kathryn Jonkey Holguin, a senior investigator for the Corporations Department, was waiting to arrest Mazur when he left the prison.

“He was happy as a lark until he saw her,” said Dorene Wolf, Corporations Department senior counsel.

She said Mazur faces grand theft and securities fraud charges in connection with his precious metals business in the alleged defrauding of an estimated 2,000 investors.

“Mazur is the first person jailed for securities violations in connection with the new state and federal boiler room task force,” Wolf added.

Mazur was booked at Los Angeles County Jail. Municipal Judge Glenette Blackwell set bail at $1 million and ordered Mazur to appear for arraignment on Friday.