Plastic Surgeon Convicted of Securities, Wire Fraud

A Thousand Oaks plastic surgeon has been convicted of conspiracy and four counts of securities and wire fraud in connection with his role in the manipulation of the stock of Magna Technologies Inc., a defunct Thousand Oaks company, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Robert Gutstein, 53, Magna’s former chairman, was found guilty May 31 in federal court in Los Angeles of conspiring with three other defendants to use a variety of illegal means to drive up the price of Magna’s stock. The company’s stock rose from 50 cents a share in March, 1985, to $9.50 in September, 1985, before collapsing.

Two of Gutstein’s co-defendants, Herbert Stone, a securities broker, and Robert Victor, a Magna shareholder, have pleaded guilty to fraud charges and are scheduled to be sentenced this summer. Jacob Rubenstein, the principal promoter of Magna’s stock, is a fugitive.

Magna was a publicly traded company that once boasted it had the rights to such offbeat products as a battery-operated “stun gun” and a device to aid sexually impotent men. But federal prosecutors said the company never produced any products.

Gutstein is due to be sentenced Aug. 12. He faces up to 25 years in prison and several million dollars in fines.