Stan Lee Media Co-Founder Arrested
Authorities arrested fugitive fraud suspect Peter F. Paul, who co-founded online animation firm Stan Lee Media, at the airport in Sao Paolo, Brazil, federal prosecutors said.
Prosecutors in Los Angeles also unsealed new criminal charges against Paul and Stephen M. Gordon, Stan Lee Media’s former executive vice president. The criminal complaint alleges the two defrauded the firm and U.S. Bancorp out of $1.3 million last November.
Paul, Gordon and two other people were indicted in June on charges that they conspired to manipulate shares of the company, which was delisted from the Nasdaq Stock Market in May.
According to the new complaint and an FBI affidavit, Paul and Gordon were seeking $2 million in November to repay part of the $5 million in loans they had obtained from investment house Merrill Lynch & Co.
To obtain the money, Gordon deposited a series of bad corporate checks in Stan Lee Media’s accounts at U.S. Bancorp and had bank cashier’s checks issued to companies that Gordon and Paul controlled, according to an FBI affidavit.
Representatives for Paul and Gordon could not be reached for comment.
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